Yesterday I got the call from school that every parent dreads: the school doctor told me Nadia had fallen in the playground. Before I went into full panic mode, and with a swiftness that I suppose comes from either training in handling freaked-out parents, or the experience of doing so, she informed me that other than a loose tooth and a bit of a scare my kid was fine and just went back to playing.
Phew, another day in Motherhoodville.
Responsible mother that I pretend to be so people don’t think ill of me, I made an appointment with the dentist as soon as I hung up the phone.
Nadia is 6, and so far had only lost her lower teeth, so a bit of a knock on the upper ones is not the tragedy it would be in a year’s time, but I wanted to reassure myself and my husband that I’m responsible enough to look after our kid when he is travelling.
So, a full meltdown later (what’s with kids and dentists?) the dentist tells me what I already know: She will be fine, her teeth are healthy and she will almost certainly need orthodontics later on.
So there goes our retirement fund. I hope our kid is really happy with her straight teeth when she grows up and we have to move in with her because we are old, senile and broke.
This is one of my to-go dishes on the weekends, when my family expects to be fed and I am not in much of a mood for spending lots of time in the kitchen. It all goes into the oven and while it cooks I can relax and read a book, then serve a delicious meal.
For a lazy weekend the perfect dish without having to slave over the stove for hours. This oven-baked rice is quick, easy and delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of long-grain rice
- 1 lb of chorizo (Spanish sausage), sliced
- 1 large carrot, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, cubed
- 1 stalk of celery, sliced
- 2 large tomatoes cut into eighths
- 1 onion cut into eighths
- 1 teaspoon of paprika or annatto (bija)
- 1 dozen pitted olives
- 1/2 cup of sweet peas
- 3 cups of vegetable stock
- 1 sprig of fresh cilantro (coriander)
- Pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (170ºC).
- Place the raw rice on the bottom of the casserole in a uniform layer.
- Place the slices of chorizo on top, then carrot, tomato, pepper, onion, celery, olives, peas and cilantro.
- Pour the vegetable stock into a pot and mix with the paprika.
- Heat the vegetable stock until it breaks a boil.
- Season the stock with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the stock to the rice.
- Cover the casserole with a tight-fitting lid and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the casserole from the oven, uncover and stir. If the rice is not cooked throughout cover and again and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
- Serve with your salad of choice.
Important Notes
If you do not have a casserole with cover you can also use a iron-cast or aluminum-cast pot with a metal lid.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican recipes, recipes inspired by Dominican flavors, as well as the chronicles of the Aunties' adventures in the kitchen and outside.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I’m gonna copy this idea. But I don’t have any chorizo, maybe ham would be a good substitution. Will let you know how it turned out. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Yadsia, the chorizo lends color and flavor to the rice (which is why I put it right on top of it). I am sure it can work with some other meats, but it won’t work so well with ham.
I have made your recipe last night and have to say… it was pretty good
.
. It felt at the same time healthy with all the veggies in the dish.
We have really enjoyed it, the chorizo gave a lot of taste to the rice. We like a bit of spice in our food
Thanks for sharing.
I am very glad you enjoyed it.
That looks so delicious. I want to try it.
This looks great. I have to try it. Do you think it will work with chicken?
I am not sure it will. A lot of the flavor in this comes from the chorizo, but since I haven’t made it with chicken mine would be an educated guess, at best.
This was delicious! My kids would like it to become a regular occurrence at our house.