Rice Cake

I am becoming a little obsessed with Yotam Ottolenghi. This is one of three (3) posts I have saved as drafts that come from his recipes. And I don’t even have his cookbook yet, because the US edition doesn’t pub until April and the UK one was out of stock at Christmas. (It ought to arrive soon, though–thanks to my lovely cousin Kate.) But what I do have is his column in the Guardian in my Google reader, which is how I have discovered things like this beetroot saffron rice upside-down cake.

Let me just come out and say that I had no idea how this was going to go. The flavor combinations seemed pretty safe, but the actual construction of the thing looked like it might turn into a small disaster in my kitchen. But I had these beets lying around. Beets can lie around in the fridge practically forever and still be ok, but not literally forever. I had to use them eventually and this was the first recipe that caught my eye.

First step, sautee some spinach with a little garlic, just until it’s wilty. Then transfer it to a colander while you get the other pieces together.

Other pieces being, for one, rice. It needs to be parboiled, strained, and then seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon zest.

Then you deal with the beets. They should be peeled and sliced kind of thick. Sear them in the pan with a butter/oil mix, but don’t flip them.

Layer on top some rice, some water, the spinach, and the rest of the rice. Stick a lid on it and cook for a while, before adding some more water, and also some boiling water that was used to bloom (as they say) a pinch of saffron.

Lower the heat and cook, tightly covered, for another 45 minutes. Then comes the tricky part: flipping this “cake” onto a plate. You will want a plate that is at least 2 inches bigger in diameter than your pan. Put the plate over the pan, upside down, palm the plate, and flip the pan over, squeezing together as you do so you don’t wind up with rice and spinach all over the floor.

Thankfully, that did not happen to me, but what did happen was some of the beets stuck to the pan, because my Calphalon was getting old. Never fear, though: Calphalon has what is possibly the best warranty policy in the entire world. Ship them your old pot, with the flaking teflon that never gets properly clean anymore and that certainly doesn’t act as non-stick, and they will send you a BRAND NEW POT. It’s like magic. I swear I’m not being paid to say that.