I’m pretty good in the kitchen but until recently I couldn’t cook a pot of rice worth its salt. I blamed my pot lids which are made of metal, not tempered glass. When making rice I had to trust the timer and/or lift the lid toward the end of cooking time to check. I know that flubs the whole process of letting cooking rice cook. In case you’re wondering why I didn’t buy a rice cooker, our kitchen is galley-efficient. Every appliance has to earn its keep. A rice cooker’s space/utility ratio is not high enough to earn shelf space.
One day the thought came to me, “Can rice be baked?” Lo and behold, it can! Google served up two such recipes. One is straightforward — dump rice in an ovenproof dish, add water, cover tightly and wait till the timer sounds. The other has an extra step and an added ingredient or two, but it comes out just as wonderfully: fluffy, great texture, tasty as all get out. Extra bonus: plenty left over for rice pudding! And for the real win? No gummy pot to clean out. I line the baking dish with a sheet of parchment paper and voila! Easy clean up.
So here you go: oven rice. Or riz au fourneau if you want to get fancy! And give the rice pudding recipe at the left a try. It is totally yummy.