Baked Rice with Vegetables (p. 236)

This is a classic dish from the boot of Italy whose name, Tiella di Verdura, refers to both the preparation of the recipe and also the dish that it is cooked in. My earthenware oven dish isn't necessarily a tiella, but it's as close as my kitchen has. 

Are you guys familiar with acidulated water? I wasn't. Basically, it just means cool water with lemon juice in it, and you'll need it for this recipe -- peeled chopped potatoes in one bowl of it and prepped and cut artichoke in another.

The dish is layered together kind of like a lasagna; bread crumbs, potatoes (I actually used sweet potatoes, because that's what I had), sliced onion, chopped canned tomatoes, artichokes, pre-soaked rice, grated cheese, olive oil, and an herby mixture of parsley, oregano, and garlic. 

Build the dish alternating between the ingredients and then pour in boiling water to fill it about half way.

Bake for an hour.

And serve.

This was good but not great. The artichoke was a little too bitter and chewy for me; if you want to make this, I recommend just using artichoke hearts instead of the whole artichoke. All the other ingredients were great though, and the herb mixture adds a punch of flavor.

CSA potatoes -- $1.58

CSA onion -- $.79

lemon -- $.89

artichokes -- $3.98

tomatoes -- $.99

bread crumbs -- $1.99 (most of this is left)

Total Cost of Baked Rice with Vegetables: $10.22

($1.70 per serving)