It’s time to give Claudia Roden’s spinach and rice cake another airing. It had been so long since featuring this entertainer’s delight that, bless it, my new version of Word wouldn’t allow a conversion of an old Mac file to see what I wrote (so as to avoid repeating myself) back in 2002. Boy, do those Microsoft people hate the old; anything over 5 years is positively antediluvian. Like most folk I haven’t got time to fool about ‘unlocking the registry’ (don’t you love the terminology?), even if I was disposed to keep trying after being warned that I could seriously mess things up if I continued to do so...
Alright, alright, I’ll start again without any prior knowledge to influence comment or instructions.
This is the best thing. It is tasty, filling and versatile. There’s no better food companion for drinks. It travels without mishap. It handles without mishap. It can be rustic or elegant. And, a little goes a long way. One spinach and rice cake will cut into up to 40 thin wedges to serve as an appetiser. It is also good, just slightly warm from the oven cut into large wedges and served with a fresh tomato and herb salad with lashings of the best olive oil. It is picnic food par excellence.
As an appetiser it is delicious with a dollop of sundried tomato and roast red pepper paste. This is easy to make in a food processor. First cut a large red pepper in half and remove the seeds and pith. Grill the halves, skin side up, and when blackened remove from heat. Cover with foil, leave to sweat and then peel off the blackened skin. Chop roughly and process with 2/3rds cup sundried tomatoes and plenty of olive oil to make a glossy paste.
My new twist was to top slices of the spinach and rice cake with a piece of Spanish Serrano ham and a strip of roasted red pepper (as above), dressed with olive oil, vinegar and smoked paprika. It moved from plate to mouth in an elegant move without falling apart, or oozing, and ending up down the front of best white shirt or nice party frock. Anything that can do that and also prevent swooning after one glass of bubbly deserves to be rolled out more than once every 6 years. Maybe it hasn’t been that long, but who’s counting with recipes as good as this?
Spinach and rice cake
250g risotto rice
250g frozen leaf spinach, thawed
1 large onion, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
60g butter
4 eggs
6 tbsp finely grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
1 tsp (generous) salt flakes
freshly ground pepper
1 tsp (scant) freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the bottom of a 24cm spring-form pan with baking paper and spray the sides with non-stick spray. Boil the rice in plenty of well salted water for 10 minutes. Drain. Meanwhile squeeze the excess water from the spinach and chop. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan and sauté the onion until golden. Add the spinach and sauté a minute longer. In a large bowl beat the eggs with the cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir in the warm, drained rice, spinach and onion. Mix well and pour into the pan. Level the top. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from the pan.
To serve:
roasted red pepper strips dressed with olive oil, sherry vinegar, a few finely chopped baby capers, smoked paprika, salt and pepper (see above)
pieces Serrano ham (or prosciutto)
Cut the cool spinach and rice cake into 4 quarters. Cut each quarter into fine wedges barely 1cm at the widest point. Arrange on a large platter. Top each piece with Serrano ham and a red pepper strip arranged in a ‘squiggle’.