Baked Greek Brown Rice

So I was thinking I should share a savory recipe with you today.  You should know by now about my crazy sweet tooth.  Sometimes it goes crazy and then all I share are sweet recipes.  No one’s complaining, but I thought I’d make sure you knew 🙂  But for now, a savory recipe!

I don’t know if I’ve ever written about how much I love rice before.  I seriously love it.  I love the smell of it cooking.  I love eating it straight out of the pot as soon as it’s done resting.  I even eat a little cold out of the fridge.  I especially love it in rice pudding.  But I even love it plain.  And now I think I’ve been reading too much Dr. Suess and my non rhyming brain can’t keep up.  But anyways…  Did I mention I love rice?  I like white rice too, but brown rice is my true love.

And this Greek brown rice?  I’ve been making this forever.  I had kind of forgotten about it in the last year or so, but I made it again and was instantly reminded of why I like it so much.  It’s so light and summery.  It’s lemony and fresh from the green onions and herbs.  It’s got tangy feta cheese to liven it up and I think it would be seriously awesome with a can of chickpeas mixed in to make it a more complete meal.  I think you could even add in some fresh spinach to add some more veggies to it.

I think what I love most about this rice is that the addins aren’t really cooked.  You throw them in at the last minute and let them warm up and then enjoy!  No mushy, cooked to death tomato in this rice.  Of course, if you really have to you can use dried herbs in this(using half as much), but I’d recommend adding them with the water so that they can infuse their flavor into the rice.  With fresh herbs you don’t want them to overcook, so be sure that you add them after cooking.

What kind of light, summery side dishes are you enjoying these days?

See you later in the week with a sweet recipe!  Enjoy!

Baked Greek Brown Rice

Author Heidi @ Food Doodles

Servings 4 -6 servings

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 10 mins

Ingredients

  

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• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 C short grain brown rice
• 2 1/2 C water or vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 medium tomato diced
• 2 large green onions finely chopped
• juice and zest of one lemon
• 1/4 C feta cheese crumbled or chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano finely chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a medium sized oven proof pot with a lid heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 6-7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, stir and cook for just a minute before adding the rice. Stir and cook the rice to toast it for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the water or vegetable stock and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and remove from the heat. Place in the oven and bake for 60 minutes.
• While the rice is cooking prepare the other ingredients.
• Once the rice has cooked for an hour, remove the pot from the oven, remove the lid and stir in the tomato, green onions, lemon zest and juice, feta cheese, parsley and oregano. Return the lid and let the rice rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes

When reheating this rice be sure to squeeze fresh lemon juice over top to refresh the lemony taste!
Of course I highly recommend using fresh herbs but if you must use dried, use half as much and add before cooking the rice.
You can also cook this rice on the stove top if that's your preferred method.

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