Baked Spanish Rice

Filled with delicious aromatic and savory flavors, this recipe for Spanish rice delights the senses. From garlic and cumin to peppers and thyme, this easy rice recipe is bursting at the seams with flavors. Be delighted by this baked rice recipe for Spanish rice.

Notes

Do not forget that the rice is not fully cooked so that, as it absorbs the liquid from the tomato, it will expand. So, leave a little expansion room in your casserole dish. As a final touch, if you are using cheese and want a brown top, uncover the dish, after cooking is complete, and broil, not too close to the element, until desired color is achieved. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.

Ingredients

1 cup rice or brown rice
1 cup water or stock
1 can tomatoes, crushed
1 large onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic (optional)
1/2 sweet green or red pepper, diced or chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 small hot pepper, fresh seeded diced or sliced
1 tablespoon each dried thyme and dried basil
1 pound ground meat, beef pork lamb or a mixture
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cook the rice, with the salt, until the liquid is absorbed, this will be a dry rice at this point. Let stand until partially cooled.
While the rice is cooking, saute the ground meat with the spices, onions, peppers, garlic and hot peppers until the meat is browned. Drain excess fat from the meat, add the herbs and mix together. Let stand until partially cooled.
You have a choice of mixing rice and meat together or creating layers in a casserole dish.
Once the mixture is in the casserole, try not to pack it down too much, add the canned tomatoes and let this work its way down and in for 5 to 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
At this point you can add cheese on top if you wish, a good old cheddar is great.
Cover the casserole dish and bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.