I’ve mentioned it on the blog in the past -- this is by no means a revelation -- but even after all these years of cooking and baking, the magic of both is never lost on me. Now -- I don’t mean magic in the Harry Potter, wand and spell kind of way (pshh, I wish) but rather that the magic of cooking/baking lies in little changes, subtleties, transformations. For example: a raw, tear-inducing onion becomes as sweet as candy when cooked low and slow with a dab of butter; a pound of spinach quickly pulls a disappearing act, shrinking to a small pile after a little time in the pan; liquid cream becomes billowy and cloudlike and slimy egg whites become airy and snow white after a bit of beating, lemon juice can cook fish all on its own alla ceviche, and bread that starts out as a a pile of yeast, flour, and water rises and grows and eventually turns in to a loaf, soft interior and crisp crust and all. Cooking and baking means taking ingredients – some of which may seem unlikely at first – and combining and then transforming them in to something that fills you, nourishes you, and, if done right, also delights you.

This tiella di verdure is one of those dishes that once again reminds me how, well, cool cooking is. A little background before I go on: the word tiella comes from the word teglia, meaning a baking pan, referring to receptacle our dish is cooked in. Tiella can refer to entirely different recipes depending on where you are in Italy; for example in Gaeta (not far from Naples) a tiella is a savory pie, typically filled with either octopus or with escarole. In Puglia however, it means a combination of rice, potatoes, and cozze, or mussels all baked together. My recipe for tiella is neither of these, but is far more in line with the Pugliese version, leaving the rice but trading the mussels for an extra dose of summer vegetables.

So! Back to the magic, shall we? Here we layer vegetables in their uncooked state – crisp, cool, in some cases unpalatable – with grains of hard, crunchy rice, cover it all with splash of water, bake it, and watch as it emerges triumphantly from the oven, the tomatoes juicy, the potatoes soft and creamy, the zucchini tender, the onions sweet, the rice perfectly cooked, and the water (gasp!) nowhere to be found. Our tray of watery veg and raw potatoes and onions and inedible rice becomes golden brown, crisp in some places and juicy in others, with a bite of Parmesan and garlic and hint of basil along the way (the supporting actors in this magical dish). The sprinkle of breadcrumbs over the top – seemingly simple! – turn crunchy and golden under the broiler, and put this dish over the top in that way that a little extra carbohydrate tends to do (potatoes, rice, AND breadcrumbs, oh my). In short, it is one such dish that reminds me of how wondrous cooking can be, and the kind of culinary metamorphosis that can happen when we do something as simple as feed ourselves.

Magic tricks aside: this is a dinner that is wonderfully seasonal (a way to make use of the zucchini and tomatoes your garden is nearly finished throwing at you) and also quick, just a matter of slicing and layering. It’s filling and substantial but also meat-free, if you’re a vegetarian, and if you’re not a vegetarian, rest assured you won’t miss the meat. Think of this as a pasta free lasagne of sorts, one where rice gets to shine instead of the noodle.

A special thank you to Stefano of the wonderful site www.italianhomecooking.com, who first mentioned this dish to me and got me interested in developing this recipe — if you don’t follow him on Instagram/are looking for excellent recipes, you’re missing out!

A couple of notes: Feel free to play around with the ingredients that you use here – for example I’ve seen some versions that use bell peppers, some that use Pecorino cheese over Parmesan, others that use oregano instead of basil, and so on. You can also make this un-Italian and use cheese like feta or cheddar (I won’t tell). I used riso nero vialone here – the rice I usually use for risotto – because it’s what I had on hand, but feel free to use whatever rice you like. Farro might also work here – will give it a try and keep you posted. Be more aggressive on the seasoning than you might think you need to be; all ingredients involved (with the exception of perhaps the tomato and Parmesan) are mild in flavour and are cooked in water, so they’ll need a little extra oomph. If you’re using teaspoons like me, I used about 2 1/2 teaspoons total, stirring about 1/2 teaspoon salt into the water and using the other 2 to sprinkle in between the layers.

Looking for other vegetarian-friendly dishes? I’ve got lots! Check out this page here.

TIELLA DI VERDURE (rice and vegetable bake from Puglia)

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (175 grams) rice
14 (380 grams, to be precise!) piccadilly tomatoes or any tomato of your choosing, sliced thin-ish
1 large zucchini, sliced in to rounds
2 medium potatoes, sliced in to rounds (don’t worry about peeling)
1 red onion, sliced
1 cup - loosely packed — (about 70 grams) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 clove garlic, chopped
A handful of basil, chopped
1 3/4 cups (415mL) water
Olive oil
Salt (see my notes above) and pepper

For the topping:
4 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs (eyeball it)
2 tablespoons Parmesan (eyeball it)

You will also need a baking pan of about 9x11 inches more or less (mine as you can see was an oval one that measured 11 inches across and 9 inches wide). This would be about 23x28 cm.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush your baking dish with a generous amount of oil. Begin to layer your vegetables: start with half the onion, half the potatoes, a sprinkle of garlic, half the tomatoes, half the cheese, the rest of the onion, and then all the rice, being sure to generously sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper and a little basil as you go, as well as a drizzle of olive oil here and there. Start again: the rest of the potatoes, all of the zucchini, the rest of the cheese, and the rest of the tomatoes, remember to season each layer well.

Prepare 1 3/4 cups (415 mL) water and stir in a generous pinch of salt. Pour in the water to come just up to the potatoes in the top layer (you might find you need up to 2 cups water) then bake the whole thing in the oven for about 1 hour, until the water has mostly been absorbed.

Next, mix together your topping ingredients. Sprinkle them on top of the tiella, drizzle with olive oil, and broil for 10-15 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Let cool until warm, and then dig in