Baked rice with spinach, pancetta and provola. The melty spinach rice flan is a rich and flavorful first course, perfect for everyday and excellent for the classic Sunday lunch, just like Baked pasta with spinach and pancetta or Spinach lasagna. The preparation is fairly easy, but the result is definitely excellent, allowing you to bring to the table a first course a little richer and more original than classic autumn risottos, winter or summer ones. Of course, if you love spinach you can also prepare mains like Stuffed meatloaf with cheese, speck, spinach and hard-boiled eggs or starters like Potatoes stuffed with sausage and spinach.
Now let’s go to the kitchen and see how to make the baked spinach risotto, but first remember that if you want to stay updated on my recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile, and here you will find many equally tasty Spinach recipes.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups rice (Roma, arborio, originario…)
- 1 onion (medium)
- 3.5 oz pancetta
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 14.1 oz spinach (fresh)
- to taste salt
- 10.6 oz provola (fresh or smoked)
- to taste black pepper
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 5.3 oz smoked provola
- 5.3 oz provola (plain)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2/3 cup grated Parmesan
Tools
- Pan
- Baking dish
- Oven
- Kitchen scissors
Preparation
Peel and chop the onion, then sauté it in olive oil until golden. Add the pancetta, cook for a minute, then add the cleaned, rinsed and drained spinach (I use the bagged spinach already ready for cooking).
Season with salt and wait a few minutes so the spinach wilts; when reduced in volume, turn off the heat and chop it into small pieces using kitchen scissors.
Toast the rice in a pan and cook it until al dente, add the butter, stir and mix in the spinach and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
Mix well and spread half of the rice mixture into a baking dish for 4 people (about 8×10 inches).
Arrange the provola in slices and sprinkle a handful of cheese, then cover with the remaining rice and a final dusting of Parmesan.
Bake 15–20 minutes in the oven at 392°F and let the top brown.
Remove from the oven and serve immediately for a creamy, melty rice, or let rest for 10 minutes for a firmer texture.
Storage and tips
For a vegetarian version of this baked rice, omit the pancetta. Baked rice is best eaten as soon as it’s made, naturally like any risotto: once cold it will be firm and compact. You can keep it in the refrigerator for 24 hours and reheat it as needed, but it won’t be as good as when freshly baked.
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