Rich, flavorful, with an inviting aroma that immediately makes your mouth water; I’m talking about baked rice with peas, cooked ham, and a mix of Grana Padano and Pecorino Romano, which gives it that extra aroma and flavor that make this dish succulent and perfect for Sunday lunch. It’s a recipe that is prepared in just over half an hour, although we can cook the rice, béchamel, and peas well in advance and use them as needed, giving us more free time.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups rice for timballi
- 8.8 oz cooked ham (in a single slice)
- 8.8 oz peas
- 1/3 cup grated Grana Padano
- 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano
- to taste coarse salt (for cooking rice)
- 2 cups milk (also lactose-free)
- 1 3/4 tbsp butter (also lactose-free)
- 1 3/4 tbsp cornstarch
- to taste ground pepper
- to taste fine salt
- to taste nutmeg
Steps
To prepare the baked rice with peas and ham, start by cooking the rice.
Heat plenty of water; when it reaches a boil, add the rice, 2 grams of coarse salt (better not to overdo it with salt at this stage, as other salty ingredients will be added to the recipe), and let it cook 5 minutes less than the cooking time indicated on the package (in my case, for example, the package recommended 14 minutes of cooking, while I drained the rice after only 9 minutes of cooking), to prevent the rice, which will then be subjected to a second cooking, from becoming mushy or overcooked.
After perfectly draining the rice from the cooking water, pour it into a bowl.
While the rice is cooking, we can take care of the peas*, the slice of cooked ham (which we will cut into small cubes), and the two cheeses that we will grate. Add these ingredients to the cooked rice and mix to combine them.
*For this recipe, you can use: canned peas, properly drained and rinsed from their preserving water, peas cooked in a pan and leftover from a previous recipe, or you can simply boil the peas along with the rice.
Now let’s prepare the béchamel sauce.
Place a saucepan (with a thick bottom) on the smallest burner, add the butter, and on low heat, let it melt.
As soon as the butter has melted, we will add the cornstarch and quickly mix for 30 seconds with a steel whisk; finally, we will pour in all the milk at once, continuing to stir, always keeping the flame to a minimum.
Continue cooking, stirring very often; flavor the béchamel with a grind of fresh black pepper, a grating of nutmeg, and salt according to your taste.
After about ten minutes, the béchamel will begin to thicken, becoming less and less liquid. For this recipe, the béchamel should remain soft, not too firm; so when you notice that the spoon starts to encounter some resistance when stirring, turn off the heat and remove the saucepan from the burner.
Turn the oven on to 392°F.*
Immediately pour the still-boiling béchamel over the rice mixture, mix quickly so that all the ingredients blend perfectly.
Butter or line with parchment paper a square baking dish of 8×8 inches (or a little larger) and pour the mixture in. Level it without pressing it, finish with a sprinkle of Pecorino over the surface of the mixture, and bake in a hot oven on middle height for about 20 minutes.
Bon appetit
Both the rice, the béchamel, and the peas can be prepared in advance and used as needed.
