Spanakorizo, Spinach Rice

📝 Ingredients

• 280 g long-grain rice
• 750 g frozen leaf spinach
• 4 spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp olive oil (2 for cooking, 1 for finishing)
• 1 vegetable stock cube + 500 ml hot water
• 25 g fresh dill
• 2 lemons (zest of one only, juice of both)
• 200 g feta
• 200 g Greek yoghurt, 2% fat
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large sauté pan with lid
• Colander
• Grater
• Citrus juicer
• Knife and chopping board

📖 Steps

1. Slice the spring onions, keeping the white and green parts separate, then chop the garlic. Finely chop the dill, keeping a few sprigs for serving. Grate the zest of one lemon, then juice both. Dissolve the stock cube in 500 ml hot water.
2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Fry the white parts of the spring onions for 3 min until tender, then add the green parts and the garlic and cook for 1 min without browning.
3. Add the spinach still frozen, cover and leave to thaw for 5 min. Uncover and cook for another 5 to 8 min over a medium-high heat, stirring, until most of the released water has evaporated: otherwise the rice will be soggy.
4. Rinse the rice in a sieve, add it to the pan and stir for 2 min to coat it well in the oil and spinach. Pour in the hot stock, add half the dill, season lightly with salt, add pepper and bring to the boil.
5. Cover and cook for 15 to 18 min over a low heat without stirring, until the rice is tender and the liquid almost completely absorbed. Spanakorizo should stay soft and moist, not dry: if the rice starts to stick before it is cooked, add a splash of hot water.
6. Off the heat, add the lemon juice, the zest, the rest of the dill and the last tbsp of olive oil. Stir gently, cover and leave to rest for 5 min so the rice finishes swelling as it soaks up the lemon.
7. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Divide between plates, crumble the feta over the top, add a generous spoonful of Greek yoghurt (about 50 g) to each plate and garnish with dill sprigs.