Pretty striped rice: includes besciamella

It has taken me some time to write up and publish this recipe, although the photos were ready over a week ago. Why is that, I wondered? It’s because it is so rich. It’s simply one of the richest dishes I have ever eaten in Italy. It swims in cheeses, bubbles up with besciamella and is topped with a crusty layer of cheese and besciamella combined.

People are different. This is too rich for me. Even though I made only one-third of the recipe, and I reheated some two more days after eating it the first time, I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Maybe you are the kind of cook who loves macaroni and cheese and the richer the better? Then you’ll love this. Go for it. Goodness knows it’s pretty! As the first course to a dinner party it would look wonderful on the plate. As a main course for a vegetarian meal, everyone will feel well-fed. But for me, 23 ounces of cheese on 14 ounces of rice is just too much.

Riso a strisce al forno
1 hour
oven 180°C/360°F
Serves 4-6

400 g/14 ounces raw rice, cooked
1.5 liters/quarts of very liquid besciamella
250 g/9 ounces Swiss cheese in slices
250 g/9 ounces mozzarella in slices
150 g/5 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano grated
8 tablespoons tomato sauce

Cook the rice and then work with it while it is warm, so it won’t become stuck together. You can use ordinary white rice or parboiled rice, because the richness of the cheeses will overcome any of the delicate rice flavors.

Separate one-third of the rice and use the tomato sauce to tint it pink.

In a baking dish, arrange some of the besciamella in a layer, then add half of the remaining white rice, a sprinkling of the Parmigiano, all the Swiss cheese slices, then the pink rice, followed by more Parmigiano, more besciamella, the mozzarella. Finish with the last of the white rice, the rest of the besciamella and some Parmigiano.

Slide it into the preheated oven and cook about 15 minutes, and serve it hot.

This recipe comes from my new Pugliese cookbook, Cucina Salentina by Lucia Lazari and all I did was translate it and cook it for you. I’ve made some really good things from that book, but this one might be too good.