Spanakorizo With Butternut is a perfect vegetarian meal and can be served as a side dish, or as a salad. It can be made in advance.
Today’s inspirational recipe from Lavender and Lime ♥ Spanakorizo With Butternut ♥ #LavenderAndLime Share on X
It has been my aim with every Freshly Blogged challenge to use all of the ingredients we have been given in the most creative way I possibly can, while staying true to my cooking style. This week I used the ingredients as inspiration to make a version of Spanakorizo. This vegetarian dish is of Greek origin and usually includes only spinach and rice. I wanted to incorporate all of the ingredients into a one pot wonder that not only is pleasing to the palate, but that can be versatile enough to satisfy any vegetarian, as well as make a great accompaniment as a side dish. Dave and I had this for supper on Friday night with venison, and on Saturday night with chicken livers and on Sunday night with a crayfish curry. It worked well as a stand alone dish and together with all the other things I added to it. So, mission accomplished. Not only that, it can be prepared in advance and even served cold as a salad. Top it with an egg for a great light lunch.
Spanakorizo With Butternut
Ingredients
- 15 mls olive oil plus extra for drizzling
- 2 leeks, thinly sliced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 1 garlic and herb stock cube
- 250 mls boiling water
- 105 g long grain rice
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 butternut, cut in half at the bulge and the bottom part peeled and cut in half
- 2.5 mls vegetable oil
- 10 stalks fresh thyme, leaves picked
- 5 slices baguette
- 15 g butter
- 300 g spinach, washed and stalks trimmed
- 65 g herbed feta, crumbled
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°Celsius
- Heat the oil in a large lidded pan
- Sauté the leeks until soft
- Dissolve the stock cube in the water
- Add the rice and the stock water to the leeks
- Bring to the boil
- Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil
- Cover and turn off the heat and leave to steam
- Remove the seeds from the butternut and set aside
- Cut the butternut into bite size chunks
- Drizzle with olive oil and season
- Place on a lined baking tray and sprinkle with the thyme
- Roast for 30 minutes before gently folding into the rice
- Heat the butter in a frying pan
- Toast the baguette slices and salt them once crisp
- Remove from the pan and cut into croutons and set aside
- In the same pan wilt the spinach and set aside to cool slightly
- Squeeze the excess water out of the spinach, season and chop
- Add the spinach to the rice and mix in
- Wash and dry the butternut seeds removing all the flesh
- Toss in the vegetable oil and season with salt
- Once the butternut has cooked, reduce the oven temperature to 180°Celsius
- Bake the butternut seeds for 8 minutes, mixing a few times to make sure they cook evenly
- Drain on a kitchen towel once cooked
- Add the feta to the rice and adjust the seasoning
- Serve in a large bowl with the croutons and seeds as garnish
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Sadly, I was chopped from the competition for my submission of a terrine the judges thought was a quiche and a pavlova that they did not find inspiring. I must say that the inspiration was lost when they added vinegar and corn flour to our pantry ingredients after I was told I could not use them, but another blogger did. My lack of enthusiasm for participating in a competition where the rules kept changing to suit one blogger clearly showed in my submission.
What I blogged:
-
- one year ago – Chicken Pot Pie
- two years ago – A Trip Down Memory Lane
- three years ago – Figs with Camembert
This sounds delicious! I love butternut squash.
Thank you Anne, it is also one of my favourite vegetables 🙂
That looks and sounds amazing – had never heard of it!
I wanted to do a vegetarian paella but Alex thought this would be better 🙂
Butternut squash is such a beauty, this is the first time I have heard of spanakorizo!
Yum 😀
Cheers
CCU
This is a great vegetarian dish Uru!
I would be frustrated with the freshly blogged cutting also! Sounds so unfair. The rules should be the same for everyone throughout the competition!!
Well, in any event, this spanakorizo looks amazing! I love that you put butternut in it!
Thanks Joanne, your support means a lot to me! Have a super day 🙂
Hi Tandy,
I love butternut squash and this looks yum!
Thanks Asmita 🙂
So tasty – think even Pete wouldn’t miss meat in this lovely dish.
🙂 Mandy xo
Try it and let me know!
This is our type of meal. Love rice dishes that can be prepared ahead (and doubled!).
It is a great meal, and maybe could even be packed as a school lunch?
I love the different colours and textures in this dish. A very inspired plate of food indeed 🙂
Thank you so much Claire 🙂
I was so so sad that you were chopped. I will miss our Tuesday night note comparisson. Some amamzing things have come out of the competition and I am glad for those. This recipe is really amaizing and I am deifinitely going to try it (then pack it in the freezer for my lunches as my husband hates butternut)
Dave is also not that keen on butternut but he was OK with this dish. Thanks Hila for your support – I knew I would be chopped so I was only upset for a very short moment xxx
Looks lovely and fresh. I’d never heard of the original Greek dish, so that’s something to look out for too.
Sounds like they gave you feedback then? I still have no idea why I got chopped! But by now am only mildly curious. Agree it was very frustrating to be told different things by different people at different times, made my shopping slightly more stressful than usual, as I was DMing them to find things out as I went!
Kit, I am so looking forward to a Friday where I am not running around like a mad thing trying to find an elusive ingredient 🙂