Rice cooked down with a mountain of spinach, dill and spring onion, sharpened hard with lemon and finished with crumbled feta.
Prep
15 mins
Cook
30 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.55
Difficulty
easy
A one-pan Greek staple that turns two big bags of spinach into something substantial. It wants far more dill and far more lemon than seems sensible, and it is better warm than hot.
Warm 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide, deep pan over a medium-low heat. Cook the sliced leek and the white parts of the spring onions for 10 minutes, until completely soft and sweet without browning.
Add the garlic and cook for one minute, then stir in the rice and turn it through the oil for two minutes until every grain looks glazed.
Add the spinach in four or five handfuls, waiting for each to wilt before adding the next. It will look impossible at first and will collapse to a fraction of the volume.
Do not add water at this stage. The spinach releases plenty of its own, and that liquid is part of the cooking measure.
Pour in the stock, add the salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn the heat to its lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes without lifting the lid.
Turn off the heat and leave the pan covered and undisturbed for a further 10 minutes so the rice finishes in its own steam.
Uncover and fork through the dill, parsley, mint, the green parts of the spring onions, the lemon zest and all the lemon juice.
Adding the herbs and lemon only at the end keeps them bright. Cooked into the pan they turn dull and khaki within minutes.
Taste and add more lemon or salt as needed. It should taste noticeably sharp. Drizzle over the last tablespoon of oil, scatter the feta on top and serve warm.