Corn and spinach doria (Japanese baked rice gratin)
Japanese comfort food: buttery rice with sweet corn and spinach under a blanket of silky white sauce and melted cheese, baked until bubbling.
- 50 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.05 a serving
- 620 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- ¼ cup butter, divided
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1½ cups sushi rice, cooked, about 4 cups (leftover rice is perfect)
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 620 calories, 21 g protein, 84 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $2.05 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 425°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
1 tablespoon butter in a large over medium heat. Cook the onion 4 minutes, until soft, then add the corn and spinach and cook 2 minutes, until the spinach .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Add the rice, soy sauce and ¼ teaspoon salt and 3 minutes, until the rice is hot through. Spread it in a 2-quart baking dish.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
the rest of the butter in a over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, , 1 minute.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Slowly whisk in the milk and keep 4 to 5 minutes, until it’s as thick as gravy. with the rest of the salt and the pepper.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Add the milk a splash at a time at first and whisk hard. If it goes lumpy, whisk faster and the lumps melt away.Pour the sauce over the rice and top with the mozzarella and parmesan.
15 minutes, until bubbling and in spots.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 15 min
Let it 5 minutes, scatter the parsley over and serve.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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