Ingredients
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 225C/190Fan/Gas 7.
- Find a baking dish (roughly 27 cm in diameter, if round, or approximately 30 x 21 cm if rectangular/oval, and 3-4cm deep).
- Mix the onions, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, capers and olive oil in a bowl. Spread a quarter of this mixture over the base of the baking dish.
- Now arrange one third of the potatoes over this. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the half-shell mussels, and just under half the fully shelled mussels over next, followed by another quarter of the tomatoes, onion, and parsley. And then scatter over half the rice and a quarter of the cheese.
- Repeat these last layers one more time. Cover with the remaining third of the potatoes, and over that the last of the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Now the important bit. Slowly pour near-boiling water (or the mussel cooking water if you opened them under the grill) down the sides of the dish, until the level rises to just a millimetre or two below the top layer of potatoes. You’ll need around 500 ml. Shake the dish gently to distribute the water more evenly. Finish by dredging the top with the last of the cheese.
- Cover with foil, ballooning it up a little so that the melting cheese doesn’t stick to the foil in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 50-60 minutes until the water is mostly absorbed, and a knife plunged down into the tiella slides sweetly through the potatoes and rice without resistance. If it threatens to burn towards the end of the cooking time, cover again loosely with foil.
- Let it cool for 5-10 minutes (or longer – it tastes just as good, if not better, when warm), then dig in.
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