Arroz con palmito (rice with hearts of palm)
Arroz con palmito (rice with hearts of palm) is a typical Costa Rican dish. Hearts of palm meets rice, a creamy béchamel sauce, additional vegetables and a crispy golden cheese topping.
Servings: 4 portions
Equipment
- Pot
- Pan
- Baking dish
- Oven
Ingredients
- 250 g rice
- 600 g hearts of palm
- 2 onions (140 g)
- 100 g butter
- 270 ml cream
- 240 ml milk
- 280 g celery sticks
- 200 g grated cheese (we used Gouda, but other sorts are also possible)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 130 g peas
Instructions
- Cook the rice in salted water, until tender. You can also use rice from the day before.
- Meanwhile, cut the celery sticks into small cubes.
- Peal the onion and cut it into cubes of the same size as the celery sticks.
- Cut the hearts of palm into cubes of 0.5 – 1 cm. They should be bigger than the cubes of the celery sticks.
- Heat up the butter, add the onions and celery sticks and stir well.
- Add the flour and continue stirring.
- Add the hearts of palm and mix well.
- Add the milk and stir, then add the cream and continue stirring while the sauce is thickening.
- Add 60 g of the grated cheese, mix and add the peas.
- Now, add the cooked rice and stir.
- Bring to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Fill the rice mass into a baking dish and top it with the rest of the cheese.
- Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius, until the cheese starts to get a golden color.
Notes
You can play around with the vegetables. Try mushrooms or asparagus or use different herbs. You can also add garlic.