Baked rice pilaf with cherry tomatoes and sausages

An unusual but very tasty dish. Easy to put together, with simple ingredients which can become one of your favourite family meals!

Recipe of Argyro Barbarigou
a prominent Head Cook
Check out her site Argiro for more delicious recipes

Ingredients (for 5 people):
2 "country style" pork or beef sausages, cut in thin slices
250 gr. of cherry tomatoes, scored at the bottom crosswise
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, grated
300gr. of long grain rice
1/2 glass of white dry wine (optional -my addition)
900gr. of hot chicken broth
1 sprig of fresh thyme
salt
pepper
1/2 tea-cup of Greek Kefalotyri cheese, grated (optional -my addition)
Greek yoghurt for the serving

Method:

Warm a large non-stick frying pan on high heat (without any fat) and cook the sausages for 3-4 minutes. Transfer on kitchen paper to drain.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In the same pan (after cleaning it) warm the oil on medium heat and sauté the onion for 5-6, until it becomes translucent. Add the garlic and stir.

Add in the pan the sausages and the rice and stir until the rice is well coated by the oil. Pour over with the wine (if used) and stir. Then add the chicken broth, stir and season with salt and pepper. In the end add the thyme.

Transfer the food in a deep pyrex dish and cover with aluminium foil. Put in the oven and initially bake for 15 minutes.

Discard the foil, sprinkle with the cheese (if used), stir well with a wooden spoon and scatter the cherry tomatoes on top. Put back in the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the rice in cooked through and the tomatoes start to burst.

Take out of the oven and leave to rest for about 10 minutes and then serve along with the yoghurt.