Taieddha - a vegan Italian potato casserole with a difference!

Taieddha is a family-friendly vegetable dish from Puglia that elevates the humble ingredients of potatoes, zucchini, rice and breadcrumbs.

Photo from Everyday Gourmet with Justine Schofield

When Matilde from The Apulian cooking school in Lecce, Puglia shared this recipe I was impressed that her version was vegan; most include mussels and pecorino. Taieddha (or Tiella) is named after the dish that it is baked in, an earthenware pot. If you don’t have a traditional terracotta dish on hand, any oven dish will work. This is part potato bake, part risotto, with oozy juices and soft vegetables woven through. For more plant-based recipes from the Salento region, I thoroughly recommend Matilde's cookbook A Pasta Love Story

Taieddha

POTATO, ZUCCHINI AND RICE CASSEROLE

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 large potatoes (approximately 450g)

• 1-2 zucchini (approximately 300g)

• 200g cherry tomatoes (or substitute regular tomatoes, like Truss)

• 1 small onion

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 100g (½ cup) arborio rice

• large handful of parsley, chopped

• ½ cup breadcrumbs

• ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes or vegan parmesan

METHOD

1. Peel and slice the potatoes evenly, approximately 2mm thick. This is quite thin so you may like to use a mandoline slicer. Slice the zucchini into rounds of a similar thickness to the potatoes. Quarter the cherry tomatoes, or if using larger tomatoes, roughly dice. Slice the onion thinly.
   

2. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 200°C.
   

3. Drizzle the base of a casserole dish or clay pot with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Sprinkle over half of the onion and a quarter of the tomatoes. Make a layer of half the zucchini and sprinkle over ½ teaspoon of salt.
   

4. Evenly scatter the rice over the zucchini. Add a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle over another ½ teaspoon of salt and drizzle approximately 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the remaining onion and a few extra tomatoes.
   

5. Layer the remaining zucchini. Finish with a final layer of potatoes. Scatter over the rest of the tomatoes and now the parsley. Cover with breadcrumbs and yeast flakes or parmesan, if using. Drizzle over the final tablespoon of olive oil.
   

6. Gently pour approximately 1 ½ cups of water into the side of the dish. Cover and bake in a preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove cover and bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden brown and the vegetables and rice are soft.
   

7. Once removed from the oven, allow to cool slightly before serving, as the casserole will be easier to slice and serve.