Provençal Camargue rice pilaf with garden vegetables

Pasos

1. Prep your garden vegetables: peel and finely dice the yellow onion. Core and seed the red bell pepper, then cut it into small, even dice. Wash the zucchini without peeling and cut it into similarly sized small cubes. Blanch the fresh tomatoes in boiling water, peel, seed, and coarsely chop the flesh. Peel, germ, and mince the garlic cloves.
2. In a cast-iron skillet or heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, pour the extra-virgin olive oil and heat over medium heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the diced onion and red bell pepper. Sweat for five minutes, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, until the onion is translucent and soft without browning.
3. Add the diced zucchini and minced garlic to the pot. Continue cooking over medium heat for three minutes. The vegetables should begin to soften while retaining their shape.
4. Pour the raw Camargue rice into the pan. Toast the grains over medium-low heat for two to three minutes, stirring constantly to coat them thoroughly with the oil and juices, until they turn translucent and crackle gently.
5. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh thyme, and bay leaf, then season with fine Camargue salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir for one minute to combine the ingredients well.
6. In a separate pot, bring the vegetable broth to a rolling boil. Pour the boiling broth all at once over the toasted rice. As soon as the entire surface returns to a simmer, level the rice gently with a spatula without crushing it, then immediately reduce the heat to very low.
7. Cover the pan tightly with its lid. Cook without stirring or lifting the lid for eighteen minutes, until the rice has fully absorbed the broth by steaming.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and let it rest, covered, for five minutes to allow the steam to finish settling. Remove the lid, discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, then gently fluff the rice with a fork and serve immediately.