Rice with Tomato Pesto and Mozzarella

As you can see from the massive amounts of recipes I'm posting tonight, I haven't spent much time sharing recipes with you! For the past few months I haven't branched out to try very many new recipes. I've spent a lot of time re-making the recipes already posted on the blog. Tonight, I decided to try a new recipe with ingredients that I've never even tasted before. I have never tasted capers (partially because I always thought they were fish eggs) and I've never tried arugula. While the strange combination of ingredients in this recipe seem  not quite right on paper, they sure taste great together!

The recipe does call for almonds, but I omitted them due to allergies.

-Sarah

Rice with Tomato Pesto and Mozzarella

From “Vegetarian: Create Great-Tasting Dishes through the Seasons” by Ting Morris, Rachel Lane and Carla Bardi

Ingredients:

12 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon salt-cured capers, rinsed and drained.

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 cups long-grain rice

2 cups arugula

6 ounces mini mozzarella balls

Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, cheese, capers, oil, lemon juice (and almonds, optional) in a food processor. Process until smooth. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the rice, and boil until tender. Drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the tomato pesto and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the arugula on four serving dishes and top with rice. Place the mozzarella balls on top. Serve immediately.