Rice casserole with apricots

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 liter of milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 lemon(s) – peel
• 250 g rice (short grain rice)
• 1 small can/s apricot(s), halved
• 50 g hazelnuts
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes

Heat the milk with the salt and lemon zest. Add the washed and drained rice, boil briskly for 2 minutes while stirring, then cover and reduce heat to very low. Remove the lemon zest. Let the rice porridge cool, stirring frequently. Drain the canned apricots and reserve the juice. Grate the nuts or chop them in a blender. Separate the eggs into yolks and egg whites. In a bowl, beat the butter with the sugar and egg yolks until fluffy, then mix in the cooled rice porridge and grated nuts. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks and fold into the rice porridge. Grease the baking dish with 1 tbsp butter. Layer the rice porridge with the apricot halves in the baking dish. The bottom and top layers are the rice porridge. Spread the top layer of rice porridge over the apricot halves so that the tops are still visible. The dish should only be 3/4 full. Add the remaining butter (2 tbsp) in small pieces to the casserole, and bake on the middle rack for 45 minutes. Serve with the drained juice of the canned apricots.