Porkkanalaatiko: Finnish Carrot and Rice Casserole

I've recently discovered the simplicity and nutritious cooking of Finland. This hard to pronounce main dish is an easy crowd-pleaser that won't leave your pants tighter. The dish makes about 8 servings, each at 150 calories. I chose to make this dish because of the big bag of carrots that were drying out in my fridge that I had to use before Christmas. I love the vibrant color of this dish. The only thing I would change is adding more carrots and pureeing them fully instead of just using the immersion blender.

Ingredients you'll need:
1 cup white rice
1 pound of baby carrots (about 42 of them)
1 egg
1.5 cups milk (separated)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
Butter (the recipe calls for this, but I didn't use it and used Pam to grease the casserole dish)
Breadcrumbs or broken-up cornflakes for a gluten-free dish (optional)
Casserole dish

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Cook the rice (use 2 generous cups of water) and cover with a lid to keep the moisture
3. Boil the carrots until when poked with a fork they split in half. You can't really cook them too much, but cooking them too little will make it difficult to puree.
4. Once the carrots are done, strain the water and pour 1/2 cup of milk into the carrots and blend with an immersion blender or food processor.
5. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together one egg. Then add 1 cup of milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir.
6. Combine rice and carrot puree into the medium mixing bowl with the eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir until just combined.
7. Grease (or spray with Pam) a casserole dish and pour the mixture into the casserole dish and cover. The recipe calls for breadcrumbs, but if you're gluten-free you can use cornflakes or just leave them off. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top.
8. This step is decorative, as many Finnish recipes are. Use a serving spoon and turn it so it is convex and make three rows of indents into the top of the dish. (Optional)
9. Leave in the oven on the middle rack for 35-40 minutes.
10. Enjoy!