Spicy rice and sausage

(Adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course)

This recipe normally uses spiced sausages, like Italian chilli, but it’s perfectly acceptable to use ordinary sausages.  Smoked paprika has a barbecuey flavour that makes this recipe so delicious. The alcohol doesn’t have to be posh; I once used a glass of Strongbow instead of white wine, and it still tasted good!

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

Olive oil, for frying

1 red onion, sliced

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

A pack of sausages

1 heaped tsp smoked paprika

200g long grain rice

½ glass white wine (red wine or cider would do)

500ml chicken stock

4 spring onions

1 tomato

Flat leaf parsley (or any other fresh herb)

Method:

Add a glug of oil to a heavy-based casserole dish or deep saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the pepper and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Slit the sausage skins and crumble the sausage meat into the pan, then cook over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes until coloured. Add the paprika and mix. Season to taste.

Add the rice and stir well to mix thoroughly and absorb the flavour. Deglaze the pan by pouring in the white wine and scraping any bits stuck to the bottom. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 15–20 minutes until the rice is tender and the liquid almost entirely absorbed.

Remove from the heat, gently fold in the spring onions, tomato and parsley and serve.