Preparing Spicy Sausage Rice

Spicy Sausage Rice is a recipe from Gordon Ramsay that would suit anyone on a budget especially students or those balancing household budgets. It is a take on all those recipes from the Med. that use chorizo, Toulouse, Merguez or Tuscan sausages. It is a very Italianate dish but this all depends on where the sausage comes from.

Whilst the olive oil helps fry the onion, its the fat from the sausage that truly adds flavour in this dish. Ingredients like paprika lend additional spiciness and smoky flavour. 

The rice is ‘blasted’ in this recipe where it is sautéed for 30 seconds and then as it cooks it starts to soak up all that fabulous unctuous flavour from the sizzling sausage and pepper mix. The wine then deglazes the pan and brings back into play all the flavour that has coated the pan.

This version is taken from his Youtube recipe so the amounts have been estimated but the original will be in his book ‘Ultimate Cookery Course’.  

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 5-6 spicy Italian sausages – skin removed and broken up into 1 inch sized pieces. 
• 1 large red onion – peeled and chopped into slices
• 1 tbsp olive oil -no more
• 1 red pepper – sliced but NOT diced
• 2 cloves garlic – sliced only
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 150g white rice
• 1 large glass of white wine
• 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock
• 5 spring onions – sliced and chopped up. Stems especially useful here. 
• 6 cherry tomatoes – diced up. 
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley – roughly chopped including stems. 

Preparation:

1. Take the sausages and pierce the skin by splitting with a sharp knife down the centre. Take the sausage meat out and break up into small pieces.
2. Heat a casserole dish/frying pan or skillet. Add the olive oil and heat.
3. Add the onion slices. Fry for about 5-6 minutes so they begin to caramelise, add the peppers and the garlic.
4. Turn up the gas whilst keeping frying to really tenderize it all.
5. Make a well in the pan. Add pieces of crumbled sausage. Stir all of it quickly. 
6. Add the paprika and then the rice – cook for a minute.
7. Add the glass of white wine and make sure to stir the bottom and sides to release the brown sticky coating of oil and spice. 
8. Add the stock, turn the heat down and allow to simmer (Double the stock volume to rice) for 12 to 15 minutes. No need to put the lid on here.
9. Give an occasional stir to make sure nothing starts burning on the sides of the pan.
10. After 15 minutes or so of simmering, add the spring onions, tomatoes, parsley.
11. Immediately turn the heat off or remove the pan from the heat so that the remaining three vegetables and herb just bed down into the dish. 
12. Serve.