Dirty rice ‘n’ peas

Dirty rice ‘n’ peas

This more-ish rice dish has two inspirations: the smoky flavours of Louisiana in America’s Deep South, and rice ’n’ peas from the Caribbean (where beans are usually called peas)

FREE

Serves 4

If you don’t fancy preparing the squash yourself, look out for prepared squash in the supermarket chiller cabinets – you’ll need about 600g. * Shop-bought spice mixes/blends are Free as long as they’re only made from herbs and spices and don’t include any Synned ingredients like sugar, flour and oil. Check the label to be sure and count the Syns if necessary.

 

3 celery sticks, cut into small chunks

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into small chunks (or see tip)

2 yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into small chunks

2 unsmoked gammon steaks, visible fat removed, cut into bite-size chunks

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus sprigs to serve

1 heaped tsp Cajun seasoning* (see tip)

250g dried long-grain rice

750ml boiling chicken stock

400g can or carton black beans, drained

 

Place a large non-stick casserole pan over a medium heat. Add the celery, onion, squash, yellow peppers, gammon and 3 tbsp water and cook for 10 minutes or until the veg are beginning to soften, stirring frequently. Add a splash more water if needed.

Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, thyme, Cajun seasoning and rice, stir well and pour over the stock. Bring to the boil then cover, reduce the heat to very low and simmer for 12 minutes.

Stir in the black beans and warm through gently. Season with freshly ground black pepper and scatter with thyme sprigs to serve.