Sausage & Sweetcorn Rice Bake

Ingredients

• 8 pork sausages, sliced into chunks
• 600ml hot chicken stock
• 300g long-grain rice, rinsed
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 120g frozen peas
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 200ml passata
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200g sweetcorn, drained if tinned
• 180g mature Cheddar, grated
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 4 tbsp soured cream
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Green salad, to serve
• Coleslaw, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C fan. Warm the olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole over medium-high heat and brown the sausage chunks for about 6 minutes, turning, until golden on all sides.
2. Stir in the onion and red pepper and cook for 6 minutes until softened and just starting to catch at the edges. Add the garlic and smoked paprika and cook for 1 minute more, until fragrant.
3. Tip in the rinsed rice and stir for 1 minute so every grain is glossed with the spiced oil. Pour in the hot stock and passata, season generously with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.
4. Cover tightly and transfer to the oven for 20 minutes.
5. Stir through the sweetcorn and frozen peas, scatter over most of the Cheddar, re-cover and bake for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and has drunk up the liquid.
6. Uncover, scatter the remaining cheese over the top and bake for a final 8 minutes until bubbling and golden in patches.
7. Rest for 5 minutes, then fluff gently with a fork. It should eat like a cheesy jambalaya-ish bake with snappy sausage in every spoonful.
8. Scatter over the spring onions, finish with a crack of black pepper, and bring to the table with soured cream, crusty bread, a green salad and coleslaw alongside.