using up the box part 4: baked king prawn and broad bean rice

On thursday i was slightly hungover from the pizza night at dave's. when i got home i wanted to eat something with minimum effort involved. this recipe definitely fits the bill.

I saved it to my recipe database last year. It came from the February 2007 issue of delicious magazine and was part of an article about money-saving meals. In terms of this recipe I agree it's fairly low-cost. The most expensive ingredient was the king prawns. I usually keep a bag of prawns in the freezer for when i make fried rice anyways. You could say it's one of my freezer staples.

A bit about the broad beans from the organic box. For this recipe I actually used up broad beans that i received 2 weeks in a row. They were still in their pods. With fresh broad beans you actually have to pod them twice. First you remove them from the long green pods, and then you blanch them for about 30 seconds and remove the individual beans from their second pod. Before the second podding they look fairly translucent. But once you take off the second pod, you see the bright green beauties.

Baked King Prawn and Broad Bean Rice
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 slices chorizo, sliced into thin shreds
olive oil
300 g long grain rice
2 tsp paprika
750ml hot chicken stock
300g prawns, shelled and deveined
85g broad beans, double podded

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/fan170C. Heat some olive oil in an ovenproof casserole. Add the onion, garlic and chorizo and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.


2. Stir in the rice and paprika and cook for 30 seconds. Pour over the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Cover with lid and put in the oven for 20 minutes.


3. Remove the pot from the oven. Stir in the prawns and broad beans and return to the oven for another 6-8 minutes.