Spanish Summer Rice One Pot

Summer time is definitely upon us in Devon this week and today has been no exception with a beautiful day spent shopping and munching in the sunshine with my boyfriend.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to enjoy this glorious weather until this afternoon (don’t feel too bad for me I’ve had an amazing first week, in a very warm office, at my internship at Food Magazine) so this evening I wanted to complement the pleasant evening heat with a summer dish, perfect for alfresco dining. Warm weather always leaves me craving a taste of the Mediterranean so I decided upon a chicken rice dish filled with classic Spanish flavours. After a very tipsy evening at a friend’s hen party last night (remind me never to get on a pole on a moving party bus again) I needed a bit of a health kick so this dish is super healthy, containing all of your five a day. Even better it has fewer than 500 calories whilst still tasting delicious and leaving you feeling satisfied.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

•          ½ of a small red onion
•          2 garlic cloves
•          Teaspoon of olive oil
•          1 small red pepper
•          ½ of a courgette
•          8 cherry tomatoes
•          1 chicken breast
•          1 teaspoon of harissa
•          50g rice
•          250ml chicken stock
•          1 teaspoon each of mixed herbs, smoked paprika, hot paprika
•          50g frozen peas
•          3 balls of frozen chopped spinach
•          3 tablespoons of lemon juice

Method:

Start by finely chopping the onion and garlic, pop these into a wide, shallow pan and place this onto the hob on a low heat with a little olive oil. Whilst they’re cooking, slice the pepper, courgette and tomatoes into bite size pieces, and once the onion starts to brown, add the rest of the veg into the pan. Let the pan sizzle away whilst you cut up the chicken and then chuck this in too.

When the chicken starts to brown, add the harissa, rice, stock and spices then give all the ingredients a good stir in the pan, before covering with a lid. Leave the rice to cook and soak up all the juices for around 15 minutes. Check the pan every few minutes and give it a stir with a wooden spoon, if the mixture starts to stick to the bottom just add a little more water.

When the rice is nearly soft add the frozen peas and spinach, mixing them with all the other ingredients, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Take the pan from the hob, stir in the lemon juice and you’re ready to serve!