"Spanish" Rice

[aquinasprime]

This is my variation on a dish from my childhood, that my husband and children love. It's a one-pot meal that takes about an hour and a half of prep/cooking time (it can be done in as little as an hour, but two kids preclude that in my house). My mother always called it Spanish Rice, but there really isn't anything Spanish about it. It also happens to be the only recipe that I use that still calls for green peppers. I wouldn't substitute yellow, red or orange here, their sweetness works against them in this recipe.



Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb of your favorite polish sausage, cut into chunks (we use Wardynski's - a local brand)
2 green peppers, chopped
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 c arborio rice
4 c water

Sweat the onions in some olive oil until they become translucent. Add the sausage and let them brown for a few minutes. Once you are happy with the browning on the sausage add the peppers. Let them cook for a few minutes. Add the rice and allow it to toast in the pan for about 1 min. Mix in the tomato paste and let it cook for another minute. Add the water. At this point it should look like this:

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Let the mixture cook on medium heat until the rice is done and nearly all the liquid is absorbed. You may need to add more water. When its done it should look like this



In my house, we dish this into bowls. Sprinkle with red pepper flake, grated parmesan cheese. I tend to stuff it into a split thin pita pocket with lettuce and eat it that way. I'm partial to the style of pita made at Pete's Lebanese Bakery , another local favorite.