Mediterranean Vegetable Rice with Cannellini (white kidney) beans

One of mine and Pete's favourite dishes to make is something we call 'blue cheese rice thing' (as in 'what should we have. I've been meaning to blog it for a while, but never got round to it, and now I'm pregnant (32 weeks!) blue cheese has been off the menu for the last seven months. Which makes me very sad, and as soon as I've had the baby (sometime in November) I plan to practically eat my own weight in blue cheese, so expect a lot of recipes containing it then!

Moving on to this recipe, it has a similar base (rice + cannellini beans) but no cheese. It was one of my 'I'll just throw some ingredients together and see how it turns out' recipe. Thankfully, it worked really well. The olives are entirely optional but do really add to the dish, so I'd recommend keeping them in, unless you dislike them, in which case go ahead and omit them. I've found in the past that dill can be a really over powering flavour, so if you want to omit it (or don't have it in your store cupboard) then go ahead; I added only half a teaspoon to add to the flavour of the dish without being too dominant.

The dish is sort of like a risotto but using basmati rice instead of risotto rice because risotto rice is a) expensive and b) a bit too much effort. I cook this using the 'reduction method' of rice cooking which basically means adding twice as much liquid as rice (in volume), putting a lid on the pan and leaving it to cook.

Ingredients:

1 red onion
3 cloves garlic
2 peppers - any colour (I used one red and one yellow)
2 courgettes
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans
80g olives, sliced (optional; use more or less as you see fit)
1 tsp dired parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried dill
Salt and pepper

2 cups rice (I weighed it at approx 370g)
4 cups vegetable stock (approx 900ml)
Instructions:

1. Chop onion and crush garlic, and fry in oil on a medium heat until softened.

2. Slice courgettes in half and cut thickly. Chop the pepper into 1 cm squares. Add both to the pan and fry for 5 minutes or so until they begin to soften.

3. Rinse the rice, add to the pan, and stir for a couple of minutes until translucent. Add the stock and dried herbs, and bring to the boil.

4. Once boiling, turn the heat down and cover with a lid. Whilst the rice cooks, drain the beans and slice the olives (if using).

5. Cook the rice for around 10 - 15 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed. Add the beans and olives and stir through. 

6. Continue to cook until all the stock has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper and serve.