Creamed Rice With English Peas and Country Ham

The texture and flavor of this dish are excellently suited for toddler food

Oh no- one of my few NYT recipes that didn’t work out! I attempted to make with brown rice, but despite my best efforts and almost 3 hours of adding liquid and stirring, the rice was not soft. I finally gave up and covered it and let it simmer but I still did not achieve success. It was edible, but definitely not worth the time investment and I will not try this again. Glad I was just cooking for me tonight! So sad…

Made this with xmas I had in freezer and homemade turkey broth, used less cream 3/4 c and it was great--got into a zone as I stirred listening to John Prine...will be eating the left overs all week for my daily meal.

I was in a pinch for heavy cream and added Greek Yogurt with a splash of water instead. Lovely!

A very fussy recipe, and no need for it. Why can't you boil the rice in chicken stock? I stood at the stove for more than an hour, stirring and stirring, and to tell the truth, the rice was turning into liquid. I doubled the amount of ham (feel free to use even more), doubled the amount of peas, and put pepper in. My husband still couldn't really taste it (he can't taste too well if flavors are not vivid). I don't see the need for dry white wine, but I put it in anyway. Needs more flavor!

Perfect for using Christmas leftovers and so simple!!

Adding this to my favorite comfort foods list. I used Thai Jasmine rice (because that's what I had on hand) and substituted half and half for heavy cream to cut a few calories. Also added a turn of freshly ground nutmeg at the end. I will experiment with other vegetables (asparagus?) and proteins in future. This is essentially a creamy risotto.

Less rice, less cream

Used 1 c of cream(because I had some), with 1/2 c water. It was a lovely, light creamy sauce doing a perfect job of coating the ham and peas. I increased the amount of ham and peas. A delicious “comfort” dish for this snowy northern night.

I trimmed the fat from the country ham and sautéed in avocado oil. Diced the crisp fat and tossed over the finished dish. Why waste the flavor?

Delicious w/ my tweaks :). Did a saute of 1/2 an onion before adding rice. Only used 1 c of cream(all I had-plenty rich enough). Did a quick saute with the other 1/2 of the onion and garlic, then added ham (2cups) and peas(1.5cups). So good. Versatile, could do with chicken and asparagus/mushrooms...any number of combos.

My husband is diabetic so I substituted riced cauliflower for the rice and decreased the liquids by half. To thicken the sauce, I sprinkled a little flour. It all worked beautifully! And because I like my leafy greens cooked with my meal, I added some spinach. From start to finish, 30 minutes!

Only had brown rice. Still good but need extra liquid and time.

I certainly agree with wesb: saute minced onion first, add the chopped ham and peas, and have this warm mixture ready to add at the end. I only used about a half cup of cream; the dish was rich enough with my good homemade chicken stock. But unless you have the real thing -- salty, dry country ham -- it needs a LOT more ham! I threw in a good cup of ham left over from Easter, finely chopped. The family loved it.

So what I found so interesting about this recipe is the use of heavy cream in a risotto. Traditionally risotto begins with minced onion sweated in butter, so we began there. And instead of water to start, we began and stayed with chicken stock. The alternation of stock and cream created this amazing rich texture. For ham, we used left over Easter roasted ham and we doubled the peas. Lastly, since this is creamy, we added a dash of nutmeg with freshly grated Parmesan reggiano. It was delicious!