Brian and I just had a really yummy dinner prepared by my loving hand. Brian pick it out from his bicycling magazine and I cooked while he worked on his proposal. The recipe was for Spanish Chicken with Saffron Rice it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Here's the recipe:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon sunflower oil, divided (I just used vegetable oil)
Juice of half a lemon (Used the stuff in the bottle...it was on hand and doesn't make me a bad person)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 large red onion, diced (I hate doing this! I cry every time!)
3 carrots cut into half moon pieces (All we had was baby carrots. I figure 4 baby carrots=1 grown up carrot)
1 large, red bell pepper cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed (I just used plain old long grain, but I'm sure jasmine would be yummy.)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes with juice
3 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. crumbled saffron threads (This shit is 'spensive! Did not use!)
1/4 c. chopped green olives (I snacked on these on the side before, during, and after dinner. Brian is not an olive fan.)
1 cup fresh (or frozen and thawed) peas
I started with the rice since it took the longest. I used a cooking method we had done before when we made AB's rice pilaf. It's kinda weird, but makes super deliciously fluffy rice. It involves putting the rice in the oven so set it to 350. So you start out by chopping up your veggies and sauteing them in a pot with half the veggie oil, cumin, and paprika. Cook that for about 5 minutes then add your rice and give that a good stir. Let that go for about a minute then add your tomatoes, chicken broth, and bay leaves. This would also be when you add the saffron if you have the cash for that. Bring the rice to a boil. Now here's the weird part. I transferred my rice to my lovely Paula Dean for Walmart dutch oven. Next I got a dish towel good and wet and placed it over the rice. Then I put the lid on top of the towel, folding the parts of the towel that were hanging down over the top of the lid. Then I put the whole thing, rice, dutch, towel in a 350 oven It sounds weird, but like I said, yummy, fluffy rice.
While the rice cooked I worked on the chicken. Start out by heating the other half of the veggie oil in a cast iron skillet on high. Salt and pepper your chicken breasts. Brown your chicken breast in the skillet. About 4 minutes on each side. Then cook the chicken, uncovered in the oven for about 25 minutes. When it's done transfer it to a plate and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Cover and let it rest about 10 minutes. Then cut it into strips.
While the chicken was resting I added my peas (which I cooked in the microwave first) to the rice and gave that a stir. We dished the rice onto plates and topped with strips of chicken. It was super delicious. The chicken was very moist and had some crusty parts from being browned in the skillet. The rice was fluffy and had lots of flavor. The only thing we might change is the carrots. Brian doesn't like carrots and they seemed a little out of place in the rice. Definitely something we will try again!
Later this week we will be making corned beef and cabbage in celebration of St. Patty's Day. I'll let you know how it turns out! Happy Monday, First Day of Daylight Savings Week, March Madness, One Week 'til Spring Break! :o)
No comments:
Post a Comment