Herbed Comfort-food Chicken
Elizabeth Yarnell’s original recipe in “Glorious One-Pot Meals” uses chicken breasts and potatoes; this adaptation uses a rice blend and chicken thighs. Boneless, skinless thighs are fine if you can get them; if they have skin and bones, they’ll look prettier and taste better if you brown them, skin side down, in olive oil in a cast iron skillet before putting them in your Dutch oven. Adapted from “Glorious One-Pot Meals,” serves 4.
Ingredients
2 cups brown and long-grain rice blend, such as Countrywild
2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 chicken thighs, depending on size
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 thin carrots, cut in bite-size chunks
2 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme or herb blend
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Rinse rice in a strainer until the water runs clear. Spray a 5-quart Dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray or oil lightly. Place rice, broth, olive oil and salt in bottom of oven. Add boneless skinless thighs or browned, skin-on, bone-in thighs on top of rice in a single layer. Add a dash of pepper if desired. Layer vegetables atop and around chicken, first carrots, then squash, then peppers; sprinkle on herbs.
Cover pot and place in oven for 55 minutes or until aroma begins wafting from oven. Check temperature on largest of chicken thighs; if it hasn’t reached 170, return pot to oven for another five minutes. If chicken is done, check condition of rice; if it’s not done yet, also recover and return to oven; it won’t hurt chicken to cook longer. If rice looks dry, you can add more broth before returning to oven.
Wine ideas: This casserole could easily go with any number of white wines, from mild, easy pinot grigios to vanilla-licked, oak-aged chardonnays. But when the weather turns cool, I like to pair it with the soft, plummy fruit and herbal notes of a Côtes du Rhône – thereby allowing me to imagine I’m in the south of France even as snow piles up outside my kitchen. A current favorite is Oriel’s Courant, a $15 syrah-grenache blend with plenty enough umph for the dark meat bits and yet enough acidity and herbal essences to let the seasoning of the dish come through.
Tara Q. Thomas
