Tag: one pot

Portuguese Chicken & Rice (Arroz com Frango)

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Spring is a funny time of year here in the Northeast.  Some days it’s sunny and you want to stay outside and grill and enjoy the beautiful day and the very next week, you can have 5 days of clouds and rain.  It makes for an interesting trip to the market when trying to plan out meals.  One thing that works rain or shine and really can provide some rainy day comfort is this one pot Portuguese dish, Arroz com Frango (Chicken & Rice)!

I have loved chicken and rice ever since I was a little girl.  What’s not to love right?  There is a juicy flavorful chicken combined with equally flavorful rice and potatoes, not to mention the nuggets of chouriço that are tucked away in there.  It’s really everything you could want from Portuguese cooking all in one spot.

This meal is also quite versatile.  In my house, my dad has always been a big fan of chicken legs, so my mom always made it with just legs.  And if you like that, great, make it just like we do!  But, if you prefer thighs or even breasts, this recipe accommodates that too.  Also, we make this with beer as many of my Portuguese recipes have, but white wine works well too and if you don’t keep alcohol in the house, just use some chicken stock.  It will still be delicious!  The key here is those main Portuguese spices, the crushed red pepper, the chouriço (which is used as much for its flavor as for the meat itself), the garlic and of course the Portuguese All Spice (which can be swapped out for sweet paprika in a pinch).

It’s an easy recipe that has something for the whole family.  Take a look at how I do it…

Start with some fresh chicken. I prefer legs for this recipe, but thighs would be great and if you only do breast, then that works too. I also prefer that it have skin as the skin imparts quite a bit of flavor. It can be removed after cooking if you like.

Start by searing your chicken. (Sorry this picture is so dark! It’s a big dark pot.)

You want to get every side.

Remove the chicken from the pot.

Peel and slice up some hot chouriço.

Chop up a large onion.

Saute the onion in the chicken fat you have just rendered. If not enough fat has been rendered, then you can add some olive oil.

Add in chouriço.

Get a few cloves of garlic.

Smash them with your knife and this makes the peel easy to remove. Add the peeled garlic into the pot.

Chop up about 6-8 potatoes… You want about one small potato per piece of chicken you are using or 1 large for every two pieces.

Add in a bottle of beer. Use that bottle of beer to measure out about 6-8 more of water. (white wine can be substituted for the beer)

Measure out your rice. This is NOT par boiled, medium grain rice. Uncle Ben’s does not work here, neither does any kind of quick cooking rice. Just good old-fashioned rice. I like River Rice.

Add rice into pot.

Add in one small can of tomato sauce.

And one to two heaping Tbs. of ground red pepper.

Add in a good pinch of kosher salt.

Add in Portuguese All Spice. If you don’t have this handy, add in about a tsp. of sweet paprika. (NOT SMOKY)

Keep an eye on it, if the rice needs more water. Once the potatoes have cooked through and the rice is plump and has absorbed most of the liquid, You are through.

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Portuguese Chicken & Rice (Arroz com Frango)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. chicken, skin on

8-10 small potatoes, peeled and diced

4 cups medium grain white rice

1 large onion, diced

1 beer (or 1 cup white wine or chicken stock)

3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled

1 lb. hot chouriço, peeled and sliced

1 (6 oz.) can tomato sauce

2 Tbs. Pimenta moida (crushed red pepper)

1/2 tsp. Portuguese All Spice

1 Tbs. kosher salt

8 cups water

Instructions:

In a large heavy pot over high heat, sear chicken.  Remove chicken from pot and turn heat down to medium heat.  Add in onions, saute.  Add in chouriço and garlic.  Add chicken back in to pot.  Add in beer, water, rice, potatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, All Spice and salt.  Stir.  Cover and cook on low until potatoes are fork tender and rice has plumped to become fully cooked and absorbed most of the liquid.  Watch pot throughout cooking time, stirring and adding water if needed.  

*This is a gluten free recipe so long as white wine is used in lieu of beer.

Lemon Dijon Chicken

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Sometimes you just need something quick and easy. It doesn’t get much quicker or easier than my Lemon Dijon Chicken!  This recipe has a 10 minute prep time and a 20 minute cook time! And if you have an oven safe skillet, this meal is a one pan meal making clean up time quick too, what more can you ask for right?

It’s also a very versatile dish.  My husband and I are living low carb these days so I didn’t pair it with anything.  But, at the end of preparation you are left with a little bit of a sauce that can be tossed with pasta or egg noodles.  You could also serve the chicken over wild rice or quinoa and top with gravy.  Or if you have a little more time on your hands you can mash up some potatoes or cauliflower (to keep it low-carb!) and use the gravy to top it off.

Start with two boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Pound them out a bit, not too much, but just enough to give you a consistent size throughout the breast.

cut

slice about an inch or so thick going against the grain of the meat.

salt and pepper

Salt and pepper. Set aside for a minute while you make the sauce.

dijon and oil

Mix together 3 Tbls. Dijon mustard and 3 Tbls. olive oil.

Add in the juice of half a lemon.

mix lemons_edited-1

Put the lemon you just squeezed in along with the rest of the lemon sliced up.

Add in 1 Tbls. Herbs de Provence, 1 tsp. kosher salt and 1/2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper. Mix together.

Now, I made some bacon for my salad earlier today, so I reserved the bacon fat to fry up my chicken. If you don’t happen to have reserved bacon fat around, you can just combine about 2 Tbs. of salted butter with 2 Tbls. of olive oil. Turn your burner to high heat. The goal here is not to cook through, but just to sear and get some browning.

After about a minute or two, turn chicken, this is what you should see. Give it just one more minute and turn off burner. As you can see, chicken is still pretty raw.

Now, just pour the sauce right over the chicken, stir together.

At this point, my skillet is both non-stick and oven-safe. If yours is not, transfer to a greased baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F. As soon as you take it out of the oven, sprinkle with Panko bread crumbs. Serve.

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Recipe for Lemon Dijon Chicken:

(serves 2)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Tbs. Dijon mustard

3 Tbs. Olive oil

1 lemon

2 Tbs. Herbs de Provence

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to sprinkle on chicken

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper, plus more to sprinkle on chicken

4 Tbs. bacon fat (or 2 Tbs. salted butter plus 2 Tbs. olive oil)

2 Tbs. Panko bread crumbs

Parsley

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Prepare chicken by lightly pounding and slicing to about 1″ pieces.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

For the sauce: Combine mustard, oil, the juice of half a lemon, sliced remainder of lemon, Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper.

Brown on pre-heated skillet with burner turned to high.  Only brown one to two minutes on either side.  Chicken is still raw when done with this step.  Pour sauce over chicken.  Mix together.  Place in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.  Immediately upon removing from oven sprinkle with Panko and some parsley. Serve hot.

Enjoy.