Friday was Bob's birthday and I fixed a very simple dish that I knew he would enjoy, Southwestern Chicken And Rice. I also fixed bread pudding, his favorite dessert, which failed miserably. Maybe it was my forgetting to include the milk in the custard? Hmmm, yes that was probably it. He swore the pudding was fine, but I know he was being a good sport about the whole thing. He also said he enjoyed the chicken and rice, but I believe he spoke the truth about that. This recipe is a one pot meal, very simple and enjoyable. The rice, loaded with corn, black beans, and cheese, has a creamy taste somewhat like risotto. The whole dish is prepared in one pot in only a few steps, which is a great relief on days when you can't find much time to spare for cooking much of anything.
One pot the recipe says and one pot it is. You brown chicken in a dutch oven. Then after setting the chicken aside, saute onions and garlic and rice in the pot. The chicken is put back in the pot, along with stock and wine. The one odd thing was the amount of liquid the recipe called for. Cook's swore that the amount of liquid was necessary. I simply couldn't add that much liquid to rice when it was cooked this way. I used less than the recipe specified and it came out fine.
Once the rice absorbed the liquid, the chicken was removed to serving plates and the corn, black beans, cheese and cilantro were mixed into the rice. It all melds together into a creamy, good tasting faux risotto.
Now, about that bread pudding, which was flavored with chocolate and expresso powder. The recipe called for a cup of cream and a cup of milk, the latter of which was mistakenly omitted. It was a sorry looking mess when it came out of the oven. Wasn't it nice of Bob to swear it was good? It wasn't.
One-Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice (Cook's Illustrated)
Serves 4
You can substitute any semi-soft shredded cheese, such as fontina, Gouda, or Colby, for the cheddar.
4 split bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or 4 thighs
2 tablespoons salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped medium
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic , minced
1-1/2 cups long grain white rice
3-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I only used 3 cups of broth and feared that was excessive, but it was OK)
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 ounces cheddar cheese , shredded (1 cup)
1 15.5 ounce can of black beans, drained, and rinsed with water
1 10 ounce package of frozen corn, thawed and patted dry
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salsa for serving
1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
2. Add the onion, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the fat in the pot and place over medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the rice and cook until the edges turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the broth and wine and bring to a simmer.
4. Return the chicken to the pot, skin-side up. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the chicken is fully cooked through and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 25 minutes.
5. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Stir in the black beans, corn, cheese, and cilantro. Let the cheddar melt for 1 minute. Season the rice mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with salsa.
Sher, love the look of your chicken rice! Love the idea of using black beans in the rice, too. Remind me of the Cuban black bean rice I used to eat. :D
Posted by: Anh | January 15, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Sher, this looks so lovely. I would love this. I guess I could have this and make plain rice for my husband; he only wants sugar on his rice.
Posted by: Tanna | January 15, 2007 at 12:19 AM
I love that rice absorbed all the flavors from beans and chicken!
Your bread pudding although doesn't carry that excessive creamy liquid (due to no milk), the taste shouldn't be affected. I think :D
Posted by: gattina | January 15, 2007 at 04:02 AM
I love that rice absorbed all the flavors from chicken!
Your bread pudding although doesn't carry that excessive creamy liquid (due to no milk), the taste shouldn't be affected. I think :D
Posted by: gattina | January 15, 2007 at 04:03 AM
dear sher,
that does look absolutely wonderful, lucky bob [happy birthday!].
i started thinking [new for me! ;-)] that many non-veg cultures have a chicken and rice dish: variations on a theme, real soul food.
around here, it's chicken bog, 'low country cooking' of the coastal regions of south carolina. it adds smoked sausage and other spices -- there's a small town that even has an event based on it: Loris Bog-Off Festival
http://www.lorischambersc.com/bogoff.cfm
i make one that has your fave, cilantro...i'll send it rather than post it because maybe it's copyrighted, from a magazine article over 20 years ago: zubin mehta's "chicken mughlai" -- with brown sugar and sour cream, tomatoes, cardomom...and on and on with the ingredients. sorry, don't mean to be coy...i'll check out the legalities of republishing it, especially since i made a few adjustments over the years. [less hot and sweet, no $affron!]
thanks again.
Posted by: whaleshaman | January 15, 2007 at 07:29 AM
That sounds reely good, an I luv when Dad makes chick-hen. Bonnie won't eat people food, but I wanna try efurrything. I efun haf a chicken dance you can see at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lambj/132960435/
Posted by: Victor Tabbycat | January 15, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Sher, I just added that recipe to my "must do" list. Tomorrow, I'm doing a beef-based one in the crockpot - it also has black beans and corn in it, but is a chili. I heard on the weather we've got several more days of this bone-chilling cold. Our bathtub drainpipe froze! I took a shower and it won't drain. We had to put a space heater next to the pipe under the house to bust the ice clog. What fun. Stay warm.
Posted by: Cyndi | January 15, 2007 at 02:51 PM
What a nice birthday dinner. Never mind the bread pudding (and brave of you to post pictures). That's what back-up chocolate bars are for -- you do have back-up chocolate bars?
Posted by: cookiecrumb | January 15, 2007 at 03:21 PM
Oh I am salivating at the thought of that entire meal, and your bread pudding looks good! I love bread pudding!
What can you use as a substitute for a dutch oven? I don't have one.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 15, 2007 at 05:17 PM
Wow...I wanna skip dinner and go for desert
Posted by: Jeff | January 15, 2007 at 07:39 PM
Anh,
Thanks, I also enjoy black beans with rice--it's one of my favorite combinations.
Tanna,
Thank you. Yes, just put a little plain rice aside for your husband, and enjoy this for yourself! :)
Gattina,
I wish you could have seen and tasted that bread pudding, it was amazingly bad! Almost comical! But, the rice was good, thank heavens!
Whaleshaman,
I think rice dishes are very important in the South--and that Bog sounds very interesting. I got the Zuben Mehta recipe, thanks!
Victor,
You do the best chicken dance I've ever seen!
Cyndi,
I'm so sorry your drainpipe froze!! I wrapped my pipes, but I always wonder if we will have a disaster. I hope it all clears up for you soon! And one pot cooking is great!
Cookiecrumb,
Yes!! We have back-up chocolate, to munch out of hand, to put in coffee, etc. And it's healthy now--you've heard that I'm sure. :):)
Jennifer,
I think you could use any type of pot that has a cover and would be big enough to hold the rice and liquid. I will make a better bread pudding, that one was too awful! You have to trust me on this!!!
Jeff,
Yes, I want to do that frequently--but not THAT dessert!
Posted by: sher | January 15, 2007 at 10:27 PM
Yum - simple but sounds so delicious. We'll have to give this a try.... we'll be sure to let you know the results!
Posted by: Boston Chef | January 16, 2007 at 08:03 AM
Cool! I can use what I have then, I have a huge pot with a lid! I want to try this! When I do I will DEFINITELY let you know! Thanks Sher! :)
Posted by: Jennifer | January 16, 2007 at 09:44 AM
how did i miss this post!? chicken and rice is one of my fav things in the world. chicken flavored rice, mmmn. YUM!!
Posted by: aria | January 16, 2007 at 01:22 PM
What a great recipe! I love these foods combined. Thanks for posting this.
Posted by: Kristen | January 16, 2007 at 07:21 PM
Anything done in one-pot is popular in my kitchen. I'll have to cut it back for two, but it's definitly on my list to try.
Posted by: Katie | January 19, 2007 at 07:58 AM
Just wanted to say hellou
Posted by: Hillary | February 11, 2008 at 02:38 AM
I browse and saw you website and I found it very interesting.Thank you for the good work, greetings
Posted by: Helga | February 13, 2008 at 09:19 PM
Thanks for the information. Added you to bookmark))
Your new reader.
Posted by: Alex | October 03, 2008 at 07:59 AM
Thanks for visiting my blog . Yours is pretty interesting too!
Posted by: Loveblog | October 12, 2008 at 01:22 AM
hi, Give something for help the hungry people in Africa and India,
I made this blog about this subject:
on http://tinyurl.com/5t2jg6
Posted by: cheritycall | October 27, 2008 at 03:12 AM
Thank you for your site ;-)
I made with photoshop backgrounds for myspace or youtube and even more
my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/5cy5cq
Hope you had a good day and thank you again!
Posted by: createmo | November 02, 2008 at 01:02 AM