One Pot Chicken and Rice

Oh little blog, how neglected you are!  I've been cooking and crafting away since the holidays, but not taking time to enter the fun details here.  This recipe is the perfect example.  I made it for the first time December 10th (according to the date stamp on the photo) and have easily made it a half dozen times since then.  Each time I have to go to the pin, rather than using my own tweaked notes!  Crazysauce.  So let's try to remedy that, shall we?

The original recipe comes courtesy of Natasha's Kitchen, and kudos to her for finding such a flavorful way to pull these common ingredients together.  I've tried other chicken and rice casseroles that included broccoli and cheese but somehow failed to come together as well as this one does.  I'm also happy to share that after just a couple times making this recipe, I was able to find the tweaks I needed to get it just right in my eyes.  One of those involves knife skills.  Fun!

One Pot Chicken and Rice

Prep time: 15 minutes  Cook time: 30 min

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks (skinny sticks, ~2" long; see tutorial here), though I prefer julienne
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 cup white wine, such as Chardonnay (or 1/2 cup water:1/2 cup chicken broth mixture)
• 5 cups hot chicken broth (I usually warm it up in a separate pot, which makes this a two-pot meal, but you can microwave it, too)
• 2 cups Jasmine rice
• 1 head garlic, top and some of the peel cut off but leaving root in tact (see here)
• 1/3 cup fresh curly parsley (not flat leaf), chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

Directions

1. You definitely need to prep all of your ingredients beforehand!  Have them nicely laid out in the order you'll need them.
2. Heat oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a dutch oven (large, heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid) on medium/high heat.  Stir in onion, carrots, and 1 teaspoon of the salt and turn heat down to medium.  Sautee until soft and golden, 8-10 minutes.  If onion begins to brown too quickly, turn heat down to medium/low.
3. Add chicken, the other teaspoon of salt, pepper, and bay leaves.  Saute until chicken is golden all over, 5 minutes.
4. Turn the heat up to high and add the white wine.  Boil down the wine, scraping the bottom, until most of the wine has evaporated (3-5 minutes).
5. Add the hot chicken broth, then stir in the rice.
6. Nestle the cut and partially peeled head of garlic into the center of the pot.  Bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.
7. Turn off the heat, scoop out the garlic head and discard, and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until melted and incorporated.  Then stir in the parsley and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.  Serve with a small sprinkle of Parmesan on top.

Looks so great as it all cooks up!  I can taste it now.  Gaah!

One-Pot Pasta with Shrimp

I should probably just sign up for a daily Martha Stewart recipe or something by now, because I seriously love pretty much every recipe I've tried from this woman's domestic machine.  The most recent of these is a one-pan pasta dish, which I only modified a bit.

What an appetizing bowl of pasta to serve up for the family!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces linguine
• 12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups' worth)
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used a little less because I worry about heat, but could have easily done the full 1/2 teaspoon or more)
• 2 sprigs basil, plus torn leaves for topping
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 to 1 pound shrimp, peeled and tails removed (I actually used pre-cooked shrimp)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (I actually skipped this, and liked it better just with olive oil)

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except for shrimp and Parmesan cheese in a large straight-sided skillet or pot.  I used a pot because I was not confident that all of this would fit in my largest pan.  Bring to a boil and toss with tongs occasionally.  Boil 9 minutes, or until pasta is al dente and water is almost all evaporated.  Add shrimp to pot the last minute of cooking time and cook until just pink and beginning to curl.  Do not overcook.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Garnish with torn basil, drizzle of olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

Seriously, how easy is that?!?  Some chopping and 15 minutes to boil/cook everything, and you have a pretty impressive dinner to dish out.  Perfect for a weeknight meal.

Everything all situated in my stock pot.

Bubble bubble!  This is the last minute when I tossed in my shrimp.