Rice with Chicken and SausageI was thinking about making a Jambalaya or a Chicken Cacciatore. I had a dozen chicken thighs and five Italian hot sausages in the fridge – along with about eight cups of chicken stock in the freezer. So I reached for one of my favorite cookbooks, the venerable New York Times International Cookbook by Craig Claiborne (mine is a first edition hardcover from 1971). I turned to the index and looked for chicken, and what caught my eye was a Spanish dish of rice with chicken and sausage – hey, I had all of those! So, using only what I had on hand, I prepared this very simple, tasty recipe.
I thoroughly washed and patted dry the dozen thighs, then cut each one in half. Next, I whisked together about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of Spanish smoked sweet paprika. I poured this over the chicken in a bowl and mixed it well with my hands, making sure every piece was evenly covered. I covered the bowl and put it into the refrigerator to marinate for about 45 minutes.
Next, I cut a half pound of bacon into quarter-inch slices and the sausages into one-inch pieces and got them cooking in a sauté pan.
I finely chopped two medium onions, two green peppers and five cloves of garlic and stirred it into the pan.
I let this simmer over medium heat for at least 30 minutes, tossing and stirring until the onion was limp and the sausage and bacon were well on their way to being cooked. I moved the entire contents into to a large casserole pan (a hotel pan), stirred in one cup of stock, one and a half teaspoons of crushed saffron threads, salt, pepper and about 20 pimento stuffed green olives, and mixed it up well.
Next, I put a quarter cup of olive oil into the sauté pan and browned the chicken pieces all over, over medium-high heat. Then I moved the chicken into the casserole. I stirred in three cups of rice and five cups of stock, mixed it well, and moved the hotel pan, uncovered, into a 400-degree oven.
It takes about an hour for the rice to absorb all the liquid and cook. I stirred it every 20 minutes, and had to add about a half cup more of stock at the 50-minute mark. When the rice was almost done, I nuked two boxes of frozen green peas. When the rice was ready, I stirred in the peas, turned the oven down to 300 degrees, and put the pan back in for 10 minutes.
That was it, and it was very good. The hotel pan yielded about 10 portions, so there will be some good eats all week. Next time, I'll try it with capers (as the recipe called for) and more olives.