Last week, a friend, a reliable source of all things cooking — books, ingredients, attire, drinks — texted me a recipe. It came from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 6: The Grocery Store, and she described it as a small miracle. I, of course, made the dish, “chicken and rice,” immediately, and then made it again, and then made it once more last night. The dish is miraculous foremost for its reception — we ALL gobble it up — but also for its simplicity: it’s a one-pot wonder calling for nothing more than butter, one onion, a few stalks of celery, one chicken, rice and water. I added a bay leaf because I can’t not when cooking rice — that’s what my mother does — but otherwise, I followed the text-message recipe to a T.
You’ll be tempted to use stock instead of water — I was — but it’s not necessary. For the first 20 minutes of stove-top cooking, the chicken braises with diced onions, celery and water, during which time that water essentially becomes a light broth. During the next 30 minutes, the rice cooks in that broth with a little more water, absorbing all of the flavors of the vegetables and meat, fluffing up perfectly around the pieces of falling-off-the-bone tender chicken. You can add peas if you like — my friend does — and you could add some parsley for color, but don’t get too fancy — there is something beautiful about the monochromaticity of this miracle dish. Tan has never tasted so good.
5 from 4 reviews
