Daughter Hawthorne is home for the summer
and I'm fixing chicken 'n' rice for her and her little friend tonight.
But it's not just any chicken 'n' rice.
It's not yo Mama's chicken 'n' rice.
It's Rosie's chicken 'n' rice.
Check out Rosie's business card.
It was designed by Daughter Hawthorne.
Yes, Rosie has business cards.
Stop laughing.
On the Hawthorne trip across the country,
I left my business cards at restaurants
and in the Gideon bible in every hotel room.
Back to the chicken and rice.
... and sprinkled with freshly ground salt and pepper.
Add one whole head of garlic.
This went into a 350 degree oven for about an hour.
While the chicken cooked ...
... I started on my rice.
Ingredients:
white rice
onion
red and green pepper
red pepper flakes
saffron which Daughter Hawthorne thoughtfully
bought me for Mother's Day
cumin
oregano
If you're just starting in the kitchen,
here's a tip for you:
When slicing peppers,
place them outside-down and slice the inside.
I melted some butter and toasted a cup of rice.
I am not making a risotto.
This is a long-grained rice,
not a short-grained like Arborio.
I just wanted the butter flavor coating each grain of rice
plus the nutty flavor of the slightly browned butter is a bonus.
... add in 2 cups of the stock.
Bring to a simmer,
reduce heat, and cover.
Cook over low heat about 15 minutes.
Saffron is the world's most expensive spice.
The threads are the stigmas for Crocus sativus.
In each flower, there are only 3 stigmas.
Saffron is hand harvested and
it takes about 13,125 threads to weigh one ounce.
I found Mr. Hawthorne's colorful vegetable concoction
he made the other night as a side dish:
frozen peas
frozen carrots
diced carrots
Rotel chopped tomatoes with green chiles
... separated it into small pieces and added it to the rice.
I added more hot stock directly over the achiote chunks
to dissolve them.
Mix thoroughly, cover, and wait for the chicken to be done.
Now here's why you want to put your probe in first,
before cooking.
I wasn't thinking and forgot to put in the thermometer.
After 45 minutes, I checked the temperature
and it wasn't even 150 degrees.
I cooked for an extra 15 minutes until
I got to 165 degrees.
Once you put the probe in,
do not remove it until the meat has cooked
and rested for about 7 minutes.
This rest period allows the juices to redistribute
in the meat,
and not leach out like in the above picture.
After 45 minutes of cooking,
we added barbecue sauce over top.
Sweet Baby Ray's is a favorite of ours.
Barbecued chicken quarters and
Rosie's rice with roasted garlic cloves.
And if you've never roasted garlic cloves,
do so immediately.
They're delightfully sweet and mild
and you can just squish them out of the skins.
The little roll there is a King's Hawaiian
Savory Butter Roll.
Mm, makes me wish I could eat chicken.
ReplyDeleteAnd you got a Mother's Day present? I bought myself a cheap watch. Does that count?