Rosie Cooks Chicken And Rice.

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.

I bought chicken leg quarters for 78 cents a pound.

I cut a good amount of fat off the quarters.

Leave some of the skin on for extra added flavor.

I saved the rest of the fat and trimmed gristle for my crab pots.

I drizzled a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil over top ...

... 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.

Dice the onion and peppers.

I add 2 teaspoons of chicken base to 2+ cups of water to make a stock.

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.

After a minute of stirring over medium heat ...

... add in 2 cups of the stock. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat, and cover. Cook over low heat about 15 minutes.

If necessary, add a little more stock. I added in the onions and peppers ...

... a teaspoon of oregano ...

... a teaspoon of cumin ...

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.

Saffron threads going in.

Stir to combine. By the way, the heat has been turned off.

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

All that goodness went in. But it wasn't colorful enough yet.

Enter achiote paste, available at Hispanic markets.

I cut off a small cube ...

... 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.

Spread over chicken and continue baking until done - internal temperature of 165.

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.

This is what you do with a roll. First you dip it in the chicken drippings ...

... then you put some roasted garlic cloves on top.

And that's about as good as it gets.