Latin-Style Chicken and Rice (Gourmet Magazine)

As I mentioned in my last post, Gourmet Magazine's "gourmet everyday" section is a great place for easy meals. Bon Appetit has its version with Fast and Easy. Tonight, I 'outsourced' this recipe to our cousin who is staying with us. She easily prepared the recipe and we all enjoyed it very much. It takes about and hour, so without her help, it would have been tough on a weeknight.

Lucas doesn't love peas, so we had to fish them out, but other than that, everyone was pleased. The recipe called for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and indicated to drain most of the fat after browning the chicken. However, I had boneless, skinless thighs, so we didn't need to drain the pan at all.

Latin-Style Chicken and Rice (adapted from Gourmet Magazine)

Timing - 1 hour

Ingredients
2 lb chicken thighs (I used boneless and skinless - see above if you use bone in and skin on)
2 T unsalted butter
1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup medium or long grain rice (I used brown)
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup water
1/4 t crumbled saffron threads
1 bay leaf
1 cup frozen peas (not thawed)

How to Make
Pat chicken dry and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Heat butter and oil in a large heavy skillet (at least 2 inches deep) over medium-high heat until foam subsides, then brown chicken, turning once, about 7-10 minutes). Transfer chicken to a plate.

Cook onion and garlic with remaining salt and pepper over medium heat, stirring, until golden, about 6 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth, water, saffron, and bay leaf and bring to a full boil. Nestle the chicken in rice, keeping as much rice around, rather than under chicken. Add juices from plate and simmer, covered tightly with lid, over low heat, until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat and stir in peas. Cover with a kitchen towel and then the lid and let stand until all of liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Discard Bay Leaf.

Serves 4