One-Skillet Meals

I often make meals where the main portion and the sides are cooked together, not just out of laziness or because I'm tired, rather the meat flavors infuse into the side, in this case a brown rice mixture. The recipe for Chicken with Brown Rice from Everyday Food seems rather plain, but the taste is not. With the addition of roasted red peppers (from a can), the flavor is a bit different than just with sautéed vegetables. Also, you get the benefits of whole grain because of the brown rice, so this meal is good all-around. The only exception is that you probably would want to make a vegetable side.

It's easy to double the rice portion, and you can use less chicken pieces as well, and the prep for this recipe doesn't take long at all. Once you put it all together, you have an hour to do something else while it cooks.

Looking through all my on-hand ingredients, I didn't have any roasted red peppers so I julienned green bell peppers and added a little pear white balsamic vinegar to the skillet I browned the chicken in to save the fond. I was going to stir in a tablespoon or so of capers after cooking, though I forgot. Doing so would have added a great flavor, which means I'll have to make this again. Another substitution was using canned diced tomatoes in place of the fresh plum tomatoes, and I used the tomato water as part of the overall water that was called for in the recipe. (Using diced tomatoes with green chili tastes good.)

Recipe after the jump

Because I wanted an accompaniment, I made Whole Wheat Onion Focaccia from my The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook ~ The Original Classics cookbook. Featuring puréed caramelized onions in the dough as well as parsley pesto (my idea) and whole caramelized onions on top, these were flavored nicely (I'm going to say it was, although I only had half the amount of onions) and the dough was soft, with an added crunch of cornmeal on the bottom. This really isn't a traditional focaccia dough so much as a 'whole-wheat and white flour dough discs with onions puree and focaccia toppings', but for a fairly quick recipe that tastes different than bread rolls, this is a good recipe to make. There's no fat in the dough, so these won't last a very long time.

My only complaint is that I ended up using about 1 cup more of water than the recipe stated, though perhaps that was due to not having enough onion puree.

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Chicken with Brown Rice
From Everyday Food, November 2005

Serves 4

Notes from the recipe: To save some time later, cover the brown rice with water in the morning, and let it soak all day; this will reduce the cooking time by about twenty minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil


• 1 whole cut-up chicken (2½ to 2 pounds), skins removed, breasts halved crosswise (save wings for another use)


• Coarse salt and ground pepper


• 1 medium onion, chopped


• 4 garlic cloves, smashed


• 1 cup long-grain brown rice (Me: I used jasmine brown rice)


• 4 plum tomatoes, diced


• 1 jar (12 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained and sliced into ½-inch strips


• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen green peas, thawed (Me: I didn't thaw the peas and it still worked)


• Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large straight-sided skillet over medium heat. Season chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, turning, until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes; transfer to a plate.


2. Add onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to skillet (Me: I added 1/2 teaspoon of tarragon for a double recipe of rice). Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes.


3. Stir in rice, tomatoes, peppers, and 1¼ cup water; nestle chicken pieces in rice mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover, and simmer over medium-low heat until rice is tender, 55 to 60 minutes. If any liquid remains in skillet, remove lid and simmer until evaporated.


4. Sprinkle peas over contents of skillet; cover, and remove from heat. Set aside until peas are heated through, about 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.