Chicken and Rice

This is such a simple but comforting dish.  Roasting the chicken with the rice brings such flavor to the rice and make cooking and clean-up a breeze. You can change it up by adding sliced sautéed mushrooms, kale, shallots, garlic, whatever you like.

Ingredients:
Bone in, skin on chicken pieces (for 4 people, 1 whole chicken cut into 10 pieces)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
1 cup favorite rinsed uncooked rice (I prefer basmati)
1 3/4 cups vegetable or chicken broth (adjust for rice instruction always a little more than called for)
Chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place chicken pieces skin side up (chicken should not overlap) in a large baking dish and season liberally with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until skin is browned.  Remove chicken to a side plate and add rice and liquids to pan.  Place chicken crispy side up ontop of rice and add back any accumulated juices from the plate.  Reduce heat to 400 F and continue to cook for 30 minutes until all liquid is absorbed and the chicken is cooked through. Top with chopped parsley and serve.


Serving ideas:
Serve with a chopped vegetable salad or with steamed asparagus and sliced tomatoes with a simple vinaigrette.

Variations:
This is a base recipe and can be changed by adding other ingredients.  Try making it complete meal by adding you favorite greens 10 minutes before the end of cooking such as stemmed chopped Swiss chard or baby spinach. Sauté mushrooms, shallots and garlic and add them with the liquid. This is very versatile, make it Moroccan, Spanish, Italian etc. by adding your favorites!

Leftover ideas:
The chicken is great in any recipe calling for cooked chicken, take it off the bone and dice is for pot pie or chicken and dumplings. Shred it and make enchiladas or chicken salad or take the rice and chicken and add it to cooked veggies and broth for a quick soup.  For the rice, my favorite is to add beans, chopped fresh tomatoes, cooked andouille sausage and cheese and stuff in par baked peppers top with cheese and bake until browned!