Roast Chicken and Rice
Feb 17th, 2009 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Greek, Main, Poultry, Recipes, Rice, Roasting, Side
Don’t let the title fool you. The focus of tonight’s dish is rice. I can remember having roast chicken and rice from as early as when I was watching cartoons each morning, there was no remote TV control and children actually played in parks.
Fast forward to 2009, people communicate electronically, people are forgetting or skipping a meal and the age of all media being offered through one delivery channel has come.
Food triggers memories for me. Rice reminds me of when our family would have a Sunday dinner, one of which would be roast chicken and rice. To this day, it’s still one of favourite meals, be it weekend or weeknights.
In the traditional Greek way, a whole chicken or segmented one is roasted with rice and stock and the end result is one of the most delicious servings of rice one has ever had.
Today I’m offering you my family’s preferred way of preparing rice..in the oven. No stovetop action here – it’s all the oven. The same rice to liquid ratios apply here but there’s something about baking rice that transforms it into something special.
The other adavantage to baking your rice is that quite often one gets some of those crispy kernels of rice hugging the baking dish’s wall and don’t forget the crispy ones on the top. The contrast of soft rice with some crunchy kernels reminds one of similar sensation when enjoying a properly made paella.
This recipe is ideal for a weeknight meal. Pre-heat the oven, throw in your chicken and rice in the oven, set the table and make a salad and have some face time with kids. The ratio is the constant, the wild card is the flavouring.
You may choose to have plain white rice, in this instance I diced up some red peppers. Another favourite addition is sliced mushrooms. Fancy some peas?
Next time your serving rice to your family or guests, forget the stovetop method, baked rice is where it’s at.
Here’s a family favourite….roast chicken with rice and red peppers.
Roast Chicken and Rice
(serves 4)
4 quarter chickens
sea salt
black pepper
garlic powder
2 tsp. of lemon thyme
Baked Rice with Red Peppers
(serves 4)
1 cup of long grain rice, rinsed
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups of hot chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Pre-heated 400F oven
- Pre-heat your oven to 400F. In the meantime, rinse and pat-dry your pieces of chicken. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon thyme and place on a baking tray.
- After you’ve rinsed your rice, place it a casserole dish and add the olive oil, diced red peppers and hot stock. Stir the contents so that no lumping of rice occurs. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Place the tray with the chicken and and the casserole with the rice and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes. Your rice is ready when all the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the oven and fluff with a fork. Cover and keep warm until your chicken is cooked.
- Allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve each quarter with a mound of rice and a seasonal salad.
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author. © 2007-2009 Peter Minakis
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© 2009 – 2010, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
I don’t think I’ve ever had baked rice, but it is not on my menu! Food brings a lot of memories and that’s one of the greatest things about it.
I love rice in any form and i love this baked rice, looks so yumm andthat chicken looks really crispy delicious.
I think baked rice is the answer to many working moms problems….you can prep in the morning and then quickly bake after work…I will not mind having that meal tonight!
Ah, this brings back good memories! And don’t tell my mom, but this looks way better than my childhood!
FYI — The Chinese cook rice in a similar method, but they put the chicken directly on top of the rice.. the extra juices and shmaltz (I’m sure the Chinese call it shmaltz) drip in with all that extra goodness to the rice.
The rice looks so fluffy and I like the way it took on the color of the broth.
Love the idea of baking the rice! My hubby would be fighting for those crispy bits.
I’m definitely trying this one Peter! It looks so easy!
roast chicken and pilafi rice was probably the most cooked meal in our house – it’s still very popular in my own
This is dinner tonight. I look at your site at least 4x a week to figure out what I am going to cook for dinner. My family thanks you Peter.
A wonderful rice recipe! Food does trigger memories…
Cheers,
Rosa
I don’t think I’ve ever baked rice and since I’m not a very good rice cooker, I’m definitely going to give this a try!
Yours looks GREAT!!!
I am SO happy to have this recipe! We have roast chicken every week and I’m always looking for new sides – I love this idea with the rice. It looks wonderful.
People from South Louisiana are big rice eaters. I’m always looking for a new savory rice dish and yours is perfect Peter. I can’t wait to try this one myself; I can taste the sweetness of the red peppers!
Oh what a great idea baking the rice! We’ll have to try this next time we roast a chicken
I never thought about just simply baking rice; what a cool idea. Now that I think about it, I love the way the rice cooks up when making paella – with the little crispy rice.
That looks so good! There is something about the way chicken and rice go together that is just so right!
baked rice! Yes, isn’t it the best? I would love this dish. Very nice Peter!
Love the look of this oven-cooked rice. Particularly the idea of contrast between soft rice and crispy bits – yum. Chicken looks good too – oddly I’ve never had roast chicken with rice before. Roast potatoes always win here – I really should ring the changes!
My dad was a vegetarian so I don’t even recall my mom making a roast of any kind on a Sunday. We didn’t even know we were deprived:D I have changed my own eating habits of course and would love this family favourite.
That’s very unusual way to cook the rice, sounds very tempting.
I love this kind of meal Peter, and thank you so much for sharing your family recipe with us.
Cheers,
Elra
Sounds extra-tasty Peter. I look forward to trying this oven baked rice.
LL
Baked rice sounds delicious!!
I’ve never baked rice unless it was part of a casserole! This is genius! I just want to clarify … do you leave it uncovered when it bakes? I love chicken and rice, and this will be perfect for this coming Sunday. YUM!
Food is a huge memory trigger for me too. This looks delicious. I’ve never baked rice before – I may just make this for dinner tonight. Great recipe Peter.
Peter, that definitely looks like something I gotta try.
Synchronicity! I just picked up some chicken quarters and was wondering how to prepare them for Sunday’s dinner (yeah, I am anal I plan ahead LOL). You have just provided me with the answer. Thanks :)
Super, I love simplicity. Will have to give this rice a try. Thanks Peter.
Nice site redesign!
And I am loving this baked rice. I’m always too scared to bake rice in case it’s dry, but yours looks PERFECT! Love that super-crispy skin on the chicken too…
I’ve never tried baked rice, or at least not that I can remember, but I like the crunchy bits of everything so I better try it!
what a great comfort food dinner!
We love roast chicken and rice! My youngest one has to have gravy with her rice though! Absolute favorite meal. Will have to try it this too!
Salut mon ami Pierre! What’s up with your pictures?? They have all been absolutely amazing in your latest posts! Have you changed camera?
PETER! I loooooooove Greek Rice! It’s one of my favorites ever! I will be buying some brown rice and making it tonight FO sho! Thanks!
I’ve tried oven baked rice, but it wasn’t quite moist enough for me. Maybe a little butter would do the trick. I love adding green onions, parsley or things like that to make rice “interesting”.
This does sound like a perfect weekenight meal!
Chicken & rice is one of Peef’s favorite dishes. This Greek rice looks like it could be better than his taste memory… way to go, Peter!
Your recipes & photos never disappoint. Thank you for sharing. ;o}
Peter, nomizw oti to ryzi itan afto pou entyposiase telika tous perissoterous!! Nice colour!!
Hey Peter, great to learn how to bake rice, another method to make flavored rice. Your dish sounds so comforting. BTW, I like your new header, so GREEK : )
This looks fantastic and I’m so bookmarking. It might be dinner next Sunday. There’s something about roast chicken on Sundays and my husband is a HUGE fan of rice!
This looks perfect, Peter. Nice, simple ingredients coming together to make a beautiful dish. We always had roast chicken & potatoes on Sundays growing up!
Two of my most favorite things to make! I have never prepared rice in an oven before, so I am really looking forward to this.
I LOVE the idea of baked rice! Looks yummy Peter!
Wow I jut discovered your blog. Amazing recipes and Greek food, I can’t wait to try them. This rice looks perfect, I still don’t know how to properly cook rice…but this recipe sure is it.
I never tried baked rice before. It sounds wonderful.
When there was ‘no remote TV control’ LOL
I’m sure I could live on rice, I love it!
Now, baked rice is something else and as you say, special. A great recipe Peter (yours always are) and I now want rice at 7 in the morning!
Making the rice with chicken stock makes a huge difference in flavor. Save the bones from the roast chicken, make stock, and use it the next time to bake the rice!
methinks your family knows what they’re doing. fabulous plate, peter. do you ever flub up?
I have never baked rice like this before. You have made it sound so good! And who can beat roasted chicken? Another great meal!
I LOVE roast chicken. To me it’s the ultimate comfort food.
My grandmother used to do a similar chicken and rice bake and I remember those wonderful crispy edges. You’re so right about those. I love it when you have those crispy rice bits.
Peter, I love this dish! Thanks for sharing a treasured family recipe. I’ll be making this real soon — maybe even tonight!
We eat chicken and rice quite often too. Love the idea of adding diced bell pepper to the rice, I usually add it to the chicken :).
I would fancy some peas in your delicious baked rice! Can’t wait to try it, crunch bits and all!!
I should know better than to come here before lunch! That is really exciting – rice in the oven, oh I’ve heard about it but never tried it. I had it for the first time this summer (in Canada of all places) but then forgot about it until now. Thanks for jogging the memory!
I have just made this dish for our dinner. It was wonderful – thank you
baking a rice is new to me, but it looks wonderful. Lovely meal.
That picture of the rack o lamb is awesome. Thanks for describing the day. nice to know about traditions of other places.
The chicken certainly looks great, and I’m all for trying baked rice, but I most enjoyed your small dose of nostalgia.
And wouldn’t it be great if kids still played outside when they got home from school like we did? *Sigh*
This looks simple and delicious!
I’ll have to give this a try – looks delish!
This looks soo delicious .. i never tried making baked rice before .. but its a must try now for me … Laila .. http://limeandlemon.wordpress.com/
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