Chicken and Rice — The ultimate comfort food.
I’m still on my quest to design menus that will keep our food bill under $100 per week. I’m doing pretty good though we did have a Rib Eye splurge that was $16 in meat paired with $1.00 worth of peas, I still think we came in at a very good price for the meal.
Chicken and Rice is the ultimate budget meal that includes meat. I make it Cuban style — Arroz con Pollo with yellow rice and it was heaven! It’s also Bill’s favorite — and it’s SO easy that people request it. I must give the credit for this to Bill’s mother who taught me to make it.
The budget for roughly 3 portions
Chicken Legs 3.33
Rice 1.00
Bell Pepper 1.00
Olives 2.00
Chicken Stock FREE
Vino Secco 0.50
Flour 0.20
Olive Oil 0.30
Total 8.33
So about $2.10 per portion. We do frequently order this in a local Spanish Restaurant and it’s $17.99 per order! So I’m very much in the midst of patting myself on the back for my frugality.
Here’s how to make it
1 1/2 pounds dark chicken meat on the bone, skin removed.
1 cup flour
1 Red Bell Pepper seeds removed, sliced
1 large white onion diced
4 cloves minced garlic
1 cup vino seco blanco cooking wine * see note
1 cup chicken stock
1 package Viggo Yellow Rice* Note
1 cup sliced green olives with pimentos
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a Dutch Oven with olive oil over medium heat.
Remove skin from chicken legs, rinse and pat dry. Dredge the chicken in flour and season, brown on all sides in the dutch oven and transfer to a plate.
Saute the onion and bell pepper until soft, add the garlic and cook for 1 – 2 minutes more. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice with the fat. Return chicken to pot and add liquids. Place a lid on the pot and cook over medium low for 20 minutes until rice is done and chicken is cooked through.
This can be a little salty but …. YUMMMY
A couple of notes, I typically suggest that you cook with wine you would drink — in this dish I
make an exception, the cooking wine has an acidic note to it that makes the flavor of this dish. You can use any wine you have but it will obviously change the final flavor.
Also — I’m not big on pre mixed things. However this yellow rice mix has nice seasonings I like the way it turns out so I make the exception here because otherwise I would have to buy a lot of spices that I really don’t want to keep on hand because I won’t use them before they go bad.
