This photo landed me my first number 1 slot on FoodBuzz — thanks to my loving husband.  The first attempt at this recipe was the most photogenic.  But I needed to make it a few times and tweak the recipe before I was ready to post it.  My family are troopers (or they just like this dish that much, to be honest it’s amazingly good cold weather food)

A couple notes.  I’ve taken to using turkey stock instead of chicken stock in almost all of my dishes.  Its flavor is bolder and richer than chicken this flavor is obviously imparted into whatever dish you make.  One of my attempts at Paprika Chicken relied exclusively on chicken stock (home made of course) it was, in comparison, like a ghost of a dish I knew I could create a whisper of the wonderful flavors I’d tasted in the past.

I also experimented with bone in chicken thighs and boneless chicken thighs.  (If you are starting to think about using boneless skinless breast meat stop it right now.  This dish is already low on fat and you’ll make it terrible.  Go back two spaces and start again.)  Typically I always prefer to cook meat on the bone for flavor and moisture, but in this case it’s simply too hard to eat it when you are done.  Someone (probably me) is going to end up shooting a chicken thigh right out of their bowl onto the floor.  Plus the smaller boneless pieces pick up more flour and therefore more flavor.

My last little tidbit don’t overfill the pan before you put it in the oven or you will have one heck of a mess to clean up.  After the first time I started  lining the rack with foil.  This is not 5 star pretty food, this is hearty home cooking and it’s gonna spill!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Biscuit Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
4 Tbsp cold butter cut into cubes
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup Turkey Stock

Place dry ingredients into bowl of food processor and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse to form crumb texture.  Whisk together sour cream and stock, drizzle over the top, pulse food processor until dough comes together.  Set aside.

Smokey Paprika Chicken

2 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs cut into two inch pieces
flour for dredging
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large white onion finely diced (I used the food processor)
1 large red bell pepper finely diced
3 Tbs flour
2 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp Smoked Hungarian Paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup sour cream blended with 1/2 cup turkey stock*** See Note
1 cup Turkey Stock
more ground pepper.

Working in batches over medium high heat,brown the chicken pieces on both sides, set aside in a shallow dish tented with foil.  Add the onions and peppers cook until softened (about 5 – 7 minutes)  Add flour and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes.  Add paprika, garlic and caraway seeds, stir to combine and cook 2 – 3 minutes.  Return chicken to the pan, add mixture of sour cream and stock, then add stock.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Spoon biscuit dough on top of pan I used a 2 oz scoop to keep them even.  Place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Turn off the oven, turn the broiler on and cook for 2 more minutes to brown the biscuits.

Serve with extra sour cream!

The biscuits are incredibly tender which I think is what makes this dish so good.  I love Chicken Paprikash but by putting these biscuits on top it became a favorite in my book.  And the biscuit topping could be added to any stew!

*** NOTE: you must must must blend the sour cream with the broth until smooth.  otherwise it’s very likely to curdle when it hits the pan, blending prevents this.

We had this with several wines, some white and some red.  My favorite was the beaujolais nouveau.  It was light and fruity which complimented the smokey flavor.

I really hope you make this, it was FANTASTIC.

Until next time, cheers!

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So once again I’m cooking winter food and it’s in the 80′s in Florida … But it’s DECEMBER, cut a girl some slack!

My original plan was to make my Beef Daube, which is one of my most popular posts.  But, as I looked in the fridge there was a bottle of Stone Levitation Ale staring at me.  It’s a yummy caramel ale with strong flavor.  However, to be honest, it’s not my favorite drinking beer but it has a complex flavor and bold body that I knew would lend itself to stew.

Also, I had a heavy meeting load yesterday so my crock pot was my friend (not to mention it doesn’t heat up the kitchen).  It took me 16 minutes to get the stew going and I’ve put maybe 5 more minutes into it.  The house smells heavenly.

Recipe:

2 lbs stew meat (pre-cut, it’s not the best option, but it’s a lifesaver in a time crunch)
28 0z can diced tomatoes (use organic, they are better)
1 large potato peeled and cut into 1 inch dice
1 white onion quartered (I quarter rather than slice so they can be picked out but you get the flavor)
3 carrots peeled and cut in 1 inch pieces
8 0z cremini mushrooms
1 12 oz medium to dark beer
1 herb packet (fresh oregano, thyme, Italian Parsley, chives)
1/4 cup butter softened
1/4 cup flour

Put everything in the crock pot except the butter and flour and set on low for 6 – 7 hours.  Combine the butter and flour to create a beurre manie.  Add the buerre maine to the crock pot about one hour prior to serving and let it cook into the sauce.  Stir gently.

Enjoyed this with a Yummy Dogfish 60 Minute IPA

Chilaquiles is a Mexican comfort food dish, occasionally even a hangover cure, and sometimes a way to use up leftovers.  I LOVE IT!  I intentionally chose an soft focus photo because casseroles are inherently out of focus — which is part of their attraction.

I posted a recipe for chilaquiles back in April.  For that recipe I used chicken, salsa verde and chorizo.  This time around I had the turkey from the stock hanging out and some dried ancho chili peppers so I made a rojo sauce and then threw together (because that’s all you do, you throw it together and pop it in the oven) the casserole.  It was indeed a hit.

Salsa Rojo (This could even be called “enchilada sauce”)

1 pint homemade chicken stock (cheat if you must, but your sauce will suffer)
4 dried ancho chilies
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 sprig fresh oregano (leaves only) or 1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
salt

Combine ingredients in a heavy saucepan over low heat.  Walk away.  Allow to simmer for at least two hours.  The brittle peppers should be soft.  Remove bay leaf.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Open the peppers and scrape the soft flesh (and seeds) into blender, add the remaining liquid and puree.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary (I added some additional cumin at this stage)

Return to pot and simmer until desired thickness.

Turkey Chilaquiles

3 Cups cooked shredded turkey
1lb tortilla chips (flour or corn – your choice)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 Cups Salsa Rojo
1 small can sliced black olives

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Layer a 9×13 pan with 1/2 of turkey, 1/2 chips, 1/2 salsa rojo, repeat with remaining ingredients, top with olives and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy

This dinner started with chicken that I had to cook because it had been hanging out in the fridge for a couple days.  I had some spinach I wanted to use and I had bought Fava Beans which I’ve never cooked before.  I poked around looking for an exciting Chicken recipe (and yes! There is such a thing!)  I found several lemon chicken recipes that looked super sweet, I am not a fan of sweet dinners.  I eventually found a couple that relied on garlic – and I added my spin with the spinach and oregano.  The spinach added nutrition, fiber and color to what was otherwise a very beige plate of food.  I’ve never eaten a fava bean so I made them as a side dish to an already full meal, that way we could try them without any pressure.

Dinner took a while to make but it turned out spectacular.  Our teenage son, who often refuses to eat, went back for seconds.  He thought he was going to get by with pushing the the spinach around his plate rather than eating it — but it wasn’t hard to convince him to.   He absolutely loved the fava beans, in fact we all did it was the first thing we tried and we finished our portions before going on to the rest of the meal.

When you read the recipe for the chicken,  you are going to think that it’s too much garlic.  The garlic really mellows out during cooking and becomes very sweet.  Early on when learning to cook someone told me to always add garlic late so that you don’t over cook it.  I think that they were a fan of the sharp spicy garlic flavor (and I am too – in moderation) but when gently coaxed, garlic becomes mild and adds a sweet buttery flavor.

I like to be transported when I eat — I’m not sure where this meal took us, I don’t think it was traditional anything, but it was still a comfortable, satisfying journey.

Lemony Garlic Chicken  (click here for printable link)

8 chicken thighs bone in, skin on

1 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper

Olive oil to cover pan (about 1/8 inch)

2 onions sliced thin

1/2 cup minced garlic

zest and juice of one large or two small lemons

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 sprig fresh oregano (or 1tsp dried)

1 Bag baby spinach

1lb angel hair pasta

Parmesan for garnish

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees

Dredge chicken in flour and set aside.  Chop Onions and prepare garlic while chicken is resting.  I used the food processor for both.  Slicing disc for the onions and the blade attachment for the garlic, I streamed about 2T olive oil in with the processor running so it formed a paste.

Heat a pan with olive oil until almost smoking, add the chicken and thoroughly brown.  (maybe 3 – 4 minutes per side).  Season the chicken again while cooking, when browned remove from the pan and set aside.

Add onions to the pan and cook until transparent — if you get some color that’s OK, but you may need to lower the heat, the goal is to soften them and get that yummy onion flavor throughout the oil, not to caramelize.  After about three minutes add the garlic and stir.  Let this cook for about one minute and add the lemon juice.  Be sure to scrape up any brown bits from the pan.  Add the chicken stock and oregano sprig nestle chicken in the pan.  When it’s reached a simmer put a tight lid on the pan and move it to the oven for 20 minutes.

After removing the chicken from the oven, stir the spinach into the pan and replace the lid.  The heat will cook the spinach. *Note, this makes a pretty thin sauce.  I liked it and felt the texture complimented the light flavors and light pasta really well.  If you prefer thicker sauce you could remove the chicken, onions and spinach from the pan and reduce the sauce to the desired consistency.

Serve atop angel hair pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Fava Beans  (Click Here for Printable Recipe)

1 lb fava beans

2 slices bacon diced small (or pancetta if you have it)

1/2 onion diced fine

1 clove minced garlic

Remove fava beans from their outside shell and blanch in salted water for about 3 minutes, immerse in ice water and using a small knife or your fingernail remove the outer skin.  (according to other recipes I read you can skip this step and the skins will come off in the pan, but that sounded gross to me so I removed them prior to sauteing.

Heat a 10 inch skillet over medium heat.  Render the bacon fat and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until soft.  Add the fava beans, season with salt and pepper and saute for about 15 minutes.

As you can see from the photo — we paired this with a nice sauvignon blanc.

I’m off to wine again!  Cheers!

]]> http://www.whineaux.com/2009/10/05/garlic-lemon-chicken-with-fresh-spinach-and-fava-beans/feed/ 6 http://www.whineaux.com/2009/09/22/boeuf-daube-provencal-style-beef-stew/ http://www.whineaux.com/2009/09/22/boeuf-daube-provencal-style-beef-stew/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:37:44 +0000 dawn http://www.whineaux.com/?p=192

Beef Daube

There are as many recipes for Boeuf Daube as there are for meatloaf.  This is comfort food at it’s best.  All the flavors meld together the meat melts in your mouth and the noodles absorb the sauce.   I looked at several French Cookbooks and took elements from many of them to create my version of Boeuf Daube.  I have to admit, I was originally inspired by the recipe in the Editor’s Letter from this month’s Cooking Light.  For the record — I promptly added bacon thereby eliminating any claims to “light” eating but making my taste buds EXTREMELY happy!  There were almost zero leftovers from this meal; which is a huge statement to how much it was enjoyed as I typically cook as if the entire neighborhood may stop by at any second.

One of my pet peeves with cooking channels is they never admit when things go wrong.  Well, when Whineaux’s play with fire, sometimes the results are amusing.  There’s a video at the end of the post with my out-take.  It’s rated “R” for explosions and language.  Grab a glass of wine and laugh at the girl trying to get on The Darwin Awards List.

Whineaux’s Boeuf Daube (Click for printable version)

2T vegetable oil (you can use olive oil but it has a low smoke point and strong flavor)
1 Diced onion
12 cloves crushed garlic
4 slices bacon (slicked thin)
1 (2 pound) roast cut into 1 – 2 inch cubes.
1/2 cup cognac or brandy
1 cup carrots (cut them into big chunks or they will fall apart, roughly 3 – 4 carrots)
2 T tomato paste
1 package sliced cremini mushrooms
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomoatoes
1 Cup red wine (I used Merlot)
bouquet garni – (1 sprig rosemary, 3 sprigs flat leaf parsely, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp marjoram wrapped in cheesecloth so they can easily be removed)

Preheat Oven to 300 degrees

In a large Dutch Oven over medium heat, saute the bacon until crispy, remove and set aside

Lower heat to medium low, add vegetable oil as needed and slowly saute the onion and garlic until soft, but not browned remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.

Increase heat to medium high.  Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides (about 5 minutes each)

Off the heat (especially if you are using a gas stove) add brandy or cognac to deglaze pan.  Scrape up any frond from the bottom  of the pan.  Use a long lighter to burn off the alcohol (make sure your hair is pulled up and your face is not directly over the pot, please see video for what not to do)  Add remaining ingredients, stir, put a lid on the pot and put it in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Traditionally this is served with mashed potatoes or egg noodles, rice or cous cous would also be tasty.

And now for the outtake:

Disclaimer:  No actual Whineauxs were injured during the making of this dish.

Ahh, fall is in the air and the hearty soups that go with it are back on the menu!  (you’d think I’m writing from Vermont, not Florida where it was 93 degrees yesterday!)

In our case, we have to lower the air conditioner to experience fall.  True, we miss out on the turning of the leaves and the crisp morning air;  but we don’t get the colds and runny noses that come with fall either.  And, our downtown throws a superb Oktoberfest during which copper-toned paper leaves fall from the sky and we enjoy beer and sausages wearing t-shirts and shorts.

I’ve been trying to get back to the Paris Bistro Cookbook project but frankly I’m stumped on the next Bistro because it’s going to be a challenge and I’m chicken!  So instead I made the most humble and wonderful of french soups.  I based my recipe on the one found in Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  This is the first recipe from the book I’ve cooked.  This soup is deceptivley simple.  It would seem with 5 ingredients counting water it would be hard to destroy.

I had 3/4 lb of Leeks once they were cleaned, which is slightly less than the book recommends. To compensate I reduced the amount of water and potatoes.  I also reduced the salt — but not enough.

As written, the recipe yielded a very watery soup with little flavor other than salt.  Luckily I had some mashed potato leftovers in the refrigerator and I was able to use them to thicken the soup — even with the addition of the mashed potatoes there was too much salt.  So I’ve adjusted the water and salt below.

Potato and Leek Soup (click here for printable recipe)
6 cups of water
1 pound diced potato
1 pound sliced leek (pale green and white only)
2 sprigs thyme
fresh ground black pepper (or you could use white pepper if you don’t want to see the flakes)
1T salt
2 pats butter or dash of cream

Place vegetables thyme, salt and pepper in water in a 4 quart saucepan and simmer for 50 minutes or until tender.  Use an immersion blender or food mill to puree soup.  Taste for seasoning, you may wish to add more salt.  Stir in butter or cream to finish the soup.  Serve with fresh chives as garnish.

The soup was so good and so filling my 17 year old step son thought it was dinner, he was surprised when I put another course on the table!

If you make the soup and it comes out too watery for you, instant mashed potatoes would work to thicken it.  You could also puree some canned white beans such a cannelloni which would add  a tasty new dimension.

A nice viognier or sauvignon blanc would be the perfect accompaniment to this meal.  Having a merlot while preparing it helped enhance the flavors as well!

Cheers!

I’ve  been struggling with eating lately as  something was upsetting my stomach and I had to go back to the basics.  When my tummy decides not to cooperate with me I go back to soup, it always seems to work for me.  This process has taken about three weeks to figure out the problem.  I started eating canned soup.  It was not long before I could not face another can so I’m making lots of soup again.  First I made a fantastic Tortilla soup – but I ate it too fast to photograph it.  Today I made Minestrone soup and I want to share the recipe with you.

Minestrone soup is arguably the best known Italian soup — loosely translated it means “the big soup.”  Recipes for it are as varied as chefs.  The basics are tomatoes and potatoes (they made their way into the Italian diet in the mid 1500s, before that Italians thought tomatoes were poisonous), onions, zucchini, carrots then you are on your own.  Some people make a completely vegetarian soup, some add meat, some make a thin watery base, others cook the liquid down to a stew like texture,  pasta and beans are optional.  In my case I had some Italian Sausage that I didn’t have plans for so I made “meaty” Minestrone soup. I chose not to put pasta in the soup because Bill doesn’t eat soup so this is mine for the next 4 – 5 days and pasta doesn’t reheat well.  My soup is thin broth, but packed with so much flavor that it’s a meal in a cup.

Click Here for a Printable Recipe

Difficulty: Easy
Cook Time: 30 minutes active 40 minutes simmer

Ingredients:
3 Mild Italian Sausages, Skin Removed
1/2 White Onion Diced
1 Cup Chopped Carrot
1/2 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup fresh green beans cut in one-inch pieces
1 zucchini diced
1 28 oz box Pomi diced Italian Tomatoes*
Worcestershire sauce to taste (1 Tablespoon)
1 tsp dried chili pepper
1T chopped garlic
1 cup beef broth
2 cups water
1 T dried oregano
2 fresh sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
4 fresh basil leaves
handful of fresh parsley diced
1 can kidney beans
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:
Crumble sausage and brown over medium high heat in a large stock pot (4 minutes).  Add Onion, carrot and celery to the pot and cook until soft (3 – 4 minutes).  Add remaining ingredients (excluding  kidney beans and Parmesan Cheese).  Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are desired texture.  Check for seasoning, add salt and pepper as desired.

Remove bay leaf.

Add kidney beans and heat through.

Yeild: 6 servings

* you can use any diced tomatoes but Pomi are really much better flavor.

I usually have this as my lunch and/or breakfast so I don’t have wine with it.  What would you drink?

I made this almost a week ago and am just now able to sit down and write about it.  I only get around to making Chicken and Dumplings 2 – 3 times a year and I don’t know why, it’s easy and it tastes so good that writing about it is making me want to cook it again!

My mom wasn’t a huge fan of cooking, in fact we suspect she sabotaged many a dish to cement a reputation as a bad cook and therefore ensure she would escape kitchen duty.  That said, her chicken and dumplings were yummy!  I’ve changed the recipe, adding some of my own favorite ingredients, but it’s still just simple fantastic comfort food.

Recipe:

Stew:

1 whole cut up chicken, skin removed
well washed greens of one leek (dark greens)
2 carrots peeled and cut in half
2 Celery ribs halved
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs thyme
4 -5 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
Kosher Salt (Start at 1T as the chicken cooks, taste and add more)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
3T flour
2T butter
1 Cup Frozen Peas (or mixed vegetables if you prefer)

Dumplings:

2 Cups Flour
3tsp baking powder
1/2tsp white pepper
1tsp kosher salt
3/4 Cup milk (preferably whole)
1/4 cup light vegetable oil (not olive)

Directions:

Put first nine ingredients into a cold stock pot and cover with cool water.  Gently bring up to a simmer and cook for 2 – 3 hours until chicken is falling off the bone. Remove chicken and place on a plate to cool.  Remove and discard vegetables and strain the broth through cheesecloth.  Allow to rest so you can skim the fat off.

Meanwhile prepare the dumplings by combining dry ingredients in a medium bowl, stir and add the milk and oil.  Use a fork and stir until combined, but don’t over work the dough. Set aside to rest for 5 – 10 minutes.

Rinse the pot (just make sure that there is not any stock remnants as in spices pepper or anything that will cloud your soup stock) place on stove over medium high heat.  Melt the butter and add the flour to create a roux.  Cook roux for 2 – 4 minutes keeping it light in color, but making sure the dough has cooked.  Whisk in broth and bring to a low boil.

Using two spoons, drop dumpling dough into the pot.  Cover and simmer for 10 – 12 minutes.

While the soup is simmering remove chicken from the bone.  Add to the pot when the dumplings are cooked along with peas.  Cook until heated through — 4 – 5 minutes.  If desired finish with a generous glug of cream but the soup is wonderful without it.

This dish lends itself to an ice cold glass of milk just as easily as a glass of wine.  We had it with a Heitz Cellars Sauvignon Blanc we purchased on our last trip to Napa.  The visit to the winery was our favorite as the tasting room was small and intimate and we were able to speak to the winemaker, not to mention their dogs were there too.  This was an excellent pairing.  It’s a drier wine not as fruity as many Sauvignon Blancs with a nice balanced acidity that compliments rather than clashes with food.  The crispness of the Sauvignon Blanc complimented the rich chicken broth and brought out all of its flavors.

This may seem like a dish exclusive to winter, but because you are cooking low it never heats up your kitchen.  You could cook the broth in a crock pot if you want as well — but you’ll need another pot to finish the soup so I just use the same pot.

If you’ve been with me from the beginning (oh so long ago — February); then you’ve already read my first post about how I spent the entire day looking forward to a meal only to disappoint myself with a kitchen disaster.  While I’m happy to say this adventure turned out much better; it did not turn out according to plan.  I’m learning that I have to be able to go with the flow and the dinners I’m most proud of are those I created without a recipe.  The meals I put together because I knew the flavors would work together. This is one of those dinners.   I was originally planning chicken with sauteed artichokes in a garlic white wine reduction.  The only problem was — I was out of artichokes.

As you can see, I was in a quandary.  I looked around the kitchen and saw these beautiful grape tomatoes and a zucchini from my friend’s garden.  That’s when I knew I had hit gold.  This was going to be much better than my plan because of the fresh spring vegetables and flavors.  I called it Toulouse le Chick to be funny, if you have a better name please let me know because I haven’t had enough coffee to be really creative yet.

Ingredients:
4 brined skinless bone in chicken thighs
1/2 seasoned* flour for dredging
3 tsp bacon fat (you can substitute olive oil if you are mad at your taste buds)
3 strips cooked bacon crumbled
3 cloves minced garlic
1 T herbs de Provence
1 C white wine
1 C Chicken Broth
1 zucchini cut into medium slice pieces
8 – 10 grape tomatoes cut in half
1 T butter
Handful of diced fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

The day before prepare a brine.  I use an 8 cup container and put about 4T of powdered garlic, 3T salt, 4 whole pepper corns and 1 – 2 bay leaves.  Allow the chicken to soak in this mixture at least 4 hours I typically put frozen chicken in the brine a day ahead of time and it safely thaws while absorbing flavor.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Over medium high heat in a large saute pan heat the bacon fat.  Pat the chicken pieces dry and dredge through the flour.  Brown each side (3 – 4 minutes per side).  Add the crumbled bacon and garlic and herbs de Provence.  De-glaze the pan with white wine and add chicken stock.  Transfer to oven and cook un-covered for 30 – 40 minutes until internal temperature of chicken reaches 160 degrees (carryover heat will bring it up to 165)

Remove the pan from the oven**! and transfer to stove-top on medium high.  Remove chicken from pan set aside and cover with foil.  Bring sauce to a boil.  Add zucchini and tomatoes cook until firm tender but not overcooked.  Swirl butter around pan, and add chicken back ensuring it’s warmed through.  Add parsley and serve over couscous (prepare according to package directions.  If you boil the liquid and put the couscous in it right before you take the chicken out of the oven everything will come together nicely)

*seasoned flour is just all purpose flour with salt and pepper to taste

**! Don’t be like the whineaux and have scars on the inside of both of your palms because you forgot the pan had been in the oven and the handle was screaming hot.  As soon as you set the pan down put a towel or potholder around the handle.  Trust me, you don’t want that kind of hurt!

We had a J.Lohr Chardonnay with this and it was fantastic (it’s what I used in the sauce too)

I also had the leftover for breakfast over rice and it’s even better the next day.  If you don’t have couscous — rice is a great alternative.  If you haven’t tried couscous — please do, it’s great for saucy meals like this.

Until next time, wine, don’t whine!

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.