CHICKEN THIGHS AND RICE

CHICKEN THIGHS AND RICE:

Prosaic, utilitarian "I don't know what to make" meal.


Materials and Methods:

~ four chicken thighs or two split chicken breasts. Here I used the thighs, on sale (of course) for $0.99/ lb. The four thighs cost $1.67.
~ 1/2 shot of olive oil
~ 1 tablespoon of freshly minced garlic (less if you don't like garlic)
~ 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground thyme
~ 1/8 teaspoon of paprika and black pepper to taste
~ 1/2 shot of lemon juice
~ 4 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
~ 4 small to medium onions, peeled and quartered
~ 2 cups of cooked rice, your choice

1. season the skin side of the chicken with paprika, black pepper, and ground thyme.
2. in 9 in pan add the olive oil, garlic, a pinch of black pepper and a pinch of thyme.
3. sautee' the garlic briefly on high heat... about a minute.
4. add the chicken, skin side down
5. season the "up" side with pepper, paprika, ground thyme.
6. cook covered, periodically moving the chicken around so it doesn't stick.
7. flip the chicken when the skin side is browned to lightly charred.
8. drizzle the lemon juice and one tablespoon of barbecue sauce on each thigh
9. add the quartered onions, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 30 minutes with occasional stirring.

It should look something like this, only less burnt because YOU won't be trying to write this up, take photos, and cook at the same time:

10. remove the chicken
11. add two cups of cooked rice to the onions
12. increase the heat and lightly fry the rice with continuous agitation until all the chicken drippings are aborbed... and a little longer if you prefer a dryer rice.

OPTIONALS:

1. add a can of peas to the rice and serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

APPETIZER OPTION:

2. remove the chicken skins to make the following
appetizer using:

~ 1/2 teaspoon of hoisin sauce
~ 1/4 oz of cream cheese
~ two soft flour tortillas
~ the cooked skins from 4 chicken thighs or two breasts
~ a little slivered green onion/scallion. I had none on hand and used the raw cores from a regular yellow onion.

1. On high heat, place a tortilla directly on the gas burner.
2. keep it moving around a lot, tongs help.
3. you want it slightly toasted as pictured, do both sides.

4. slather the toasted tortilla with a little cream cheese and a little hoisin sauce
5. arrange the cooked skins evenly on one side of the tortilla
6. add a line of slivered scallions (here, slivered raw onions).
7. roll into a tube, let it sit a bit, then slice into appetizer sized pieces.