The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (158 page)
Read The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook Online
Authors: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Tags: #Cooking
SERVES 4
Though we rarely suggest stirring rice while it cooks, in this dish it is necessary, or the top layer might dry out or be undercooked. If you prefer, substitute 2 pounds of breast meat or boneless thighs for the pieces of a whole chicken. See
CUTTING UP A WHOLE CHICKEN
.
1 | (3¹⁄ |
Salt and pepper | |
2 | tablespoons olive oil |
1 | onion, chopped fine |
3 | garlic cloves, minced |
1¹⁄ | cups long-grain white rice |
2 | cups water |
1 | (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with ¹⁄ |
¹⁄ | cup dry white wine |
¹⁄ | cup chopped fresh parsley |
1.
Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place chicken skin side down in pot and cook until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes, reducing heat if pan begins to scorch. Flip chicken skin side up and continue to cook until lightly browned on second side, about 3 minutes; transfer to plate.
2.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot, add onion, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add rice and cook, stirring frequently, until coated and glistening, about 1 minute. Stir in water, tomatoes with reserved juice, wine, and 1 teaspoon salt, scraping up any browned bits. Nestle chicken thighs and legs into pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Nestle chicken breast pieces into pot and stir ingredients gently until rice is thoroughly mixed; cover and simmer until both rice and chicken are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Stir in parsley, cover, and let dish sit for 5 minutes; serve immediately.
Add 1 green bell pepper, cut into ¹⁄
4
-inch pieces, to pot along with onion. Stir 4 teaspoons paprika and ¹⁄
4
teaspoon saffron into pot along with garlic. Stir 1 cup thawed frozen peas into pot along with parsley.
Add 2 minced jalapeño chiles to pot along with onion. Stir 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2 teaspoons ground coriander, and 1 teaspoon chili powder into pot along with garlic. Substitute ¹⁄
4
cup chopped fresh cilantro and 3 tablespoons lime juice (2 limes) for parsley.
Omit parsley. Add 1 cinnamon stick to pot in step 2 and cook, stirring often, until it unfurls, about 15 seconds, before adding onion and 2 green bell peppers, cut into ¹⁄
4
-inch pieces. Stir 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, and 1 teaspoon ground cumin into pot with garlic.
Add 5 rinsed and minced anchovy fillets to pot along with onion. Stir ¹⁄
2
cup pitted Italian black olives, halved, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest into pot along with parsley.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
When done right, arroz con pollo (literally, “rice with chicken”) is satisfying Latino comfort food—tender chicken nestled in rice rich with peppers, onions, and herbs. But the traditional method for making it takes all day; we wanted to turn this one-dish dinner into a fast but flavorful weeknight meal. Using just thighs (rather than a combination of white and dark meat) ensured that all the chicken would cook through at the same rate, while removing the skin and bones after cooking made our dish less greasy and easier to eat. Poaching the thighs in chicken broth gave our dish even more chicken flavor for minimal effort. A quick 15-minute marinade before cooking, and a quick toss with marinade after cooking, contributed bold flavor to our chicken. To cut even more time off our efforts, we added the rice to the pot before the chicken finished cooking—a few quick stirs guaranteed each component cooked quickly and evenly.
SERVES 4 TO 6
To keep the dish from becoming greasy, it is important to remove excess fat from the chicken thighs and most of the skin, leaving just enough to protect the meat. To use long-grain rice instead of medium grain, increase the amount of water added in step 3 from ¹⁄
4
cup to ³⁄
4
cup and add the additional ¹⁄
4
cup water in step 4 as needed. When removing the chicken from the bones in step 5, we found it better to use two spoons rather than two forks; forks tend to shred the meat, while spoons pull it apart in chunks.
6 | garlic cloves, minced |
5 | teaspoons white vinegar |
Salt and pepper | |
¹⁄ | teaspoon dried oregano |
4 | pounds bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed |
2 | tablespoons olive oil |
1 | onion, chopped fine |
1 | small green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine |
¹⁄ | teaspoon red pepper flakes |
¹⁄ | cup minced fresh cilantro |
1³⁄ | cups low-sodium chicken broth |
1 | (8-ounce) can tomato sauce |
¹⁄ | cup water, plus extra as needed |
3 | cups medium-grain white rice |
¹⁄ | cup green Manzanilla olives, pitted and halved |
1 | tablespoon capers, rinsed |
¹⁄ | cup jarred whole pimentos, cut into 2 by ¹⁄ |
Lemon wedges |
1.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine garlic, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, ¹⁄
2
teaspoon pepper, and oregano in large bowl. Add chicken, coat evenly with marinade, and set aside for 15 minutes.
2.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, bell pepper, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons cilantro.
3.
Clear center of pot and increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to center of pot, skin side down, and cook until outer layer of meat becomes opaque, 2 to 4 minutes per side, reducing heat if chicken begins to brown. Stir in broth, tomato sauce, and water. Bring to simmer, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
4.
Stir in rice, olives, capers, and ³⁄
4
teaspoon salt and bring to simmer. Cover, transfer to oven, and cook, stirring every 10 minutes, until thighs register 175 degrees, about 30 minutes. If, after 20 minutes of cooking, rice appears dry and bottom of pot begins to scorch, stir in additional ¹⁄
4
cup water.
5.
Transfer chicken to plate and set pot aside, covered. Pull chicken into large chunks using 2 spoons, discarding skin and bones. Place chicken in large bowl, toss with remaining 2 teaspoons vinegar, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro, and pimentos and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place chicken on top of rice, cover, and let stand until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Bacon adds a welcome layer of richness and red peppers bring subtle sweet flavor and color to this variation. To use long-grain rice, increase the amount of water to ³⁄
4
cup in step 3 and the salt added in step 4 to 1 teaspoon.
1.
Substitute 2 teaspoons paprika for oregano and sherry vinegar for white vinegar.
2.
Cook 4 slices bacon, cut into ¹⁄
2
-inch pieces, in Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel–lined plate; pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat from pot. Continue with step 2, substituting 1 small red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine, and 1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine, for green bell pepper and cooking vegetables in fat left in pot.
3.
Continue with recipe, substituting ¹⁄
4
cup minced fresh parsley for cilantro, omitting olives and capers, and substituting ¹⁄
2
cup roasted red peppers, cut into 2 by ¹⁄
4
-inch strips, for pimentos. Garnish chicken and rice with reserved crisp bacon before serving.
Ham gives this variation further richness and orange zest and juice provide a bright accent. To use long-grain rice, increase the amount of water to ³⁄
4
cup in step 3 and the salt added in step 4 to 1 teaspoon.
1.
Substitute 1 tablespoon ground cumin for oregano.
2.
Continue with step 2, adding 8 ounces ham steak or Canadian bacon, cut into ¹⁄
2
-inch pieces, with onion, bell pepper, and pepper flakes.
3.
Continue with step 3, adding three 3-inch strips orange zest with rice, olives, capers, and salt. Add 1 cup frozen peas to pot with ¹⁄
4
cup water, if necessary, after stirring contents of pot for second time.
4.
In step 5, toss chicken with 3 tablespoons orange juice along with vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, and pimentos and proceed with recipe.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Traditional recipes for the Indian classic chicken biryani are long in both ingredients and labor. We wanted to streamline this dish without losing its rich flavor and complexity. Right off the bat we made three timesaving discoveries—we could skip the step of marinating the chicken, we could prepare the entire dish on the stovetop (rather than transferring it to the oven), and we could cook the onions and chicken in the same pan. Rich, meaty chicken thighs gave our dish a lot of flavor without much work, and wrapping the spices in a bundle of cheesecloth allowed us to infuse the rice cooking water with the bold flavors of biryani without having to tediously remove the spices from the finished dish. Garlic, jalapeño, currants, cilantro, and mint finished our biryani with a blend of heat, sweetness, and fresh herb flavor.
SERVES 4
You will need a 3¹⁄
2
- to 4-quart saucepan about 8 inches in diameter for this recipe. Do not use a wide Dutch oven, as it will adversely affect both the layering of the dish and the final cooking times. For more heat, add the jalapeño seeds and ribs when mincing.
YOGURT SAUCE
1 | cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt |
1 | garlic clove, minced |
2 | tablespoons minced fresh cilantro |
2 | tablespoons minced fresh mint |
Salt and pepper |
CHICKEN AND RICE
10 | cardamom pods, preferably green, smashed |
1 | cinnamon stick |
1 | (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled, sliced into ¹⁄ |
¹⁄ | teaspoon cumin seeds |
12 | cups water |
Salt and pepper | |
4 | (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed |
3 | tablespoons unsalted butter |
2 | onions, halved and sliced thin |
2 | jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced |
4 | garlic cloves, minced |
1¹⁄ | cups basmati rice |
¹⁄ | teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled |
¹⁄ | cup dried currants or raisins |
2 | tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro |
2 | tablespoons chopped fresh mint |
1. FOR THE YOGURT SAUCE:
Combine yogurt, garlic, cilantro, and mint in bowl; season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside. (Sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
2. FOR THE CHICKEN AND RICE:
Wrap cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, ginger, and cumin seeds in small piece of cheesecloth and secure with kitchen twine. Bring water, spice bundle, and 1¹⁄
2
teaspoons salt to boil in medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and simmer until spices have infused water, at least 15 minutes (but no longer than 30 minutes).
3.
Meanwhile, pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Melt butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until soft and dark brown around edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in jalapeños and garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to bowl, season with salt to taste, and set aside. Wipe out skillet with paper towels.
4.
Brown chicken thighs, skin side down, in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes, reducing heat if pan begins to scorch. Flip chicken skin side up and continue to cook until lightly browned on second side, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and remove and discard skin. Tent loosely with aluminum foil.
5.
If necessary, return spice-infused water to boil; add rice and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain rice through fine-mesh strainer, reserving ³⁄
4
cup cooking liquid; discard spice bundle. Transfer rice to medium bowl and stir in saffron and currants (rice will turn splotchy yellow).
6.
Spread half of rice evenly in bottom of now-empty saucepan using rubber spatula. Scatter half of onion mixture over rice, then place chicken thighs, skinned side up, on top of onions; add any accumulated chicken juices. Sprinkle evenly with cilantro and mint, scatter remaining onion mixture over herbs, then cover with remaining rice. Pour reserved cooking liquid evenly over rice.
7.
Cover saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes (if large amount of steam is escaping from pot, reduce heat to low).
8.
Run heatproof rubber spatula around inside rim of saucepan to loosen any affixed rice. Using large serving spoon, spoon biryani into individual bowls, scooping from bottom of pot. Serve, passing yogurt sauce separately.