Spanish Chicken With Rice, Chicken for Almodovar

Submitted by Bill Hodgkins

"This recipe came from Rachael Ray on the Cooking Channel and is so good. Just a couple of notes... The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup golden raisins, (Yuck!). I leave them out because I hate raisins.. It also calls for 1 cup each of white wine and chicken stock; this made it way too wet, suggest cutting down to about a half cup of each, or leave out the water or the wine depending on your taste, to make a better gravy consistency. And... The rice is awesome, but simple."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 pinches saffron threads
• 1 1⁄2 cups white rice

• For Chicken

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 medium chicken breasts
• salt & pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 bay leaf (fresh or dried)
• 2 jarred pimientos, drained & sliced
• 1 cup Spanish olives, coarsely chopped
• 1⁄4 cup golden raisin
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons butter, chopped into pieces
• 1⁄3 cup parsley, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

directions

1. In a medium sauce pan bring stock and butter to a boil.
2. Add saffron and rice.
3. Cover pot, reduce heat to low and simmer 18 to 20 minutes.
4. Fluff with fork.
5. In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown chicken seasoned with salt and pepper in 2 tablespoons oil about 2- 3 minutes on each side.
6. Remove chicken and add another tablespoon olive oil to pan.
7. Add garlic and onions and sauté 2 minutes to begin to soften them.
8. Stir in bay, pimento, olives and raisins.
9. Add wine and cook 1 minute, picking up any pan drippings.
10. Add stock and bring liquid up to a bubble.
11. Whisk in butter until melted.
12. Return chicken to the pan and reduce heat to simmer.
13. Cook 15 minutes.
14. Serve chicken over saffron rice and garnish with lots of chopped parsley and a generous topping of toasted almonds.

Reviews

[JustJanS]

Bill, this was GREAT! I used skinless bone-in thigh cutlets as I prefer them to breasts, and took note and reduced the liquids to 1 cup in total. I did use the sultanas (golden raisins) and although I'm not too fond of them, they really gave a nice contrast of sweetness to the salty olives in the sauce. As they plumped up, I added another 1/4 cup of water to the sauce. In the ingredients, you mention Spanish onions coarsely chopped-I took this to mean Spanish olives as they are mentioned in the method. I also slipped a teaspoon of Spanish smoked paprika into the recipe, which gave a wonderful, but subtle smokey flavour. This is a truly wonderful recipe.

 

[kadiprimo]

Really good recipe. Sweet and salty. I think I probably doubled the amount of raisins because my husband loves them so much.

 

[anna5399]

All I can say is....Yummalooo!!! Loved this recipe, served it for guests and hubby who doesn't really care for olives but plates were totally cleared! Thanks for sharing! This will be one to go in the keepers.

 

[Kitsmomma]

Interesting flavor, the main taste is the olives & their saltiness, . ..the family was not interested in any other part but the chicken. I wouldn't recommend this dish for families with children (mine are 12 & 13yo) with underdeveloped tastes! Unfortunately the rice turned out a little wet, so 18-20 minutes really wasn't enough to cook it, but regardless had a good flavor. I don't really see myself cooking this dish for the family in the future.

 

[tzisa]

This is a really delicious recipe!! I diced the chicken & also left out the raisins. I'd never cooked a dish with such a large amount of olives, & was a little worried that it might be too salty, but not at all... they cooked down nice & the rice (Mmmm...) was a great balance. Maybe next time I'll use dried cherries in place of the raisins. Thanks for a great recipe!! (I've made this a few times now & can easily say that it's become one of my favorites. Thanks again!!)