Chicken In Rice
The chicken starts in a cold pot so the skin browns slowly instead of tearing, then goes back in on top of the rice. Don't miss the soft garlic cloves - squeeze them straight onto the plates.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 chicken, organic or the best you can get
1 bulb garlic
1 leek, white part rinsed and sliced into 1cm rings
1 bunch silverbeet, stalks and leaves chopped and rinsed
1/4 cup oregano leaves
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups white rice, rinsed
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup stock
1 cup water
For 2 chickens, the crowd version
2 bulbs garlic
1 1/2 bunches silverbeet, or a smaller bunch of another leafy green like kale or English spinach
2 leeks
1/2 cup oregano
50g butter
2 cups white rice, rinsed
1 cup white wine
1 cup stock
1 cup water
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Snip the fatty bits from just inside the carcass.
Put the oil and the chicken, breast side down, into a cold large ovenproof pot with a tight fitting lid. Place the fatty bits around the edge.
Place over medium heat and allow the chicken breast to brown for about 10-15 minutes. The cold start allows the skin to slowly brown and prevents tearing. It also allows the fat to render and not just burn.
Once it is seriously golden brown, carefully remove the chicken and set aside. You can brown the underside if you like, but I like the stickiness of the wet skin that is cooked in the rice.
Cut the garlic in half at the fattest part of its belly and place the cut sides down into the chicken fat and oil still in the pan.
Add the leeks and stir to mix, making sure to put the garlic back face side down if it has turned. Reduce the heat to low and put the lid on for 15 minutes, checking occasionally to prevent catching. The garlic and leeks will sweat and begin to caramelise.
Return the heat to medium and throw in the silverbeet, oregano and butter. Stir until the butter has melted and the greens have wilted.
Add the rice and wine and combine.
Nestle the chicken back in, skin side up. Pour the water all around the chicken, then cover with the lid and place into the oven for 40-50 minutes.
Serve pieces of the tender chook with lots of lovely sticky rice and freshly cracked pepper, and make sure not to miss out on the soft cloves of garlic, which you simply squeeze out onto plates.
HINTS
The cold start is the whole reason the skin stays on the bird. A hot pan grabs the skin and tears it, and the fat burns before it renders.
For 2 chickens, the temperatures and times stay exactly the same - just scale the pot and the ingredients.
Rinse the rice properly. It is sitting in stock, wine and chicken fat for 50 minutes and the excess starch turns it to paste.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, serves 4 - guide only):
Energy: approximately 19800kJ (4730 calories)
Protein: 320g
Fat: 230g
Saturated fat: 70g
Carbohydrates: 250g
Sugars: 15g
Fibre: 15g
Sodium: 1800mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.