Culinary Disasters

Well it is another Monday and dear god how I still hate them.  This weekend I finally got some time to get into the kitchen and cook for once.  Yeah!!  You would think winter would be hibernation mode and that I would be lazy.  However, I feel that I always have a million things going on and by the end of the weekend I got nothing accomplished. *sniff*

Of course it is almost March which means in another month or so I will be getting ready to get spring vegetables into the garden so need to start kicking into gear on getting that done.  In a desperate attempt to try and get a start on the season I have planted some mesclun, spinach, and radishes in a planter by a window.  So we will see how this works out.

Ancho chili is one of my favorite chili to cook with.  They are the dried version of the poblano pepper and can be found at the local Mexican market.  A bag of them is like 2 bucks and they last years.  All I do is rip off the stem, dump out the seeds, and take them for a spin my cheapy coffee grinder till they are a powder.

For this recipe you will need:

• 4 chicken thighs
• 1 red pepper diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 celery diced
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 3 cloves of garlic diced
• 1.5 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
•  1 small can of tomatoes
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup rice
• High temperature oil
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Dust the chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and about 1/2 teaspoon of the ancho chili powder.  Over medium-high heat add a squirt of oil and add the chicken.  Cook till golden brown.

Lower the heat to medium and add in the celery, onion, jalapeno, and red pepper with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook till softened  (about 5-8 minutes).  Add in the garlic, cumin, coriander, and teaspoon of ancho chili powder.  Cook for another minute.

Add in the stock, tomatoes, pinch of cayenne, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, and rice.  Bring this mixture to a boil, add the chicken back in, cover, and place in the oven.  Cook till both the chicken and rice is done (about 25 minutes).

I wanted to crisp up the chicken skin so I put the chicken under a high broiler for a couple of minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Tags: chicken, All //