Simple and excellent

I made this for dinner last night:

One-Pot Chicken Thighs With Black Beans, Rice and Chiles
MARGAUX LASKEY
• YIELD4 to 6 servings
• TIME1 hour


Adapted from Diana Henry’s “From the Oven to the Table: Simple Dishes That Look After Themselves,” this true one-pot wonder of chicken, black beans, rice, tomatoes and chiles will make everyone at the table happy. As the chicken thighs roast, the cumin-scented rice soaks up all of the delicious juices. When the timer chimes, the rice and chicken emerge from the oven perfectly cooked. Be sure to use a 12-inch skillet here; a smaller or larger pan might result in under- or overcooked chicken or rice. Leftovers, if you have any, are great in tacos or enchiladas.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• Flaky sea salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or peanut oil
• 1 large yellow or white onion, chopped
• 2 green or red bell peppers, halved, seeded and sliced
• 2 ½ cups chicken stock
• 2 red Fresno chiles or jalapeños, halved, seeded and chopped
• 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick, broken in half (1/4 tsp powdered)
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (or substitute coriander)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed
• ⅓ pound cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed in a sieve until the water runs clear
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges, pickled chiles, sliced fresh chiles, sour cream and sliced avocado, for serving


PREPARATION

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet (the pan size is very important) over medium-high. Brown the chicken on both sides to give it good color, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add the onion and bell peppers to the pan and sauté until just starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a small saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Meanwhile, add the Fresno chiles or jalapeños, cinnamon, garlic and cumin to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the black beans and cherry tomatoes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the rice on top in an even layer. (It’s important that the black beans are beneath the rice and chicken. The rice will burn otherwise.) Add the stock and return the chicken to the pan, skin-side up.
3. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. The chicken should be lovely and golden, the stock should be absorbed and the rice should be tender. Sprinkle with the cilantro. Serve with lime wedges, pickled chiles, sliced fresh chiles, sour cream and avocado (squeeze some lime juice over the avocados in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper).
COOKING NOTES

MADE 05/24/20, EXCELLENT, THIS IS A KEEPER.

I was pleasantly surprised that with a limited number of ingredients the flavor was excellent.

Dave, it's about time for you to put out a book of your favorite recipies .

Thanks IV but I have technical books that will come first.
My lack of discipline and documentation in the kitchen don't necessarily lend themselves to the world of cooking
I often tell my wife, after enjoying one of my free forms, to enjoy it now because I likely will never cook the same thing again.
My Mother was a great instinctive cook which I now struggle to duplicate.

LOL. That's how I cook, Dave. It's never the same twice. Maybe similar but not always the same.

I'm kind of the same way, Dave. Cooking just comes naturally to me and I never measure anything. If someone wants the recipe all I can do is guess.

There are things my Mother cooked, which I loved, but have not yet mastered. My Mother had a very discerning pallet and could taste test and adjust while she was preparing--thus the results were consistent. My son (the chef) shares that ability. He can take one taste of a dish and tell you exactly what is in it---an ability I have never been successful in cultivating. There are dishes that I asked my Mother to write down for me--but it just never worked out.

As an example, one childhood favorite that I have been unable to exactly recreate is a hot bacon dressing. This is a requisite of local fare. It is a sweet/sour dressing most often used on dandelions. We would make a meal of dandelions wilted in this dressing and then put over boiled potatoes.

The problem I had in trying to extract these dishes from my Mother was that she added vinegar and sugar by eye, without a measure. Then she would taste and add either vinegar or sugar to bring the final result to the correct ratio and taste. That process is difficult to document! And, even more difficult for me to master :dunno:

Nurse Paula is very good at what we call reverse engineering. If we come across a sauce that we like in a restaurant she will ask for some extra to go and recreate it at home by taste. Her Spicy Thai Wing Sauce is a bastard and delicious...

Once a month we make a pot or pan of what we call a Garbage Can dish. We clean out the fridge and freezer of items that if not used soon will need to be thrown away. It's different every time but always good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phillbo

We clean out the fridge and freezer of items that if not used soon will need to be thrown away. It's different every time but always good.

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I call mine "refrigerator soup"---and have the same results---always good---never the same :cool:

I call it "must go".

did that when I was cooking in the Army. Be surprised what you can make from grouping "C" rations together. And be eatable.

I never messed (no pun intended) with C rations---I tried to get rid of them :yuck:

I was "stuck" on a mountain top in Korea for a month in the middle of winter. We had 3 Korean guards with us who stood guard over our antenna field. They would drop supplies into us on a weekly basis, C rations, water and Korean rations, which were primarily rice, kimchi, seaweed (nori) and dried fish (mostly squid). There was not a lot of opportunity to trade with the other GI's because what was edible to one was edible to all---and what was inedible to one was inedible to all. I had a distinct advantage, I had spent far more time with the Korean populace than most and had developed a taste for Korean fare. Our guards were curious about the things that came in our little green tin cans and I took advantage of that to both share my "culture" with them and they shared with me :pimpgrin::peace:

I never could stomach some of those delicacies, like canned bread, canned eggs and ham---just the thought of that still makes me ill:uhuh:

My wife is in the hospital again for another surgery on her spine---so cooking on the home front is all free form. Today at lunch I needed fast so it was ramen noodle soup fortified with about a cup of left over broccoli and a package of nori. The taste for nori, which I developed in Korea, has never left me and seldom am I without any in the pantry.

I am overdue for a supply run to my Asian market . I am completely out of kimchi---not a nice place to be:wah:

I don’t go the Kimchi route in my ramen, but always pour the hot soup over pieces of fresh Napa Cabbage, which is what Kimchi is made from. Adds some crunch. Here’s a suggestion: char some white scallions bits to add to the soup. The char completely changes and enhances the flavor. Bam!

I will have to try the scallion trick---thank you :cool:

I don't always add kimchi to my ramen--I use it many different ways but simply eating it as a salad is most common. One of my more common uses as an additive, is to saute lightly and then break my eggs into it allowing them to poach in the steam:drool:

Never been a fan, but the Koreans are apparently addicted to it. A few years back there was a Napa Cabbage crop failure that drove the addicted so nutty it jacked the price of the cabbage up to $50 per head. I have an aversion to vinegar and most things soaked in it.

Most good kimchi contains no or very little vinegar, I buy Tobagi. Store bought kimchi here is miles apart from homemade in Korea, the level of fermentation is much less. I never concern myself with use by dates, when I make a buy I load up. The same applies to sauerkraut---it doesn't get bad, it gets better!

Doesn’t the process turn to vinegar in both Kimchi and sauerkraut? Tastes that way to me, but maybe I am confusing something.

Vinegar is acidic acid, with a typical pH of 2.5-3.0. Sauerkraut and kimchi contain lactic acid. Both have similar effect on the palate. Good homemade sauerkraut can get down to a pH of about 3.0. Good kimchi is 4.0 plus. About the same as a tomato.