Chicken and rice: easy, healthy and gourmet?

I know what you’re thinking! Sure, chicken is easy and yes, it can be healthy, but can it really be gourmet? Absolutely! Everything is in the presentation. Take a pen and a piece of paper; This is how you do it.

Preferably, it is much easier to use an electric skillet. This way you can make your sauce. Add about 2 tablespoons. of light extra virgin olive oil in your frying pan. Take two good sized garlic cloves, peel them, beat them with a knife, slice them and put them in your pan. Slice up some red onion (about 3 inches long and half an inch thick). Quarter a handful of mushrooms and sauté over low heat along with the onion and garlic. This is a great meal with a delicious Pinot Grigio, so I’ll pour myself a glass and use about a quarter cup to add to the stir fry. Let it reduce a bit and stir a couple of times. Then add about 2 to 3 tablespoons. of Balsamic Vinegar (I like Colavita because it is a little sweeter), stir and cover. To the next station!

Now, rinse the boneless, skinless chicken breasts, removing all fat. I used 3 7 oz. breasts Turn the skillet to about 300 and brown the breasts loin side down first. After about a minute and a half, flip the chicken and repeat browning. Lower the pan to about 200 and add two cups of water. Once the liquid begins to boil again, add a teaspoon and ½ of the plain low sodium chicken broth paste. Stir it so it dissolves properly. Add about a quarter-size amount of thyme over the chicken along with some fresh ground pepper. Is it starting to sound good yet? Now let it go! To the next station!

You can do this with any type of rice. My personal favorite is jasmine white (because it’s not that mushy) but you can make whatever you want. Plus, you could even spice up your rice a bit using some slices of almonds or cashews. Cook the rice half an hour before what you would like to eat, but make sure it is not too soft. This way, you are not pressured. Anyway, the longer the chicken is in the sauce, the more delicious it will be! Just make sure to stir and flip them every 10 minutes or so and keep the temperature down to 200. Make sure you have about 2 cups of liquid in the pan at all times.

Ready to eat? Okay, take out the chicken and cut it into slices or chunks (whichever suits you best). Take 1 ½ teaspoon and mix it with a small amount of cold water (maybe ¼ cup of water). Pour the mixture into the sauce and stir. Once it’s a little thicker, add another teaspoon to ¼ cup of water and do it again. Add the chicken to the sauce and stir. Let the sauce cook for about 10 minutes … stir frequently. You want the sauce to be thick enough to coat the chicken well. To the next station!

This is where presentation comes in. Now I am one of those people who would use his “nice things” whenever he could. So my philosophy is, if you have it, use it! While you’re playing in the kitchen, julienne some pretty peppers. Red, orange and yellow are my favorites because they give a very nice color to the dish. Sauté just enough to make them mushy and it may clump a bit on the plate or spread it a bit. You don’t want it on power, that’s all. Serve about a cup and ½ of rice on the plate. Now make a small pocket at the top of the rice. Pour a good amount of sauce on top of the pocket. Add your chicken on top and garnish your plate with your peppers and the finishing touch is a nice piece of grass. I like to use sprigs of rosemary because they are so pretty. But I guess I could use pretty much anything.

Viola! You have now created a chicken and rice dish that is EASY, HEALTHY, and GOURMET!