One pot dinners are a dream! This one pot chicken and wild rice dinner too was a dream. The grounding, earthy flavours of the wild rice and the humble chicken paired with the sweet goodness of the sweet potatoes were, naturally and as was anticipated by me, oh so pleasurable!
I added mushrooms to amplify already potent earthy flavour of this dish, garlic and fresh garden herbs such as rosemary and thyme (they are the ones I grow in my garden and have an endless supply of all year around since they so often come handy) added their own zest to this beautiful one pot meal.
The few steps to follow to get this one pot dinner into oven and cooking are quite simple. Somethings such as slicing the mushroom and frying the liquid out of them, then browning the chicken and sauteing onions can be done by a cook of any capability in just a few minutes.
I don’t know how about you, but for me with my two very busy munchkins and 18 months old labradoodle furbaby things in the kitchen have got to get going ever soooo quickly. And so cooking a meal such as this one is time and often a sanity saviour.
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 large chicken cut into 8 pieces (2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 wings and 2 sides of the breast)
1 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for brushing potatoes)
10-12 button mushrooms, wiped, stems trimmed and thinly sliced
1 Spanish onion (red onion), peeled and sliced
8-10 garlic cloves (2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed)
375g wild rice
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, chives, thyme)
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary and thyme
800ml chicken stock
1 tsp sea salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and halved
1 lidded ovenproof deep pan or pot.
Method
- Preheat oven to 175C Fan forced.
- Heat oil in a pan or pot. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides, then remove and set aside. Add sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook stirring until all liquid evaporates, remove mushrooms and set aside. Add sliced onion and garlic to the pan, fry stirring until onion becomes translucent. Add wild rice to the onion and cook stirring for a few minutes, then add mushrooms and the chopped herbs, stir and remove from heat.
- Arrange chicken pieces, garlic cloves and herb sprigs over the rice and pour the stock in. Place the lid on and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven, arrange prepared sweet potato halves in the spaces between the chicken pieces. Brush the potatoes with a little bit of olive oil, place the lid back on and return the pot to the oven for another 45 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.
- Now you may enjoy your one pot donner!
Notes:
Check on rice after 40-50 minutes of cooking in the oven and if there is not enough liquid, add 1/2 cup of stock or water.
I removed the lid from the pot 15 minutes prior getting it out of the oven to add that appetising browning colour to the chicken. It is a good idea to turn the chicken skin side up for the best browning results.
