What a dinner we had tonight! Oh, how I wish you could have been here to join us. The "menu" was braised chicken thighs, Spanish yellow rice with peas, and roasted parsnips and red peppers.
The chicken dish starts with olive oil, onion, minced anchovies, chopped Spanish and kalamata olives, bay leafs, paprika, a few cloves of garlic, and a just a little bit of chicken broth. Once the onion is sauteed the other ingredients are added and the scents begin to sing! And, it gets better. Wait until some of the chicken broth cooks out and then add the chicken thighs - I seasoned them with black pepper, dried parley, paprika, and just a littlest amount of salt (the olives and anchovies provide most of the salt in the dish) - then wait for them to get a nice medium brown on one side then turn and wait for the other side to brown a bit too. Lastly, add in about a 1/2 cup of dry white wine (of course save the rest of the wine to sip while finishing cooking and to enjoy with dinner!) and the aromas reach a crescendo.
The Spanish rice we fixed is a pretty standard - butter, onion, broth, saffron, salt and pepper. We added some frozen peas at the end. I love how something with such a simple preparation becomes so utterly savory and completely delicious.
While the chicken and the rice were busily cooking away on the stop-top, in a very hot oven parsnips and sliced red bell peppers were roasting. Before being put in the oven, they had been tossed in olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper - it never ceases to impress me how sweet & savory roasted veggies turn out!
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| chicken braising in wine - the scents are singing! |
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| parsnips & bell peppers - cooked to perfect veggie sweetness |
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| a colorful plate, full of flavor |
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| so good & enough for leftovers! |
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