Baked Chicken and Brown Rice-Gluten Free

I am always looking for new ideas to spice up a simple chicken dinner. This dish is simple to make but tastes like you have spent a whole day cooking. The whole house smelled of this and waiting was the hardest part. I served this with Tapatio, my husband’s favorite hot sauce. The only adjustment, I would make to this recipe is two omit the olives and capers (I prefer the uncooked) and to use a bigger oven casserole dish (the rice expands). YUM! Enjoy!

Baked Chicken and Brown Rice

Ingredients:

2 chicken leg quarters, cut into legs and thighs

salt and pepper

1 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2  of an onion, diced

1/2 tablespoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of paprika

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

2 tablespoons of slice green olives

1 tablespoon of capers

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

dash of cayenne pepper

1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced

1/2 of a green bell pepper, diced

1 tablespoon of sugar

3/4 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 cup of brown rice

2 1/2 cups of chicken broth (if you are using white, reduce by 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper chicken pieces and on a very hot pan, brown the pieces. You don’t want to cook the chicken, just brown the sides.
2. Leave chicken in the pan and remove from heat, add 1/2 cup of water and let it sit
3. Saute onions in olive oil, in a large sauce pot until onions become translucent
4. Add spices, bell peppers, olives, capers, tomato paste and brown rice and mix until well combined
5. Add chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer.
6. Preheat oven to 350F and arrange chicken pieces (and the water it was sitting int) in an oven safe casserole, with a lid. You want the dish to be much bigger than all the ingredients combined, as the rice will expand and will need room to cook, I would recommend 3-4 quart dish)
7. When spice/rice/broth mixture is simmering, carefully pour mixture into the casserole dish and cover
8. Bake for about 1 hour or until rice is cooked. If you need to add additional water, do so.

Serve with your favorite hot sauce or just alone.

Fresh out of the oven, straight to the dinner table