Arroz de Galinha with Rotisserie Chicken
This Portuguese chicken and rice recipe gives you a reason to buy a Costco rotisserie chicken. The shredded rotisserie chicken with olives, sautéed onions, bell pepper, and soppressata is topped with cooked rice and baked until the rice gets crispy on top. It makes a wonderful dinner.
I use a substitute for Saffron in this recipe. Feel free to use the real thing, but it is expensive. Why? Saffron is a crimson-colored spice that comes from Crocus sativus flowers. To make a saffron spice, you need to harvest the "threads" of the flower and dry it. However, each flower only grows around three threads so you need dozens of saffron flowers to make one gram of saffron spice.
While saffron is crimson, it gives an orange-yellow color once you add it to your dish. Turmeric provides the same golden color with earthy flavor undertones.
However, the flavor profile of turmeric does not match that of saffron taste, so you need to add paprika to enhance its earthy undertones.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked white basmati rice
¼ teaspoon of paprika and ¼ teaspoon of turmeric or 20 saffron threads
¼ teaspoon plus plus an additional pinch of kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1.2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
3 ounces soppressata, peeled and sliced into half-moons
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat picked and shredded to make 3 or 4 cups
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
Preparation
Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in rice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, paprika, turmeric, and pepper. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand for 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork then set aside.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat.
Add onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt
Cook, stirring often, until onion is lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
Add bell pepper and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add soppressata and stir to combine. Cook, stirring often, until soppressata begins to render, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the chicken and olives. Top with cooked rice. Carefully stir the mixture to combine, and flatten slightly using a spatula or spoon
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes then stir with a fork.
Continue baking until rice is slightly crispy on top and around the sides, about 3 to 5 more minutes.
Keywords: Poultry Main
