100 Recipes - #63-64 Rice Pilaf and Garlic-Lemon Chicken
#63 Basic Rice Pilaf Yesterday I made shrimp scampi again and decided to make my own pilaf, instead of sticking with Near East's excellent version. I used this recipe and threw in a couple of teaspoons full of ground saffron for color. The flavor was very good, but next time I'd go a little lighter on the liquid and see if I can get a more defined texture to the rice. I'd also like to try it with regular long grain, instead of the basmati I used this time around. Mixed with chopped spinach, it made a very good substrate for the scampi. However, even 2/3rd-ing the recipe made way too much for five of us, so we had a lot of leftovers.
#64 Garlic-Lemon Chicken with Leeks Jason suggested chicken, so I picked a recipe a lot like this one from the Essential Slow Cooker, except that the one I used didn't call for oregano and used peeled, sliced lemon instead of lemon juice, and didn't have the leeks that really attracted me. I halved everything except the garlic (the recipe called for 10 cloves, so that's what I did) and the result was a very flavorful dish that tested the too-much-garlic frontier and left the house redolent with the scent of it. It was very yummy, but next time I would up the lemon to keep the garlic company. The chicken itself was moist and so tender I could cut it with a fork. The recipe suggests pairing it with mashed potatoes, but I think the pilaf was a better choice. It also treats the sauce as a discardable by-product, which is a huge mistake--this is wonderful sauce.
#64 Garlic-Lemon Chicken with Leeks Jason suggested chicken, so I picked a recipe a lot like this one from the Essential Slow Cooker, except that the one I used didn't call for oregano and used peeled, sliced lemon instead of lemon juice, and didn't have the leeks that really attracted me. I halved everything except the garlic (the recipe called for 10 cloves, so that's what I did) and the result was a very flavorful dish that tested the too-much-garlic frontier and left the house redolent with the scent of it. It was very yummy, but next time I would up the lemon to keep the garlic company. The chicken itself was moist and so tender I could cut it with a fork. The recipe suggests pairing it with mashed potatoes, but I think the pilaf was a better choice. It also treats the sauce as a discardable by-product, which is a huge mistake--this is wonderful sauce.