Ever on the quest for new recipes, I was flipping through my cookbook Southern Living: 30 Years of Our Best Recipes and came up with the following meal: Balsamic marinated chicken with beer rice and sugared carrots. The balsamic chicken browned beautifully while cooking and had a really nice flavor of rosemary and balsamic. Nothing overwhelming and I think it would have been very moist still if we hadn’t let it sit for a while until the munchkin was in bed.
The beer rice also exceeded my expectations. I picked it because I had no idea what to cook with the chicken aside from some carrots we had in the fridge that needed to be used up. So as I flipped through the cookbook, the beer rice recipe caught my eye. Actually it was the note about the recipe stating how important it is to have a good rice recipe that is versatile which really got my attention. The flavor ended up being similar to the boxed Rice-a-Roni chicken stuff but SO much better. I think you could also use wine instead of beer and give it a really nice flavor. This rice dish has definitely found its way into our meal rotations and can be used as a side for tons of things. I found both the chicken and rice recipes to be extremely easy to prepare and cook with very little time demanded from the cook which is always a plus when cooking during the week.
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- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 pounds chicken breasts thighs and legs
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- 3/4 cup beer
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Ingredients
Balsamic Marinated Chicken
Beer Rice
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- Combine first 5 ingredients in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag or tupperware box. Add chicken. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning occassionally.
- Remove chicken and place in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Pour marinade over chicken.
- Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until done, bastic often with pan drippings.
- Melt butter in a saucepan and saute onion in it over medium-heat until tender.
- Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water; add mixture to onion in saucepan.
- Stir in rice, beer and seasonings. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.