Lovely, healthy dish with the ingredients cooked separately then combined at the end. The chicken thighs are amply sprinkled with lemon pepper. The rice is a blend of rices – white, brown, wild and red (quite easily found in the supermarket) and the mushrooms are cooked with garlic, parsley and thyme. Equally good hot or cold.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F
4 x chicken thighs
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and lemon pepper
1 cup of rice blend
1 1/2 cups boiling water, seasoned with salt
2 large garlic cloves – grated
8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp. fresh parsley plus a little extra for garnish – finely chopped
1 tbsp. fresh thyme – finely chopped
Place chicken thighs on aluminum foil in a baking dish, pour over the lemon juice and 1 tbsp. of oil, season with salt and a good sprinkling of lemon pepper. Cook in oven for around 45 minutes until chicken is fully cooked. Cut chicken into small bit size pieces.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rice and mushrooms. Bring the rice to a boil in a lidded pan, stir, then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, remove from heat, let stand for a further 5 minutes then stir again.
Place the other 1 tbsp. of oil in a frying pan. When just sizzling add the garlic (do not let garlic brown) and cook for a minute or two then sprinkle in the parsley and thyme, cook for a further couple of minutes before tipping in the mushrooms. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or so until mushrooms are cooked but there are still some juices left in the pan.
To assemble, put rice in a big mixing bowl, add the chicken pieces and juices from cooking followed by the mushroom mixture. Mix all together and season to taste with salt and lemon pepper. Place in a serving dish, garnish with extra parsley and serve immediately, maybe with a tossed green salad.
