Creamy Chicken & Rice

J and I are pretty simple folk. We like the food we like. We like the shows we like. We like the clothes we like. This dish is just another one of those things we like to like.

I've been making this dish since our apartment days and we've been satisfied ever since. The prep time is low, the cook time isn't too bad, but the satisfaction lasts the whole night. Win!

As we were making it last night, I thought I finally needed to share! I don't know why I haven't shared it before then, but now is as good a time as any.

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 med onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, grated or cut into matchsticks
1½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
2 tsp salt (we used sea salt), divided
¼ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 bay leaves, optional
1 cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
5 cups hot low sodium chicken broth
2 cups medium grain rice such as Jasmine rice (un-rinsed)**
1 head garlic
⅓ cup fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

** J and I use instant brown rice. The rice still cooks around 15 minutes, however, the liquid isn't cooked down. A few times we've had to drain the liquid so that we didn't overcook the rice. On the blog with the original recipe, some people substituted regular brown rice for the jasmine rice and it to about 45 minutes to cook down.

Steps:

1. Use a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with a tight fitting lid and heat 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 Tbsp of unsalted butter over medium/high heat. Once the butter melts, add the onions, carrots, and 1 tsp of salt and sauté until soft and golden.

2. Add the chicken chunks, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Stir and continue to sauté until chicken is golden on all sides.

3. Increase the heat and add 1 cup of white wine. Boil down the wine until most of it has evaporated.

4. Add the hot chicken broth and rice.

5. Without separating the cloves, slice the end off of a whole head of garlic. Set the whole head into the center of your rice, sliced side down. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is cooked.