Green Rice and Chicken

Shayne's initial reaction to this meal: "GAH! I do not like green eggs and ham."



LIES. He ate two plates. Try them and you may, I say.

(Not the most appetizing photo quality, but I thought a rough visual aid might be good here.)

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GREEN RICE

1/2 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro
1 cup tightly packed fresh spinach leaves (stems trimmed)
1 can (1 1/3 cup) chicken broth
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbs olive oil
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 cups long grain rice
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced

Put the cilantro, spinach, and broth in a blender or food processor, and blend until the vegetables are puréed. Add the milk and salt and blend a bit more until well combined.

In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan (with a good lid) over medium heat, heat the olive oil and butter. When the butter is melted, add the rice and sauté, stirring frequently, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and garlic, cook and stir 1 minute more. Add the contents of the blender, and stir well to mix. Turn the heat on high, and bring to a boil. When it just boils, cover the pan, turn the heat down low, and simmer 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, carefully stir the rice and check it. Mine was done at this point, but the recipe said to cover it again, and cook another 5 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and let it finish steaming in the covered pot for 10 more minutes. All I did was stir it, taste it, and add more salt.

The flavor of this is very mild, so even Will should be able to handle it. And it's so pretty! And it has green stuff. Curt ate a huge plate of it. *High five*



(I swear he actually ate most of it. Eventually.)

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SPINACH SMOTHERED CHICKEN

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked however you like. You can grill them, pan sear them, whatever. I baked mine in foil, with a little salt and pepper.

While the chicken is cooking, saute the spinach. Here's that recipe again, adjusted to include more garlic, because I don't think you can have enough garlic:

1 1/2 lbs (give or take) spinach leaves, washed and drained
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup (more or less) chopped onion
4-6 cloves garlic, left in the skins with the ends lopped off
Salt and pepper to taste
Mozzarella and Parmesan (or Montery Jack and Asadero) cheese

Heat the oven to 425. Coat the garlic cloves in oil oil, wrap tightly in foil, and bake 20 minutes until tender. When the garlic is done, remove from skins and mash.

In a deep skillet, heat the oil and add the onion. Saute until it just softens, then add in the garlic, and mash it around. Add more oil if you need (I used a dark skillet, so it drank up a lot of oil). After a few minutes, start adding in spinach by handfuls. Stir everything around until the spinach wilts, then add more. Salt and pepper to taste, and add as much as you think you'll need to cover the amount of chicken you're making. When the last of the spinach is wilted, remove from heat.

When the chicken is ready, sprinkle with cheeses, and broil in the oven until cheese melts. Take the pan back out of the oven, top the whole thing with spinach and a little more cheese. Broil some more until the cheese melts and everything is nice and hot.

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I also made some salsa for this meal, because I like it mixed in with the rice. I was going to try for refried black beans, too, but the can of beans I could have sworn was in my pantry was not there. So I made corn.

Woop.