Jo’s Brookford Kitchen Diaries Try Something “New” – Or “Newish…”
For those who read regularly, I love to take part in Jo Tracy’s terrific “BKD” monthly cooking challenge…this month, I cooked the dish you see above, and its because Jo offered what golfers call a “mulligan” – a “do-over” or slight cheat: you see, her original challenge was cooking for the first time from a new cookbook…but she offered an “out”, which I took!
Carolina Gelen has a new cookbook, a terrific Substack where she shares recipes and stories, and is now a regular contributor to the NY Times – not bad for a young Chef who immigrated to the US from Transylvania, Romania in 2021!
I always read her posts to discover delicious new recipes like the one I am sharing now:
One Pan Lemon Coconut Chicken And Rice!
Chef Gelen has another winner…as she describes it:
“Looking for a weeknight dinner that won’t turn your kitchen upside down? This lemony chicken and rice delivers a satisfying meal with the least amount of dishes. Juicy chicken, coconutty rice and thin lemon slices are cooked together in a large skillet for a sunny, light dinner that promises comfort in each bite.”
So my “cheat” is that I cooked from this new cookbook once already – but her cookbook is new, so thank you Jo for the mulligan!
Time to make this dish!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4cups (250g) jasmine rice
- 5to 6 skin-on chicken thighs
- 1chicken bouillon cube, crushed
- 1 1/2teaspoons turmeric, divided
- 1teaspoon paprika
- Salt and black pepper
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1yellow onion, diced
- 5garlic cloves, peeled
- 1cup (240g) canned coconut milk
- 1 1/4cups (300g) water
- 3to 4 small, smooth-skinned lemons, such as Meyer lemons
- 1/2cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
Heat the oven to 425°F (215°C).
Pat dry the chicken thighs using a paper towel. Add to a large bowl alongside the bouillon cube, 1 teaspoon turmeric, paprika, a big pinch of salt and pepper. Add the oil and toss to evenly coat.
Here is that process:
Next, heat a 12-inch (or larger) skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken skin-side down and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden. Adjust the heat as needed. Flip and cook for 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate.
Here’s how easy that is:
After removing the chicken, add the onion to the pan and cook until translucent, 4 minutes. Add the rice, garlic and toast, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 6 minutes, until lightly golden.
In a large measuring bowl, add the coconut milk, water, zest of 1 lemon, juice of 2 to 3 lemons (4 tablespoons juice total), sugar, and a big pinch of salt. Stir the mixture and pour it over the rice. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of turmeric, shredded coconut and stir to combine. Place the chicken, skin side-up in the skillet and any leftover juices from the plate.
Here is how that all came together:
One last thing: add lemon slices to the top of the chicken pieces, bring to a simmer and cover with a lid. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Turn off the oven and allow the skillet to sit, with the lid on, for 10 more minutes in the oven. Broil before serving to crisp up the chicken skin, if you like. Then, time to dig in!
The rice is perfectly cooked, with a nice turmeric/paprika glow, and the shredded coconut embedded in the dish offers a richness, as does the coconut milk.
Perhaps a sprinkle of parsley was in order, but either way, this is a hearty, delicious meal…
Thanks to Carolina for a delicious recipe and I look forward to diving into more recipes from her cookbook.
I love that Carolina just shared a recipe for Avgolemono Soup – recipe I made last month:
My wife Alex said this was a favorite of hers: mine too – click to see how this non-daily soup looks like it is loaded with cream – and what you use instead!
Thanks to Jo for the Brookford Kitchen Diaries challenge this month, always so much fun to take part!
Here’s what Jo shared to kick it off:
Some really delicious “bite size bakes!” Make sure to go to her website and see her recipe for this month, and it allows you to link to all of the others being shared as well – terrific stuff!
Click here!
As I told you in my mea culpa at the beginning, I have cooked from Gelen’s cookbook once before:
This was her delicious spicy salmon and green olive stew served over Orzo…see the recipe and review here:
I am sharing and storing all of these recipes here!
It’s your site for all things food – if you like what you see, please click on my link and follow this blog as well!
Bravo to Carolina Gelen for some really inventive recipes and thanks again to Jo for putting on this fun cooking challenge!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Writing, Recipes, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
all really good looking dishes! Definitely good for her. She’s quite young and has a great future ahead of her!
There’s a fun “let’s enjoy food” vibe which is nice, no double helping to appeal to the next generation of foodies…thanks for the comment!
Looks Tasty!! Thanks.