Secret Recipe Club - Portuguese Chicken and Rice

Its time for  Secret Recipe Club again - I love being part of this fun club!  My favorite part of the SRC is assignment day - I love when I get that e-mail in my inbox with the link to the blog that I get to choose my recipe from.  I also love that my last 4 assignments have all come from blogs I have never been to before, it's really a great opportunity to find some fabulous bloggers out there and some delicious recipes. If  you are not familiar with exactly how this club works, you can stop by the website and learn all about it - maybe even join in! Basically you are (secretly) assigned a blog to checkout, browse through their recipes, choose one to make and blog about it. It's a lot of fun!

The blog I was introduced to this month was  Karen Cooks, from Karen's About Me "I love to cook more than bake. I especially like Portuguese recipes and Mexican food."

Hmm... I've never made anything Portuguese - and she loves to make Portuguese food - that helps narrow it down.  I'll just have to go Portuguese then.  I chose to make Karen's Portuguese Chicken and Rice and it did not disappoint. I followed her recipe exactly with no modifications and my family loved it!  I was nervous at first because my butter mixture didn't look like hers - it was much redder (now that I think about it - I did spill some extra paprika in there - aha!)  But YUM!  I loved the flavor combinations and the bacon added the perfect amount of saltiness to this dish - Thanks Karen for introducing me to Portuguese food- this recipe will definitely be served again and again in this house!

recipe from Karen Cooks

What you need:

1.5 pounds of chicken (thighs, boneless breasts, or whole chicken, cut up)

1 large onion, quartered

1 bay leaf

1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1" pieces

1-1/2 c long grain white rice

1/2 c softened butter

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon granulated (or powdered) garlic

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

2 tsp dried parsley

What you do:

Put chicken, onion, bay leaf, and bacon in a pot and cover with water, chicken broth or a combination of both. Cook on medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Remove chicken, bay leaf, onion and bacon to a bowl and set aside.

Pour rice into the pot with the liquid in it and simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Preheat your oven to 425 and start making your butter mixture. In a small bowl, combine soft butter, olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, parsley and Old Bay.

When the rice has cooked, spread it out in a 9x13 pan, using a slotted spoon. Don't drain the rice... you'll want to get some of the liquid into the pan so the rice doesn't dry out.

Place each piece of chicken in the butter mixture and coat completely. Lay the chicken pieces on the rice. Add the bacon and onions (I threw these into the butter mixture as well and swirled them around a bit before adding to the pan), placing them around the chicken pieces.

Pour the rest of the butter mixture over the chicken and rice. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until chicken is browned and bacon is crisp.