Heat olive oil until very hot and shimmering over medium high heat in a Dutch oven or another heavy bottom pot with a lid. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Dry your chicken pieces with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Place them skin side down and cook undisturbed for about 3-5 minutes until the skin is golden. Reduce the heat as needed to avoid burning the chicken. Remove the chicken to a plate.
Add the onions and optional peppers and cook until translucent and softened, about 4-6 minutes or so.
Next add the rice and toast it for about 2 minutes until nicely coated with oil and starting to smell nutty. Add the chicken stock. Check your rice package - typically, 2 cups of rice will call for 4 cups of liquid; add more or less as required in the package. Bring to boil, top with the chicken (skin side up) and any of the chicken juices that accumulated on the plate. Add bay leaf. Cover, bring to simmer and move the entire pot into the oven. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender and chicken is cooked through.
You can serve as is for a fluffy rice option, or place the chicken on a baking tray and broil for a few minutes until the skin is crispy. While you do that, you can add some more chicken stock, tablespoon or so of butter, optional parmesan cheese and stir the rice vigorously for about 2 minutes. Doing so will result in your rice being more of a "risotto" consistency.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat olive oil until very hot and shimmering over medium high heat in a Dutch oven or another heavy bottom pot with a lid. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Dry your chicken pieces with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Place them skin side down and cook undisturbed for about 3-5 minutes until the skin is golden. Reduce the heat as needed to avoid burning the chicken. Remove the chicken to a plate.
Add the onions and optional peppers and cook until translucent and softened, about 4-6 minutes or so.
Next add the rice and toast it for about 2 minutes until nicely coated with oil and starting to smell nutty. Add the chicken stock. Check your rice package - typically, 2 cups of rice will call for 4 cups of liquid; add more or less as required in the package. Bring to boil, top with the chicken (skin side up) and any of the chicken juices that accumulated on the plate. Add bay leaf. Cover, bring to simmer and move the entire pot into the oven. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender and chicken is cooked through.
You can serve as is for a fluffy rice option, or place the chicken on a baking tray and broil for a few minutes until the skin is crispy. While you do that, you can add some more chicken stock, tablespoon or so of butter, optional parmesan cheese and stir the rice vigorously for about 2 minutes. Doing so will result in your rice being more of a "risotto" consistency.
