Spicy Chicken and Broccoli Risotto

Well, it's been a while since my last post and I'm hoping that I'll still be able to right!

Anyways, I've come to view risottos as one of my cooking mainstays. Risottos are very flexible and, characteristically, are a one fry pan cleanup. I make sure to use arboreal rice when making risottos. Arboreal rice is more expensive than regular rice but it remains within the bounds of most budgets. Use the right rice, arboreal rice, and everything else just kind of falls into place.

Spicy Chicken and Broccoli Risotto

Ingredients:


1 & 1/2 lbs - chicken thigh meat (pre-packaged)
1 & 1/3 cups - arboreal rice
1 & 1/2 cups - white table wine
28 oz - reduced sodium chicken broth

12 oz - frozen broccoli
1 - serrano chile, stemmed, seeded and deveined then minced
1 - scallion bulb thinly sliced then chopped

1 tbsp - cream cheese, be generous
3/4 oz - shredded parmesan cheese (packaged shredded 3-cheese Italian combo subs fine)

1/8 tsp - black pepper
1/8 tsp - cinnamon
1/8 tsp - sea salt
1/16 tsp - cayenne pepper (enough to dust)

2 oz - olive oil
1/2 oz - pomegranite syrup (optional)

Preparation:

Two fry pans would certainly save time. One pan could be used to cook the chicken while the other pan was being used to cook the rice. But, in this post I'll describe it as a one pan recipe. Please note, the fry pans need to be large.

First, I heat the olive oil over medium heat then I cook the chicken thigh meat for about 12 minutes or until done. At about the half way mark of this cooking cycle (6 min.) I'll add the minced serrano pepper and the finely chopped scallion. I'll also lightly dust the meat with the cinnamon and the cayenne pepper. Once cooked, break apart the meat into bite sized chunks with a spatula. This is much easier to do when they're cooked rather than trying to chop them when they're raw.

Remove the cooked, spiced chicken from the pan. There should be a little olive oil left in the pan, if not then add another tablespoon more.

To the pan add the measured rice and stir for one minute so as to coat the rice kernels with oil. We're still using the medium heat setting though kicking the temperature up a little bit would not hurt. Add the wine and chicken broth in half cup increments stirring continuously. Let the rice absorb the liquid before adding more. Also, add the 1/4 tsp of black pepper and the 1/4 tsp of sea salt.

Arboreal rice cooked in this manner should take about 20 minutes to become tender, but, since we'll be adding frozen broccoli at about the 12 minute mark the cooking time will be extended to 30 minutes. Microwaving the broccoli separately could be a time saver here, I guess it depends upon how committed you are to using just one fry pan.

When cooked the rice and broccoli mixture should be tender and creamy. Now stir in the generous tbsp of cream cheese, the 3/4 oz of shredded parmesan and the cooked chicken pieces. Stir well to mix and to heat through.

Now if you're like me and you're really committed to using just one fry pan, then you'll serve it directly from the fry pan! Otherwise, transfer the mixture to a serving dish and spread evenly.

There remains one problem, the appearance of this entree can look a bit gloppy. So, be prepared to garnish. One person has suggested a dusting of paprika. My personal choice was to drizzle a little pomegranite syrup over the top. The pomegranite syrup added a tangy note to the dish which I enjoyed. A little bit of syrup goes a long way here.

Comments:

The pre-packaged chicken thigh meat was a convenience though since it is processed it will have added salt. On the positive side, the serrano chile seemed to do a very good job of bringing out the salt taste, it's something you'll have to judge for yourself. This is a spicy dish though the heat does not linger in your mouth, I consider that a positive. This recipe will certainly stay in my repertoire. A multi-tasking person could probably complete this recipe in about 30 minutes though for me, and allowing for my one fry pan commitment, the preparation took closer to 60 minutes.