Greek Chicken & Rice

Greek chicken & rice is my all time favorite comfort food. It is so flavorful and makes me feel warm & cozy inside. I'm spending Thanksgiving with my husband's family, so I had a mini Thanksgiving with my parents on Sunday. When I told them I was going to make this, they could not have been happier.


My Yiayia Sugar (mom's mom) used to make this for me and my cousins growing up. Her name isn't really Sugar, it's Zacharoula. Zachari in Greek means Sugar, hence her nickname.


The ingredients are very simple, but Yiayia Sugar unfortunately never measured anything (you will see this trend in future blog postings). I tried my best to translate "half a cereal bowl of oil" into cups. Enough background. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cut up chicken with bones & skin
2/3 C olive oil
1/4 C lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 T oregano
salt & pepper
1 C long grain white rice
1 T butter


Directions - chicken:
Salt & pepper chicken generously.
Combine olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano.
Beat with a fork until color lightens.
Place the chicken in a bowl and cover with the marinade.
Mix chicken with the marinade so that all pieces are covered.
Cover with saran wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 2 - 3 hours or overnight.
Arrange chicken and juices in a large metal pan.
Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Turn heat up to 425 and bake for another hour.
Rotate chicken every 20 minutes while baking.
Broil chicken on each side for 3 - 5 minutes or until it turns a golden color.
Remove pan from oven and place chicken pieces on a serving dish.
Add a few tablespoons of juice to the top of the chicken.
Cover serving dish and chicken with aluminum foil.
Save pan with juices.


Directions - rice:
Skim fat from the top of the chicken juices and add to a saucepan.
Add 1 T butter.
Boil fat from juice with the butter.
When boiling, add rice and mix.
You should here a "tss" sound when the rice hits the oil.
Stir rice for about 5 minutes.
Strain remaining juices and measure.
If you have 2 C of juice, you are done.
If not, rinse pan with water, strain, and add to juice to make 2 C.
Add 2 C of juice to rice and boil.
Add salt & pepper.
Reduce heat to a low simmer, cover rice and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until done.
Remove any excess fat from top of rice when done cooking.

Tips & Extras:


Pan -  I cover the pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. 


Rice - If you don't have enough juice from the chicken, you can use chicken broth. 


Serving suggestions - I serve this meal with greek salad, bread, & feta cheese. 


Oregano - When adding the oregano to the marinade, crush it between your hands. It releases the oils and adds more flavor. 

Chicken Marbella

When I got married, my aunt (a wonderful cook) gave me a handwritten cookbook with all of her favorite recipes. I always loved her chicken marbella, but this is my first time making it. It's a really simple recipe (although you have to marinate it overnight). My husband looked at the ingredients and said "gross." He's not a big fan of prunes, capers, or olives. However, they come together in a beautiful way in this dish (and he agreed).

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 T oregano
4 chicken breasts, salted
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C sliced pitted prunes
1/4 C sliced pitted green olives
1/4 C capers with a bit of juice
2 bay leaves
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C white wine


Directions:
Combine garlic, oregano, vinegar, oil, prunes, olives, capers, & bay leaves.
Add chicken to marinade and coat. 
Cover and marinate, refrigerated overnight.
Remove chicken from refrigerator and arrange in a baking pan.
Sprinkle with the brown sugar.
Pour the white wine around the chicken.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Serve with juices.

Tips & Extras


Side - I served this with rice. It absorbs the juice and makes it a complete meal.


Prepare in advance - The recipe can be prepared & thrown into a zip lock bag and frozen. Then just thaw and add the brown sugar & wine and bake. 


Brown Sugar - If you don't want the dish as sweet, only use 1/4 C brown sugar. 

Sally's Banana Bread

One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is bake. It's football season, which means my husband is glued to the couch for college football on Saturdays, NFL on Sundays, and Monday night football. It gives me free rein of the kitchen and makes the house smell wonderful. This weekend I went for banana bread.


My friend Beth's mom made the best banana bread growing up. She shared the recipe with me and it is my favorite - very moist and sweet. I always end up eating too much because I consider it "healthy" bread. It has fruit in it, right? This recipe is great because you can make it in 3 small loaf pans and give it away as gifts (so you won't eat it all)!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 C vegetable oil

3 C sugar plus 1/2 C sugar

4 eggs

6 ripe bananas

1 C sour cream

4 C flour

1 1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking sodea

2 t vanilla

1 C chopped pecans

Directions:

Beat eggs in small bowl.

Combine oil, 1 C sugar, beaten eggs, bananas, & sour cream and mix.

Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Add salt & baking soda while beating.

Gradually add flour 1/2 C at a time and beat on low.

Pour into 3 loaf pans (not more than 2/3 full).

Sprinkle mixture of 1 C pecans and 1/2 C sugar over top before you bake.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Tips & Extras

Bananas - I always buy a bunch of bananas and never eat them all. There's usually a pathetic wounded soldier sitting on my counter in about a week.  I put these overripe bananas in the freezer. When I have enough bananas, I make banana bread. You just have to defrost them for about 30 minutes at room temperature. 

Pan - You don't have to grease the pan but I like to spray a little vegetable oil cooking spray so it slides out nicely. I halved the recipe and only used one pan. I filled it a little too high (big mistake - ended up pouring over a bit in the oven). Make sure you only fill the pan 2/3 full!

Recipe size - This makes a LOT of banana bread. I cut it in half sometimes (as I did here) or make a loaf of bread and some muffins. 

Cooking time - Check the bread with a toothpick or thin knife to make sure it's cooked. If it comes out clean, the bread is ready. If you make muffins, make sure you monitor the cooking time on the muffins so they don't dry out. Check the oven at around 30 minutes. 

Stuffed Green Peppers

When I was on vaca in Greece this summer, I ordered stuffed peppers or tomatoes whenever they were on a menu. Although I love tomatoes, I think peppers add more flavor.  This was my grandma (Yiayia) Effie's recipe. 


Ingredients:
6 green peppers
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 T butter
1/2 T olive oil
1 can tomato sauce
1 can water
4 T chopped parsley or 2 T dried
4 T chopped mint or 2 T dried
1 T dried oregano
salt & pepper
1/2 cup white rice
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 t cinnamon 


Directions:
Cut off tops of peppers & discard seeds & fiber. Rinse in cold water.
Heat olive oil & butter in pan over medium heat. 
Add onion & cook for 7-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add meat & cook until brown (break up meat while cooking).
Add 1/2 can tomato sauce, 1/2 can water, parsley, mint, oregano, salt & pepper, cinnamon, & rice.
Stir and lower heat. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Mix 1/2 can tomato sauce & 1/2 can water. Pour in dish.
Fill peppers in dish. 
Drizzle with olive oil.
Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hr & 20 min.

Tips & Extras


Ground beef - My grandmother only used ground chuck. I try to go for 90/10 in an attempt to be healthy. You can even mix chuck with sirloin for a little bit of both worlds.


Cinnamon - The original recipe calls for 1 t of cinnamon. That might be a bit much for a non-greek (my husband), so add to your taste. 


Extra - If you're feeling adventurous, you can add some crumbled feta cheese to the tops of the peppers. My grandfather (Pappou) used to like them this way. 


Sauce - The sauce takes on all of the flavors from the peppers. You can serve it with the peppers or toss it on some spaghetti for an extra meal. If you use a bigger pan, you can double the juice and add some potatoes to the pan and cook. 


Serve with a big chunk of bread.