Chicken with Saffron Rice

We always get the Williams Sonoma catalogue, and Martin saved this particular recipe from one of the recent editions that we recieved. We tried it and it turned out to be a hit!

A dutch oven is suggested for this recipe. We have used a dutch oven both times we made it. It's probably possible to make this work in a crock pot too. Please comment if you try that method and it works.

This recipe also requires saffron. Saffron is red and comes in a small package with a number of spindley 'threads' of the spice. The back of the saffron package that we purchased informed us that it takes 75000 saffron plants to make one pound of saffron spice. That explains why it costs $7 for some small fraction of an ounce of the stuff.

The first time we made this recipe, we bought our saffron at fresh market, and the only pack we could find was in a really small ziploc bag with no other identification. Whenever we took it to the checkout line, the guy told us that there was no way that he would charge us for this thing, whatever it was. Little did he know that it took 150 saffron plants to populate that tiny baggy. Publix is a little brighter (or maybe they rely less on their staff to know what the heck they're looking at), because whenever they started selling saffron, it was packaged against bright yellow cardboard in the cooking equivalent of a petri dish.

Halving and de-pitting olives is a hastle. I googled methods of halving and de-pitting, and the suggested methods were not helpful. My method is to cut all the way around the olive in two directions, and then squeeze until something gives. Usually about 1/8 of the olive will come off from around the pit. The remainder is peeled/scraped off by hand.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 lb. chicken thighs and drumsticks (or use a pack of boneless chicken breasts)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 TBS. olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/4 tsp. crumbled saffron
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 and 1/4 cups chicken broth (keep more on reserve in case you think it's too dry)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomotoes with juices (we use a little more than it calls for) 3 cups medium-grain rice 1/2 cup green olives, pitted and halved
1 Tbs minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 350. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In Dutch oven over medium high heat, warm 1 TBS. of oil. Brown chicken in batches, 7-8 min per batch. Transfer to plate. Discard fat and wipe out pot.

In same pot over medium heat, warm 1 TBS. of oil. Cook onion, bell pepper, saffron, and red pepper flakes about 10 minutes.

Add garlic. Cook 30 seconds. Add sherry. Cook one minute. Add chicken broth, tomatoes with juice, and chicken. Bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium low.

Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Add rice, olives, 1 1/4 tsp. of salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium high. Bring to simmer. Cover and bake in oven for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley. Serves 6-8.

This is the final product. It's delicious, and very filling.