Chicken and Rice Casserole the Unprocessed Version (there’s no canned mushroom soup here)!

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 1.5 – 2 hrs

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 whole free range chicken, cut into chicken pieces (remove skin and bone is left in).
• 2 cups organic chicken stock
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup wild rice
• 16 oz of sliced mushrooms
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 TBS fresh thyme
• 1 TBS fresh rosemary
• 1 TBS herbs de provence (dried)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a very large sauté pan on medium high or high heat (hot enough to brown but not burn). Sprinkle a dash of salt on the bottom of the pan. Season the chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper. . Remove chicken pieces and set aside in a bowl. Note that the chicken does not have to be cooked through, only browned.
2. In the same sauté pan add 1 Tbsp olive oil, lower the heat to medium, add the onions, and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 30 seconds more. Remove onions and garlic to a large casserole dish.
3. Raise heat to medium high, add the sliced mushrooms. Dry sauté them (no need to add butter or oil), allowing the mushrooms to brown lightly, and release some of their moisture. Add the mushrooms to the casserole dish.
4. Add 1/4 cup dry red wine to the pan to deglaze the pan, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Let the wine reduce to about 1 Tbsp, then add the chicken stock, and remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the sour cream. Add the raw rice to the casserole dish. Then pour the stock, sherry, cream, sour cream mixture over the rice. Add the  or fresh herbs, herbs de provence, and paprika to the dish. Stir the rice, onion, mushroom, herb mixture so that they are evenly distributed in the casserole dish.
5. Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture in a single layer if you can, they will be crowded. Cover the casserole dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in a 375°F oven for 1 hr. Remove foil. If the casserole is still too liquidy and or rice is not done let it cook a few minutes more, uncovered, until the excess liquid has evaporated away.

Serve with any veggie you like or just have a bowl of it by itself!  I chose zucchini and squash.

Wild Rice