This meal came together basically by looking around my fridge and wanting to make something healthy and easy. This is a pretty quick meal to make and only uses one pan and a rice maker so clean up is pretty quick and easy. First I will get the rice going, I could do the rice and try to make this dish like a paella but, during the week when I am looking for a quick and easy meal I am going to take short cuts if possible. I get the oven heated up to 415 while I start to get everything else going. I use my cast iron skillet since it is going to go into the oven and one of the joys of the cast iron is that you only have to clean one pan. I use a bone in chicken breast to cook since I still hold to the belief that it just has a better taste then plain old chicken breast.
I will season the chicken with salt, lemon pepper seasoning, garlic powder, and parsley, I use olive oil on the bottom of the skillet and turn the oven to a high heat. I will brown all sides of the chicken usually a little over a minute on each side, I am not cooking the chicken just getting it browned and getting the seasoning into the chicken. While I am cooking the chicken I cut up the vegetables, I use summer squash, zucchini, red onions, and tomatoes. As the chicken cooks I add all the vegetables into the pan and start to cook everything down. I will season all the vegetables with the same mix that I used for the chicken, I usually have the chicken in the middle of the pan and the vegetables all around it, as everything cooks down I add a 1/2 cup of water into the pan and then place it into the oven. I will leave the cast iron skillet in the oven for around twenty minutes or so at 415 degrees. This time is likely to vary depending on the size of chicken breast you are using and your oven, when the chicken is cooked take it out of the oven 20 minutes is usually what it takes for me. The rice should be done by this time so now there is one last thing to do. I will remove the chicken and veggies from the skillet and spread the rice over the bottom of the skillet, I will then take all the vegetables and the now shredded chicken and place it over the rice, then place everything back into the oven for another 7 minutes or so. A crust should form with the rice on the bottom of the skillet to add that added crunch that just makes everything a little better to eat. I garnished this with some green onions and this was a healthy and hearty dinner to go
Meal for Four
- 1 bone in chicken breast
- 2 summer squash
- 2 zuchhini
- 1/4 red onion
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon parsley
- 1 cup rice