Thursday, January 24, 2008

Dinner Challenge: Chicken & Rice Casserole Thingy with Frenchs Fried Onions

Dinner really doesn't get much easier than this recipe. This one comes from my mother-in-law (hi, Pam!) and she swears she got it off the back of a Durkee's can of fried onions. I've whipped Google into a sweat over the last few years trying to get an official recipe, but to no avail. Why an official recipe? Because my mother-in-law gave her copy away years ago and I would like to see if the original had any secret ingredients we might be missing out on. If she did get it off the back of a can I doubt we're missing anything more exciting than pepper, so I'm not going to stress about giving an incomplete recipe. If you happen to have the original recipe, please let me know if I'm missing anything!

6 Ingredients

Chicken & Rice Casserole Thingy with Frenchs Fried Onions

4 Chicken breasts
3 cups Chicken stock
3 cups Instant rice, dry
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1 pkg. Frozen, mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts works well)
1 can Fried Onions

Preheat oven to 375.

In a dutch oven or large, oven proof pot with lid add salad dressing and turn burner to medium. Slice chicken breast into large, bite-sized pieces and add to the pot.

Brown chicken in salad dressing until barely pink inside. Add entire bag of frozen vegetables and allow to steam in pot for a couple of minutes while you to measure out the stock and rice.

Add chicken stock to pot with chicken and vegetables. Stir briefly to coat, and then add rice. Turn off stove and cover with lid. Let sit for five minutes. Take off lid and stir into chicken and rice mixture 1/3 of the can of onions. Oh yeah. Don't worry if there is still broth in the pot. It will steam off in the oven.

Almost Done

Without removing lid, place covered pot in oven and let cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, start checking your vegetables. When they are done to your liking, pull the pot from the oven, remove lid, and sprinkle the remaining can of onions on top of rice. Put back in the oven, without the lid, and allow to onions until the are golden brown and crispy, about 5 minutes.

Chicken & Rice Casserole w/ Onion Crisps