Baked Chicken with Mushroom, Onion and Garlic Rice

For many a year, rice was always my least favourite carb. In fact, I could quite categorically state that my feelings on the subject ran: bread > pasta > potato > rice. Sadly, that order is also the reverse of the health scale, so I've tried to mix it up. As anyone who has had my roast potatoes - aka 'happy potatoes', baked in goose fat - can attest, I've also managed to bring an element of fun, aka unhealthiness, to the lower end of this taste spectrum, thus elevating it to the higher end.

If I haven't lost you there, this is my take on doing something ricey.

Ingredients

(per portion)

• 60g basmati rice
• 200g sliced mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Half a small onion, diced
• 110ml chicken stock
• 20g butter
• 1 large / 2 small chicken legs
• 1 scallion
• Seasoning (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, soy, olive oil, pressed garlic)

Preparation

• Place the chicken in a roasting tray, mix the seasoning ingredients together then rub into the chicken.
• Add sliced onions, sliced shallots and chopped garlic cloves. Mix again and place a few large knobs of butter on top.
• Place the chicken in a regular oven, uncovered, and cook for an hour at 140°C.
• Rinse the rice 3+ times, then leave it to soak.
• Chop the mushrooms, dice the onion, and finely slice the garlic.
• Fry and season the mushrooms, onion and garlic in 10g of melted butter and a dash of olive oil until almost burned, then remove 80% of the contents from the pan and set them aside.
• Add the remaining butter and a little more olive oil to the pan with the remaining 20%, then add a little of the stock to deglaze the pan.
• Add the rice and toast for 2 minutes, until the sound changes, before adding the rest of the stock.
• As the rice starts to boil, reduce the temperature to medium-low, add a lid, and leave for 15 minutes. Switch the oven to its grill setting to crisp the chicken.
• Chop the scallions.
• After 15 minutes, take the rice off the heat. Quickly remove the lid, add the scallions and the mushrooms, then replace the lid and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Turn the chicken so the other side crisps too.
• After 10 minutes, fluff the rice with a fork, remove the chicken from the oven, and serve, or portion it up for meals ahead.