Canal House Chicken and Rice
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Last week, a friend, a reliable source of all things cooking — books, ingredients, attire, drinks — texted me a recipe. It came from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 6: The Grocery Store, and she described it as a small miracle.
I, of course, made the dish, “chicken and rice,” immediately, and then made it again, and then made it once more last night. The dish is miraculous foremost for its reception — we ALL gobble it up — but also for its simplicity: it’s a one-pot wonder calling for nothing more than butter, one onion, a few stalks of celery, one chicken, rice and water. I added a bay leaf because I can’t not when cooking rice — that’s what my mother does — but otherwise, I followed the text-message recipe to a T.
You’ll be tempted to use stock instead of water — I was — but it’s not necessary. For the first 20 minutes of stove-top cooking, the chicken braises with diced onions, celery and water, during which time that water essentially becomes a light broth. During the next 30 minutes, the rice cooks in that broth with a little more water, absorbing all of the flavors of the vegetables and meat, fluffing up perfectly around the pieces of falling-off-the-bone tender chicken.
You can add peas if you like — my friend does — and you could add some parsley for color, but don’t get too fancy — there is something beautiful about the monochromaticity of this miracle dish. Tan has never tasted so good.
Canal House Chicken and Rice
- Total Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6
Description
Adapted from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 6: The Grocery Store The original recipe calls for 1.5 cups of rice, and if you choose to use this quantity of rice, be sure to add 1.5 cups of water at the same time. Note: One cup of rice generously feeds four people.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces (I prefer, as always, using the dark meat for braises such as this one, so if you are not cutting up a whole chicken, I suggest buying bone-in, skin on thighs and drumsticks — three of each should do it.)
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 onion, diced to yields 1 1/2 cups or so
- a few stalks celery, about 1/2 cup diced
- 1 cup rice (I use Uncle Ben’s Original (parboiled long grain rice) — it’s what my mother always uses; my friend uses long grain basmati, rinsed 4 to 5 times in colander)
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- In a large, wide pot or sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Brown skin side down until golden, about 10 minutes. (Note: The skin does not need to be super dark. It’s best to brown slowly. The goal is to extract flavor. This is not a dish where the skin in the end is crispy.)
- Meanwhile, dice the onion and celery (if you haven’t already). When the chicken is golden, flip it over, add the celery and onion to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and let cook for a minute or so. Add 1 cup of water, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes add the cup of rice, patting it down in between the chicken pieces. Add 1 cup of water and the bay leaf. Cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes. Remove lid and serve.
- If you live with little people, you might want to cut the meat off the bone, chop it up and stir it into the rice.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours
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92 Comments on “Canal House Chicken and Rice”
Reminds me of a wonderful NYT recipe from the 70’s which included white wine. I have been searching for it and this is close. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks.
I made this last night, making modifications, and it was awesome. I used all thigh meat, chicken stock instead of water, and added several cloves of garlic and shallots and used heirloom short grain brown rice. Amazing! Incredibly rich! I think next time I’ll do a mix of white and dark, 50/50 stock and water and add more onions. It took about 60 minutes to cook the rice in case anyone in the future reading this is curious.
I’ve been obsessed with chicken and rice lately, usually leaving it grilled chicken with a pilaf-style brown rice sans the tomatoes. This was awesome! will definitely make this again next week! Thank you
By the way- congrats on your newest baby! They are amazing creatures, aren’t they?! Our first was amazing but now with Number Two here, it couldn’t get much better. Babies are the greatest!!!
Any ideas for a side to serve with this? And so many people recommend preserved lemons! Sounds amazing! Where can I find them or how can I make them?
Hi Joann,
I would just serve a simple salad or nothing! This dish is nice because it’s meat, starch, veg in one, but a salad would be refreshing here. Here is a link on how to make preserved lemons: https://alexandracooks.com/2014/01/10/preserved-lemons-two-ways-weekend-project/ And here are a few ideas for side-dishes: https://alexandracooks.com/category/side-dish/
Oh my, can I please just say every recipe I make from your blog is extraordinary. Made this tonight and it was wonderful. I did swap 1/2 cup of the water out for white wine and added a carrot. Yum! Thank you for the tip about your friend using basmati rice and rinsing it-we had never done that and it was so fluffy! 🙂
I’m so happy to hear this Kathleen! Love the idea of adding wine for a little more flavor. This is one of my favorites — just a good, classic recipe. Love those Canal House ladies!
I forgot to add that I used two pounds of boneless, skinless thighs because that was what we had from another recipe. They browned just fine and were so yummy.
I have made this so many times, so many different ways. Different kinds of rice, more veggies, different seasonings, wine, no wine, etc etc. This recipe is so versatile! As long as you are aware of how much water you need for the rice, it’s always a winner. 🙂
So happy to hear this! I love recipes that become more of a template for what you have on hand 🙂
Reminds me of my mom’s version of chicken pilaf. I will try making it now. Thanks for the recipe.
Love this one — so simple and good 🙂
I made this last night, and it was really good — I just had a question about how the rice should turn out at the end. At the end of the 30 minute cooking time after I added the rice, there was still a lot of liquid left in the pan. Since my family was hungry (and cranky), I pulled the chicken out and just cooked the rice down uncovered and stirred it constantly until the liquid was absorbed. In the end, the rice turned out creamy (more like a risotto than rice cooked traditionally on the stovetop). It was very good, but I’m wondering whether the rice would have been drier (the way it appears in your photograph) if I had been able to cook it down properly (covered, without stirring). I’m not sure if my question makes sense, but I was hoping you could tell me how it turns out for you when you prepare this dish. Thank you so much, and also thank you for introducing me to the Canal House!
I love this recipe. I think it needs plenty of salt, and we like to use 2 cups of rice and increase the water accordingly. That gets us apx. 6 servings, which accommodates 4 good sized helpings and 2 lunches from the leftovers. Thank you so much for sharing. We serve it with Alex Guarnaschelli’s Brown Sugar Carrots from Food Network.
So happy to hear this! Nice call on doubling the rice. I’m going to check out that carrot recipe!
I should have left a review long before now because this recipe has been a staple for my family for at least 3 years! I love a one pot meal and when made with the 1.5 cup of rice option, it can last us two nights. Sometimes I add in diced carrots with the onions and celery if I think we need a boost in veggies that meal. We have also use chicken breasts and it turns out great.
So nice to hear this, Kerri 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much for writing. This is a longtime family favorite as well.
I cook and recommend your recipes all the time! Thank you, Ali, for all the work you put into testing, writing about, and photographing your delicious dishes (and bread!) Ever since I read about your skipping the (dreaded!) browning step in certain chicken dishes (for example, your fantastic Thai curry chicken), I have wondered if it is possible to always skip that step. If so, do you have any tips? Thanks so much!
Thank you Pam 🙂 🙂 🙂 This means the world.
I have not tried with this one, but I unfortunately don’t think that trick will work quite as well here because the chicken cooks covered for the entire time — so if you don’t brown it before, the skin will have a chance to brown. In the other recipes, when the chicken cooks uncovered in the oven, it will brown and even crisp, but I just don’t think that will happen here. Bummer. Thank you for writing!
I’ve made this dozens of times over the years. This is a true family favorite and is requested for birthday dinners. I’ve made some modifications with time. Be generous with the salt and pepper, add more than you think will taste good. It makes a huge difference between ok and amazing. I reduce the liquid down so the rice isn’t as soft. I also reduce the cooking time for the chicken thighs without issue, as long as I took the time to truly brown the chicken and render the fat. That’s also worth calling out: the reason this tastes so good is the rendered chicken fat from the the thighs and the butter. Get comfortable with that and you’ll be rewarded.
So nice to read all of this, Mary! I am going to try it with your modifications next time because 1.) I love salt and 2.) I do find that sometimes my rice is more cooked than I would like. Thanks for writing and sharing these notes!
This was so so good! It looks like a normal dinner, but somehow is so flavorful and rich. A perfect cozy meal for a chilly day. I added a little thyme at the end, which was nice.
Great to hear, Mary! Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂
My mom and sister and I text one another when we make this recipe. It’s in the cannon! It’s the best. Maximum comfort and taste with so much ease. Perfect for wintery nights, sad times, exhausted times, cozy times.
Awwww it’s the nicest to read this. Love to read this so much. Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂