Grilled Chicken With Rice Pilaf and Glazed Vegetables

We might as well start at the beginning of my most recent class, and it began with chicken. This particular dish is a grilled chicken breast de supreme (a boneless breast with the skin on), with rice pilaf and glazed carrots and turnips. It’s a fairly basic meal for one or two (though the recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc., depending on how many you need to feed) and takes less than an hour to prepare.

Unfortunately, as I made this in class, I didn’t have the time to take pictures of the process. It is, however, fairly straightforward, so I’ll just do my best to make the description as detailed as possible. This won’t be an issue for ALL of the upcoming recipes here, but it will be for some of them. There is also the possibility that I’ll make these at home and update the recipes with pictures after the fact.

Difficulty: Relatively Easy
Active Prep Time: About 45 minutes
Total Prep Time: About 45 minutes
Special Equipment: An outdoor or stovetop grill
Serves: 1 – 2

Ingredients:

• 1 boneless chicken breast (skin on)
• 1 large carrot (cubed)
• 1 turnip (cubed)
• ½ cup long grain white rice
• 1 cup water or stock (chicken or vegetable)
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and begin heating your grill. Additionally, set a pot of salt water to boil on a backburner.

2. On the stove top over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small sauce pot, then add the onion. Cook for 3 – 5 minutes.

3. Add the rice to the pot and cook for another 3 – 5 minutes.

4. Add stock to the pot, then bring to a simmer. Add a few pinches of salt, then cover the pot with tin foil and place into the oven for 20 minutes.

5. While the rice cooks, put the cubed carrot and turnip into the boiling salt water for about 5 – 6 minutes. Then remove them from the pot and place into a container full of ice water to stop them from cooking any further. Set aside.

6. Generously sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken breast, then place on the grill skin side down. After a few minutes, well defined grill marks should form. At this point, rotate the breast about 45° counter-clockwise to form a nice diamond pattern.

7. By now, the rice should be ready to come out of the oven. Take it out, but leave it covered for another 20 minutes.

8. Back to the chicken breast. At this point, the breast should be ready to flip over (you’ll see that the color of cooked meat has crawled about halfway up the breast). Repeat the grill marks part of step 6 to form grill marks in a diamond pattern on the uncooked side.

9 . Once grill marks are formed on both sides, the chicken should be fully cooked (check for an internal temperature of 165°F just to be sure). The whole process should take about 10 – 20 minutes, depending on how hot your grill is. When it’s finished, place it on a rack and cover with tin foil to set for 5 – 10 minutes.

10. Now it’s time to reheat your vegetables. Melt the remaining butter in a pan, then add about a tablespoon of water and the sugar. Place the vegetables in the pan and gently swirl them around for a few minutes until they’ve got a shiny, glazed look to them.

11. Everything should be ready to go now. Uncover your rice and fluff it up with a fork. Slice up the chicken breast and place it on top of the rice, then serve.