Having guests over for dinner but don’t want to blow your budget? Chef Jason Parsons has the perfect money-saving meal for you.

Lemon tarragon roasted chicken with vegetable & olive stew on rice

Total cost: $26.45
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• ½ bunch of tarragon
• 1 whole lemon zested and juiced
• 1 whole green zucchini (seeded & large dice)
• 2 whole tomatoes (seeded & large dice)
• 1 Chinese eggplant (large dice)
• ½ white onion (large dice)
• ½ bulb of fennel (large dice)
• 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• ½ cup chopped fresh herbs (flat leaf parsley, tarragon, chives, thyme)
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 4 ½ cups chicken stock
• ½ cup black olives
• 1 tbsp grape seed oil
• 2 tbsp butter

Method:

Remove the chicken breasts and legs from the whole bird. Cut the legs into two and the breasts in two, so you end up with four pieces of chicken breast, two thighs and two drum sticks.

Heat the grape seed oil in the pan and sear the chicken until the skin is golden brown. Deglaze the chicken with the lemon juice, zest and chopped tarragon.

Remove the chicken from the pan. Pour out any fat and add in 1 tbsp of butter into the pan.

Sauté the garlic, black olives, onion, zucchini, tomato, fennel and eggplant for about one minute in the butter over medium to high heat. Then add in the tomato sauce and ½ cup of chicken stock.

Return the chicken to the pot, cover and place in a 375F oven. Slow cook until the chicken is cooked through, approximately 45 minutes.

During this time, in a separate pot melt the remaining tbsp. of butter and sauté the rice for approximately 1 minute, just to coat the rice with the butter. Then add the remaining 4 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and place in the same 375F oven for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and has absorbed most of the chicken stock. Once cooked, remove from the oven and season with the chopped herbs, salt and pepper.

Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve both either separately or with the chicken stew over the rice.

Courtesy Jason Parsons
www.peller.com
@chefparsons