Another day, another WordPress Recipe Challenge and another country.
With blogging I get to peer over the worlds garden fence and see what’s growing and into its kitchens. I get to sit in and watch a pretty cake being made, a pot on the stove top stirred, see the spices ground – I get to see what’s cooking around the globe. Panama is a few miles from me, and until I came across the blog Blue Jelly Beans I realised I knew very little about this country, you see Giovanna hails from Panama and now lives in Spain. I’m a reasonably well travelled woman, but with blogging I don’t even have to leave my chair and desk to take a quick trip to Panama.
I’ve come to learn this is a classic Panamanian dish. So Panama now get’s to visit St Leonards On Sea, where I cooked up this oh so simple but truly tasty dish.
So you are thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah Chicken and Rice what could be so different about a Panamanian version? What makes it so good? There are no major seasonings in here other than the chicken and the veggies – no garlic, no herbs. The answer is in the genius addition of Olives and Capers. Which give it a tang, a lift out of the ordinary, See I said it was genius.
This is a fantastic one pot meal, you can use as much or as little chicken as you have, bulk it up with lots of rice and veggies. It would make a great party dish. And it tastes superb cold the next day. I halved the recipe, and used a mixture of rice (basmati, wild and brown) it gave it a lovely crunchy texture. I was able to use some home-grown green beans from the freezer, and you could add any vegetable you like, whatever is in season would work. And I’ve already waxed lyrical about the olives and capers!
I was careful to add the water in stages, I didn’t want to end up with soggy rice, so a bit of guesswork on my behalf. I also didn’t use chicken on the bone as I had some chicken fillets that needed using up, but I’m imagining the flavours from chicken that is on the bone, and still has its skin on.
Pop over to BlueJellyBeans, she writes in both Spanish and English, shares her recipes and world with generosity and grace, there’s often a great story or a mini history lesson on the origins of the recipes. It’s a lovely place to visit, as I’m sure Panama is! So a big thank you to Giovanna for transporting me and my kitchen to Panama for a meal
The recipe in full is here – happy cooking 🙂
A scrumptious comforting meal.
🙂 Mandy
It was Mandy, nice and simple. And it was lovely cold the next day too 🙂
It is indeed a lovely recipe – we eat a lot of simialr rice and meat dishes down here in Andalucía to. As you say, use what you have available. By the way, my parents went to the Taj Mahal yesterday evening and have just spent 15 minutes on the phone raving about the food! The both had starters (Potato cutlet something plus one other?) and then veggie thali and said the flavours were all so distinct and incredible. Now I´m jealous 😦 but even more determiend to pay a visit soon!
Only 15 minutes of waxing lyrical I bet I could yack on for far longer 😉 I love the Thali’s, a real taste of everything! And I’m so pleased they finaly made it and enjoyed it. 🙂
Hi Claire!
Thanks for all the praises. That rice looks amazing, are you sure you don’t have some Panamanian ancestor? 😉
Hi Giovanna, and thank you for suggesting the recipe in the first place. It was lovely and simple to make, flavourful, and I can imagine having it in summer with peas and broad beans.
Hmmmm Panamanian ancestors, now there’s a possibility, they would have to have come via Wales 🙂
Olives and capers! Genius! I love lemon caper chicken, so this dish sounds delicious.
Yuuuum, lemon caper chicken sounds delicious!
That sounds wonderful!
Hi Marie, it certainly was 🙂
Chicken & rice is a great one pot meal but I never would have thought to add olives or capers to that pot. I’ll be heading to the grocery later this morning and I think I just stumbled upon my Sunday dinner. Thanks for pointing me in Giovanna’s direction, Claire!
Rather than wait another day, I made this for dinner tonight — and loved it! The capers and chopped olives make it unique and thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks, again, Claire!
That’s fabulous John! and thanks to Giovanna for recomending it 🙂
It is a great one pot meal John, perfect for when you want to make something nice but don’t want to use every utensil in the kitchen! I think it would be good for parties or buffets too.
It’s like a fried rice which I often cook.
I’m sure your fried rice would be delicious with lovely Japanese flavours
Hola!! Ok, that’s what I’m making for supper! Just have to go for a walk and buy some olives!! Thanks for that, Claire and I’ll go visit this bluejellybeans site!
Blogging is such fun and yes, what great foods, yum yum yum!!
🙂
Hola 🙂 Fabulous, I hope you like it, I had to go and get some olive stoo, but as we eat them all the time it wasn’t a big issue ! I think you’ll like BlueJellyBeans blog, there’s some great recipes to inspire us all there
Every time I go to Giovanna’s blog, I get hungry. Her food reminds me of when we lived in south Florida where so much Latin food is cooked. Your dish looks perfect. I have to say I enjoyed your writing on this post…lovely. You wrote what I think we all feel.
Hi Karen, I wonder if you miss the latin food you found in Florida? either way it’s lovely to be able to recreate some dishes at home. And thank you for the lovely compliment 🙂
I do miss the latin food. Where we live, there is not much chance to eat dishes from other countries. That is why I try and cook them at home.
As I know from your blog Karen, your home cooking always looks wonderful and tasty, but sometimes it is nice to go out for a meal and let someone else do the cooking and clearing!!
We did just that last night and really enjoyed ourselves.
Sometimes evenings at home are the best!
Olives and capers.. I’m in! This would be so different from any other rice dish I’ve tried!
I hope you like it Smidge, and as you say it’s just so different from all the gazillions of rice dishes out there!
I immediately noticed the green olives in the picture and thought how unusual it looked…at first glance it almost looks odd, but simply because it is so unexpected. I can easily imagine the taste of olives and capers and they would really elevate a simple chicken and rice dish! I really enjoyed your conversation about traveling around the world via blogging. It is so true! I learn so much! And I count you as one of my favorite teachers! Debra
Hi Debra, the olives were perfect, and as luck would have it, they were nicely placed on top of the rice dish, so the photos came out well for a change! and thank you for your kind words, I think blogging really is a way to travel and to see, and taste and learn about others lives – all things I’m passionate about!
This looks really, really good, and I love the olive in the dish. Thanks for sharing….I’ve gone to Giovanna’s blog and bookmarked.
Thank you, I love Giovanna’s blog, always something good to read and drool at! I hope you like the dish as much as I did 🙂
I spotted the green olives right away too! One of my favorite flavors as well as capers so this looks delicious!
I love using Olives and capers, they add a bit of zing and oomph to a dish without overwhelming it.
Looks delicious, Claire! I’m off to the shops soon, so I’ll pick up some green olives – I already have capers in the fridge! Thanks!
Hi Celia, that’s great and hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂
I love an easy, hardy one pot meal! Aspargus would be good too, don’t you think?
Stacey
I think Asparagus would be delicious, along with some fresh peas and braod beans – roll on summer and summer vegetable gardens!!
Nice little tip for taste. Thanks.
You’re welcome the olives and capers worked their magical flavours 🙂
Looks wonderful! I sort of view Panama’s arroz con pollo, with its olives and capers, as a scaled back paella-type thing instead of an enhanced arroz con pollo type thing. But whatever you call it, it’s delish
I wonder if pitting the olives first makes it less authentic. 🙂 I broke my tooth on an olive pit from a serving of arroz con pollo at a Panamanian bus stop years ago.
Ouch!! Now there’s a holiday/travel memory you can’t forget!
And I hadn’t thought about the connection with paella type thing 😉