KosherEye.com
Adapted from Celebrating with the Kosher Butcher's Wife
By Sharon Lurie
When I think of Spain, I think of another whole side of my family I have never met who live in Murcia. They chose to use the surname Smilg (my original maiden name, which was changed to Smith upon leaving Russia). My great-uncle Sam, however, changed his name to Santiago, but just to prove we're all Smilgs at heart, I am dedicating this recipe to his family.
Ingredients
A little olive oil for frying
1 whole chicken, cut into 10 portions
1 - 7 oz. package Spanish flavored yellow rice
3 cups boiling water
1 lb. Russian sausages (that's just to tie in the Russian blood!) like Jack's
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1 red pepper (bell pepper) deseeded and chopped
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
15 -18 black olives, rinsed, seeds removed
1 9 oz. can mushrooms
3 red Rosa tomatoes, peeled and chopped or a 13 oz. can chopped and peeled tomatoes
6 ounces tomato paste
1 tsp. brown sugar
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and fry the chicken until just brown on the outside. The chicken portions don't have to be cooked through, as they are still to be cooked in the oven. Frying
simply makes them look more appetizing.
Place the chicken portions in an ovenproof dish and cover with the rice and its flavoring and the boiling water.
Using the same pan, fry the "Russian" kielbasa sausages until lightly browned and place them on top of the chicken and rice.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
Add a little more oil to the pan and fry the onions, garlic, red pepper, parsley and olives until soft.
Add the mushrooms (with their juice), tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and pour over the sausages and chicken.
Cover the dish and bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Check on it halfway through to ensure that there is enough liquid for the rice to fluff up fully. Don't mix it, because the rice may go "stodgy". Just gently part the rice and see if the bottom of the dish is dry. If it is, add 1-cup warm chicken stock.
Notes
Serves 6.
Recipe: kosher, poultry, chicken