Old-Fashioned Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 tsp paprika, plus salt & pepper
• 3 ½ tablespoons (50 g) butter
• 1 onion & 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ⅓ cup (40 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 ⅛ cups (750 ml) hot chicken stock
• ⅔ cup (150 ml) milk & 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 ⅔ cups (300 g) long-grain white rice, uncooked
• ¾ cup (100 g) frozen peas · parsley, to serve

Method

1. Brown the chicken. Oven to 375°F (190°C, fan 170°C). Season the thighs with paprika, salt and pepper; brown well, skin-side down first, in a little butter. Set aside.
2. Creamy base. Soften the onion, celery and garlic in the rest of the butter. Flour in for a minute, then whisk in the hot stock and milk. Add thyme; season.
3. Assemble. Rice and peas into a buttered 23×33 cm dish; pour over the sauce; nestle the chicken on top, skin-side up.
4. Covered, then uncovered. Foil on tight — 45 minutes. Foil off — 15–20 more, until the rice is tender and the skin crisp.
5. Rest. Ten minutes; the rice finishes as it sits. Parsley over, serve from the dish.