I stopped at the corner store on the way home to get some milk and remembered that there was no plan for dinner. I picked up 0.5 kg of boneless and skinless chicken thighs because "there is always something nice to be made with chicken."
When I got home, I rummaged through the fridge and didn't find all that much. Some left-over
tomato compote from the other day, a brown paper bag with a handful of completely desiccated Swiss mushrooms that were forgotten for a few weeks in the veggie drawer, and a few Brussel sprouts.
Not a problem. Chop the chicken into one-inch pieces. Make a marinade with some lemon juice, white whine vinegar, olive oil, plenty of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, Herbes de Provence, marjoram, Dijon mustard, and and a pinch of cumin. Marinade for an hour.
Fry the chicken pieces with olive oil in a skillet until lightly browned. Remove the chicken and add one chopped onion; sautée until translucent and add two or three cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. Then add the mushrooms, halved Brussel sprouts, some dried oregano, and sautée some more until there is a bit of colour.
Add one cup of washed and drained Basmati rice and fry gently for a few minutes to coat it with the oil. Add half a litre of
yesterday's chicken stock, nestle the chicken pieces into the rice, and top with the left-over tomato compote. Heat on the stove top until just simmering, then put a lid on and stick the whole thing into a 175 ºC (350 ºF) oven.
Leave in the oven with the lid on for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, turn the temperature down to 140 ºC (285 ºF) and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley, sea salt flakes, and black pepper.
It turned out seriously nice. There basically isn't much that can go wrong with a dish such as this. It'll work with whatever leftovers are kicking around—chicken, pork, beef, ham, or bits of sausage. Similarly with the veggies—bell peppers, beans, peas, squash, tomato, spinach, whatever strikes your fancy