Recipe: Tomos Parry’s chicken and crispy rice is a Sunday lunch made for summer
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
When I first asked the question, “What restaurant dish are you desperate to track down the recipe for?”, a friend pointed me towards the chicken and crispy rice served at Brat x Climpson’s Arch, one of Tomos Parry’s three London restaurants. On further investigation, I learnt that the burnt bottom of that dish is tricky to recreate without a wood oven, so Tomos agreed to write up a version that works for a home cook. The result is a brilliant all-in-one meal that will improve your Sunday lunches without ruining your pan. Serve it like they do at the restaurant, with a big green salad mixed through at the table, and perhaps some aioli. In case you are someone who doesn’t read the method until it’s time to start cooking, fair warning that the chicken needs to be marinated overnight.
Drink
Tomos suggests white wine, perhaps Albariño, or beer.
Substitutions
Tomos says that generic paella rice will work instead of bomba, but to avoid arborio risotto rice.
Tip
The dish looks best when the chicken is served in recognisable chunks. To carve, first remove the legs then separate the drumsticks and thighs with a cleaver. Remove the wings and breasts, then turn the bird over to remove the oysters.
Tomos parry’s roast chicken with crispy rice
to serve four
For the marinade
To serve
Make the marinade. Finely mince the garlic and thyme. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water, then combine all the ingredients in a bowl, stirring to mix well. Rub all over the chicken and let it marinate, refrigerated, in a large ziplock bag overnight. Turn the bag occasionally so that all sides stay coated.
Preheat the oven to 160C. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels then place on a roasting tray.
Drizzle lightly with one tablespoon of olive oil, place on the oven’s middle rack and roast for two hours, basting it regularly with its own juices. Turn the oven up to 220C and let the chicken cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the other elements of the dish. To make the sofrito, finely dice the onion, red pepper, garlic cloves and celery. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and the butter in a wide, shallow pan then cook the vegetables, seasoned with a pinch of salt, over a low heat for 15 minutes until soft. Leave this mix in this pan as the rice will be cooked in it.
When the chicken is ready, remove it from the oven, lifting it from the tin on to a chopping board, and cover loosely with foil.
While the chicken is resting, rinse the rice for two minutes to remove starch then drain and put it into the same pan as the sofrito and combine. Pour the chicken roasting juices into a measuring jug and top up with enough organic chicken stock to make 400ml of liquid. Turn the heat up high, pour in 50ml of white wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate for a minute, then add the stock and juices and bring to the boil.
Cover and turn the heat down low. Let the rice cook, undisturbed, for about 25 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Turn the heat off, give the rice a stir and let it finish cooking by steaming in the pan’s residual heat for five minutes.
When ready to serve, carve and chop the chicken into generous pieces, place within the rice and put under the grill for eight to 10 minutes until the rice is golden brown. Serve with a mixed salad, which should be stirred through the dish before portioning.
Follow @FTMag to find out about our latest stories first and subscribe to our podcast Life and Art wherever you listen
Comments