Darn Good Chicken & Cauliflower Fried Rice

I HAVE to tell you about this recipe. It was THE FIRST paleo recipe I ever tried and Oh. My. Word. is it DELICIOUS! After the idea of ACTUALLY eating paleo foods (instead of just THINKING about eating paleo foods) sunk into my thick skull, I decided to start with THIS recipe. It seemed simple enough and not SO far off what we were eating as a family and it didn't require a HUGE amount of "new" groceries. 

[Mind you, thus far anyway, eating paleo isn't that hard of a transition if you are already eating real food.]

Of course, I needed something to go WITH the chicken. And because no one I knew had tried it, I HAD to give cauliflower fried rice a try. 

Groceries acquired, I let this recipe sit for TWO days. I finally decided to STOP putting off eating paleo and give it a go already! Having only read the ingredient list, I was rather disappointed to find out that time for marinating was required for the chicken. And I was REALLY looking forward to having this for lunch. So it turned into dinner instead. Let me just say, if you skip all of my "this recipe requires marinating time" you will be VERY disappointed when you go to make this dish; the marinating time MAKES this dish. At least, I think so. I haven't been impatient enough to find out otherwise, so if you do, let me know if I can skip all that "waiting". Okay?

[Please note, also, that this was my FIRST paleo recipe and despite my love of photographing my food I'm about to consume, I did NOT take adequate photographs. The hazards of posting PAST food consumption. My apologies.]

I'll say it again, you need a couple hours to let your chicken marinate, so make time to MAKE this recipe! (I'll try and throw this phrase in at least two more times before this post is over. :)

Darn Good Chicken & Cauliflower Fried Rice

(First made: 22 Jan 13)

What you Need:

Darn Good Chicken

-Chicken Drumsticks (2 per person; I started with just four)

-1 Tbsp of diced shallot

-1 scallion, thinly sliced

-1 Tbsp oil (I used sesame)

-1 Tbsp vinegar (sherry vinegar, red wine, whathaveyou)

-Salt

-Pepper

Cauliflower Fried Rice

-Head of cauliflower

-1 c. peas

-1 c. diced carrots (about 2-3 carrots)

-2 Tbsp oil (I used sesame)

-4 Tbsp tamari sauce (or coconut aminos)
-3 eggs
-3-4 scallions thinly sliced


Start with the chicken. Mix your shallot, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss your chicken into a plastic bag and pour your marinade over the top. Seal the bag by CAREFULLY rolling it until there is NO AIR and your chicken is slathered in the marinade. (Did that make ANY sense? Look at the bulgogi recipe, down to the picture of the meat ready to marinade in the plastic bag.)

I do NOT marinade my meats in a bowl. I like to ensure that ALL of my meat is absorbing its marinade yumminess. By rolling the plastic bag (SLOWLY) you get a good bit of the air out so that all that is mixing together is meat and marinade.

Put your bag of marinade and chicken yumminess into the refrigerator and let it sit. I let mine sit for approximately 5 or 6 hours. From before I even ate lunch, to right about when I wanted to start dinner. You could marinate this overnight, whatever suits you, but I think at LEAST a few hours (maybe even only 2) is a minimum to get this recipe JUST right.

While your chicken is marinating you can get the ingredients ready for the cauliflower fried rice.

Take your head of cauliflower and chop it in your Cuisinart. Or your food processor regardless of brand. Or your blender. I'm sure you could also use your knife; it just won't be as fast as an electronic device. I have an INCREDIBLY tiny Cuisinart, so I have to "rice" my cauliflower in batches. Literally batches. And NOT just two.

Pulse your food processor 10-12 times and your cauliflower ends up looking like rice. When you have rice-sized bits, your cauliflower is done. And if you are me, it's time to start batch #17. (Okay maybe it's not THAT tiny.)

Dice up your carrots and slice up your green onion.

Set everything aside (in the refrigerator, please) until you are ready to CREATE!


I won't lie, when I saw the recipe for the chicken, I wanted mine to be nice and crispy looking. Of course, I took the skin off (first mistake) and fought the BBQ for 15 minutes trying to get the stupid knob to turn the gas on. [My husband's grill HATES me.] So I opted for cooking my chicken in the oven knowing it would NEVER look like the original recipe. HOWEVER, I have HIGH hopes that one day my husband's BBQ and I will see eye to eye. And by eye to eye, I mean I'm going to kick the SNOT out of thing!

Ahem.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. (I swear this is the SWEET spot for my oven.) Prep whatever pan/dish you plan on using to cook your chicken. Seeing as your marinade HAS oil in you, you could be okay, but I know the ONE time I think I'm golden, my food will end up darker than golden. (Read: blackened when the recipe isn't for blackened anything.)

Chicken, ready to go!

Place your chicken (inside it's baking dish/pan) into the oven. Seeing as I only cooked four drumsticks, I knew it would only take 30 minutes to cook all the way through.

Set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, it's time for two things: start a second timer for 15 minutes and start your cauliflower fried rice!

On to the "fried rice"!

Add your peas and carrots to a small pan with water. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Carrots should be fork tender or darn near close.

Drain your vegetables.

Heat your oil in a large skillet for a minute or two without it beginning to burn. Add your "riced" cauliflower and tamari (or coconut aminos) sauce. Stir continuously until your cauliflower is coated with the sauce. Make a well in the center of the skillet and crack in the eggs. Stir the eggs until they're cooked and then incorporate into the "rice".

Let me tell you how this worked for me. EVERY single time I would "stir" the eggs, more would leak out to the surrounding rice and my "well" ended up the size of my skillet. So, don't be afraid if your well seems to spring a leak, mine did too! Just make SURE to cook long enough so the eggs are COOKED.

Once the egg is worked into your cauliflower, add your peas and carrots, and green onion. Stir it around.

Looks JUST like regular fried rice!

 Take your chicken out of the oven.

Yuuuuuuuuuum.

Now it's time to serve it up and EAT!

Add another drumstick because it smells AMAZING.

And ever so politely, DEVOUR your meal before you.

Five minutes later. Okay, maybe TWO.

This meal is absolutely FABULOUS. SO fabulous, in fact, I almost devoured the leftover rice straight out of the container the following day while waiting for my second batch of chicken to cook.

Cold.

It's THAT good.

Day 2 and STILL delicious.

This Darn Good Chicken also makes for a fabulous salad.

Lettuce, spinach, grated carrot, darn good chicken, and Aunt Trish's Salad Dressing.

Make this recipe. ENJOY this recipe. And LOVE this recipe! :) Oh and I didn't manage to throw it in twice more, so here goes:

...You need a couple hours to let your chicken marinate, so make time to MAKE this recipe! ...You need a couple hours to let your chicken marinate, so make time to MAKE this recipe!