Eggplant Dirty Rice

There's quite a backlog of recipes to enter... just because we haven't posted anything in a good while doesn't mean we haven't been on our culinary expedition. We've just been having too much fun to officially document our experiments. 

Eggplant Dirty Rice with Slow Cooked Chicken Thighs

*GUEST ENTREE ENTRY*

4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skinless, organic

1.5c chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

Put the above ingredients in a Crockpot and cook for 6 hours on low.  At 5 hours in, pull chicken apart to let sit in the juices and discard bones & gristle.

1/4c canola oil

1/2 tbsp chardonnay garlic grapeseed oil

5 celery ribs, finely chopped

2 small/medium yellow onions, finely chopped

salt to season

2 small/medium Italian eggplants, cubed (3/4-in)

1 tbsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cayenne

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 tbsp ketchup

1/4c soy sauce

1.5c jasmine rice

2.5c chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large sauté pan, heat canola oil until shimmering. Add celery, onion, and salt. Cover and cook over low heat until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Add the eggplant, thyme, peppers, and season with salt. Drizzle the grapeseed oil.  Cook over moderate heat until the eggplant is softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and ketchup and cook for 1 minute. Add the soy sauce and mix well. Stir in rice and broth and bring to a boil.

Transfer to a lightly greased casserole pan, cover, and bake for 17 minutes, until the rice is just tender. Remove from the oven and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice and serve with the chicken.

(Is it even) Optional: Crumbled feta cheese (a must!)

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I absolutely love this recipe & have made it a few times now, but not recently so my immediate thoughts about this dish are gone with the wind.