Famous

 

My aunt described this dish to me as the famous chicken. The illustrious and all-consumed chicken (besides vegetarians). It's like that event or holiday that you can always remember going to because they make sure to always prepare that famous something. There's an annual First Pitch Dinner my baseball team holds at the Marriott and I know we all look forward to it because of the unlimited Caesar salad, penne vodka, steak and mashed taters. Whether its meatballs or lobster linguine or corn on the cob, a smile is on everyone's face with the pure enjoyment of food. 

And so it leads me into my aunt's famous rice with meat and chicken. It's a classic Middle-Eastern dish with simple flavors that never disappoint. 

The ingredients I used to make this dish are: salt, pepper, butter, olive oil, lemon, all spice, 7-spice mix, cinnamon, pine nuts, whole chicken, ground beef, and white rice. 

Start by preheating your oven to 420 degrees. 

Then, take out 2 whole chickens and place them in a sheet. Rub allspice and 7-spice mix onto the chicken so it is evenly distributed. Throw on some salt and pepper as well. Finally, squeeze adequate lemon juice and drizzle olive oil onto the chicken and around the pan. Place that into your preheated oven and let it cook. It should take around 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it!

Next, grab 2 pounds of chopped ground beef and season it with the same things: allspice, 7-spice mix, salt and pepper. Place it in a pan that's already sizzling with butter and cook until the meat is brown and tender. Drizzle in some lemon, too, it tastes great. Drain the meat in a colander and let it sit until you need it again. 

In another pot, get water boiling and put in enough rice for about 8 people. That will take about 15 minutes to cook through. Make sure to continually mix so nothing sticks to the pan. Drizzle in some lemon, too, it tastes great. 

When the chicken is done cooking, take it out of the oven (use mitts!) and place the pan on a safe surface. With a sharp knife and large fork, begin to pull the chicken meat off the bone. It should rip off easily, the smells should be great and the meat should look juicy.

Now that all three components of the dish are complete, throw them all into one large pan. Mix it all around and drizzle some more lemon atop and some more spices too.

As you can tell, it's a simple dish in terms of ingredients. 

One last thing… warm up pine nuts in a pan (no butter, no nothing) for about five minutes until they're a nice golden-brown. When that done, throw them in. A perfect addition, you'll see. 

All this makes for an amazing dish that some would call, famous. I hope you enjoy!