One-Pot Chicken and Whole Grain Rice with Swiss Chard

I saw some beautiful organic Swiss Chard.  I bought it because it looked so pretty.

Then I was looking for a recipe idea to use it for my Sunday dinner.  Found this by Martha Stewart and did my own take on it.  What I used:

• 10 chicken thighs, patted dry with paper towels
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon Trader Joe's no salt "21 seasoning salute"
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• Few stalks of fresh thyme, leaves stripped off from top to bottom
• 1 bunch of wild carrots, stems removed and cut into circles
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 cup of Lundberg uncooked wild rice blend
• 1 lemon, zested and cut in wedges for serving
• 2 and 1/2 cups organic "Better than Bouillon" low sodium chicken stock
• 1 LARGE bunch of organic red Swiss Chard, stems sliced and leaves torn into bite size pieces
• 1/4 sourdough boule sliced into small cubes

I preheated my oven to 350°F.  As usual, I prepared my mise en place first.

In a dutch oven, I put the oil in and browned the thighs that were seasoned with S&P on both sides.  I did this in two batches and then put them on a plate.

I drained the chicken fat off until there was only a couple of tablespoons for the veggies.  The onion, garlic and carrots went in next and I stir-fried until soft and fragrant.  I stirred in the rice, tomatoes, seasoning, chicken stock, thyme, zest and chard.  I brought to a boil.  I covered and waited for the chard to wilt and stirred again.

I turned the stove off.  I put the chicken pieces on top and covered the pot.

This went into the oven for an hour.  I didn't open the oven door or look at all.  I knew the whole grain rice took 45 minutes at a simmer, so didn't want to disturb the heat...I should have used more rice as there was too much liquid left.  However, I had some sourdough boule leftover and sliced it into the liquid in cubes.  It helped thicken and was actually quite delicious.  

When I served, my son exclaimed "OMG, this is fantastic, mom".  Told me the seasoning couldn't have been more perfect and the chicken more tender.  Mom swooned over comments, it was a meal made with love...