Eggy Arroz con Pollo

Thanks to Penelope Casas, author of The Foods & Wines of Spain, we just had an egg crust arroz con pollo to expire for.

We started with about 1½ cups of plain, cooked brown rice, a poblano pepper, and cilantro. We roasted the pepper and removed the skin and seeds, and then processed it with about ¼ cup of cilantro leaves, a couple cloves of garlic, and ½ cup of reduced sodium chicken bouillon. We put about ½ cup of chopped onions in some olive oil in a sauté pan, and cooked this over lowish heat for several minutes. In went the pepper/cilantro liquid, the rice, another ½ cup of bouillon. We cranked up the heat and let it cook until there was just a little bit of liquid left.

For a cheese sauce, we started with about 1½ tablespoons of butter, one tablespoon of flour, and a cup of the reduced sodium bouillon. To this we added ¼ cup each of mozzarella and pepper jack.

We spread half the rice onto the bottom of a pie dish, and covered the rice with a layer of chopped leftover chicken breast. On top of this we poured the cheese sauce, and let that sit there for a few more minutes to set. We finished with another layer of rice. After baking at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, the rice looked crispy on top and the cheese sauce was bubbling up around the sides.

Now it was time for the egg crust. That involved beating three eggs with three tablespoons of milk. W poured this on the top and cranked the heat up to 500 degrees. We let it cook until the crust was browning nicely (it puffed up and then deflated when it came out of the oven.)

Once we got it out of the oven, we restrained ourselves for about five minutes while it cooled, then topped it with salsa and Mexican table cream. Oddly enough, we both agreed it tasted kind of like coconut. Go figure.