"French Gumbo"

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (dry) rice
• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 1-2 cups chopped mushrooms (depending on preference; mushrooms aren't necessary for recipe)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, depending on what you like (I use 3 big cloves) minced or chopped fine.
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 3-3.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 breast of chicken per person, cubed to 1 inch. 
• 10 oz frozen peas
• 3 tbs fresh parsley, or 2 tbs dried parsley

Directions:

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity, but there's two ways this dish could come out; if you want "risotto" style rice use 4 cups of broth, but for more of a style of rice, use 3 cups broth. 

-Lightly brown the rice in 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs olive oil (in a large saucepan or "pasta pot"--this will be the pot in which you cook this whole dish so its gotta be big enough- at least a gallon).  If you want to use mushrooms, cook them for 5-10 mins in their own frying pan before browning the rice. (to brown the rice, just keep stirring it in the oil for at least 5 mins with pretty high heat. if its smoking, the heat is too high)

-Add the onions, garlic, wine, thyme, pepper and mushrooms; cook for at least 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid is gone. 

-stir in one cup of broth. cook for 5 mins. 

-once a lot of the liquid has evaporated, add another cup of broth. cook five mins, stirring. 

(for risotto, repeat with a third cup of broth)

-Let the liquid cook down again, and add the (raw) chicken, peas and the last cup of broth. Stir, Cover and turn down to medium heat. 

-After about 10-13 minutes add the parsley, and keep stirring until all the liquid has soaked into the rice (at this point, the rice ought to be a nice 'al dente'). If the rice and the chicken, for some reason, are still undercooked, add broth 1/3 cup at a time and stir occasionally.