CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE

• Rinse and dry the chicken pieces.
• Place the oil in a wide saucepan and, when hot, fry the chicken pieces on both sides until they become golden.
• Take the chicken out, add and fry onion and garlic until they are pale brown.
• Add the oregano, thyme, tomatoes and water, pressing them with a wooden spoon to break them up. Bring to a boil.
• Season with salt and pepper, add the chicken pieces, cover and cook slowly for about 1 hour. Stir from time to time and turn the chicken pieces over.
• When cooked, take the chicken pieces out and, while the sauce is boiling, add the rice, more seasoning and some of the parsley.
• Stir to amalgamate the tomato sauce and the rice well, cover and simmer very gently, without stirring and disturbing the rice again, for approximately 10 minutes, until the rice feels cooked but it still a little hard.
• If needed, add a little hot water during the cooking. Replace the chicken pieces on top of the sauce, cover the saucepan first with a tea towel and then its lid and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving, so that the rice still cooks in its steam and fluffs up.
• Then sprinkle with the remaining parsley. The chicken can be cooked in advance, but the rice should be added just before it is to be eaten, otherwise it may become soggy.
• If the chicken has been cooked in advance, bring back to the boil, place the chicken pieces on a plate, add the rice in the boiling sauce and proceed as above.