Southern Chicken Perlo

By Lisa VanWilliams

This is a moist juicy chicken that can be described as a Southern paella/Jambalaya concoction. I grew up traveling with my parents in their Winnebago all over the place because they loved participating with sporting dogs in field trial competitions. Some of the places we visited were South of the Border and that's where I learned about grits and chicken perlo. My mom has been making this dish for years. It's a simple one pan meal that easy to make for a small family or a huge crowd, and you will be happy to have some of these leftovers if your lucky enough to have any at all.  The amount of richness and flavor that comes from such simplicity will have you boggled. You can also use any variety of sausage you prefer. We picked a smoked turkey sausage and it was phenomenal.


Ingredients:
2 whole chicken breasts bone in
6 drumsticks
3 cloves of garlic chopped
coconut oil spray
2 sweet onions sliced
garlic powder
onion powder
salt & pepper
32 oz chicken broth
2 cups long grain white rice
2 ring smoked sausage diced
2 bay leaves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Spray some cooking oil into large dutch oven roasting pan and place your chicken on the bottom. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Toss the sliced onions and and garlic over the chicken and lastly put in the sausage and roast in the oven uncovered for about an hour. It will turn all crispy and brown on the top. After an hour, remove the chicken, drain all the juice/grease from the pan. Pour in the rice and then top off with the chicken broth and bay leaves. COVER the pan now and return to oven for another 20-30 mins. DO NOT open it to check it once you but the rice into the oven. Leave it until the time is up. Remove and serve. Enjoy!