This is a good one-pot dish made on the top of the stove. I add more rice, and cook it, and the chicken at the same time. Otherwise the chicken is cooking for about 45 minutes, which is unnecessary. Chipotle Chicken and Rice (Everyday Food) 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total) Coarse salt and ground pepper 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, minced 2 large tomatoes, diced large 1 cup long-grain white rice Lime wedges, for serving Chopped cilantro leaves, for serving (optional) In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken on both sides with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Working in batches, brown chicken on both sides, about 6 minutes total; transfer to a plate. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot (if necessary, add a bit of water to release browned bits). Add garlic, cumin, and chiles; cook until garlic is soft and fragrant, 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1 teaspoon salt and cook until tomatoes begin to break down and release their juices, 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup water and return chicken and any accumulated juices to pot. Cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook 25 minutes. Remove several pieces of chicken and stir in rice, making sure it is completely submerged in liquid. Replace chicken, cover, and cook until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, 25 to 30 minutes more. Serve with lime wedges and cilantro if desired

LOL! Cathy, it's the flowery part that's purple, but it's really Crayola style purple! The stems are still white and the leaves green. It stays purple when cooked, though the shade is affected by caramelization and such like. They also have a dusty yellow color and a leaf green. The purple is from the same antioxidant that colors red cabbage, and has be bred for prominence. The yellow (officially called "orange") is bred from a Canadian mutant. I'm not sure about the green, but just as there's a cabbagy purple, the green is also cabbagy in color (cauliflower is a cabbage cousin). But it just tastes like cauliflower. I roasted it yesterday along with the chicken, and steamed the purple asparagus (just has an outer purple tinge, like any variegated plant, and, like dragon beans, lost the purple in the cooking, so what a waste! It's not like asparagus or big tough beans make for nice eating raw!). Took them with some red jasmine rice to another one who'd had an out patient procedure. Colorful dinner, plain and nutritious, but my house reeked when we opened the door. I don't know how other people don't smell the sulphur! Thank-you for the kind wishes. She's doing well, but it's going to be a long recovery. John, I've heard of the potato trick but haven't eaten it. The main tricks I discovered were to use a smaller diameter pot than you'd think and use the end of your spoon to poke holes in the rice layer. And really truly use the dish wrapped in the towel. Maybe Modernist Cuisine guys or other food scientists can improve on it, but mammas have been doing it this way for at least a century, so just do what they tell you! Most recipes call for it, and I've been warned to steer clear of those that think they can do without it.

I almost never make a casserole with pasta, but I frequently make rice dishes that are similar, and I make them in the pressure cooker. Ingredients have to be added in stages so that each one gets cooked correctly, and there is no binder or sauce included. I make chicken avgolemono soup with wide egg noodles, and it is similar to a casserole, but it is not baked. I made eggplant Parmesan yesterday. The way I make grits is somewhat similar to a casserole - it contains grits, broth, sausage, peppers, eggs, cheese, and herbs and is baked in a casserole dish (covered).

No problem finding real grits on line from Anson Mills. I buy a ten pound bag of coarse pencil cob grits and then divide them up into several Foodsaver bags and store them in the freezer. I put them in a Ziplock freezer bag before I put them into the Foodsaver bag so that it will be easier to vacuum seal the Foodsaver bags. The grits from Anson Mills taste like fresh corn, but I add frozen corn to them anyway to get even more corn flavor. Here's another source for South Carolina grits, but I have not tried these yet.