Cooking with Karl: Chicken Perloo

Chicken Perloo—a classic southern dish with ties to the Lowcountry region around Charleston, South Carolina—is a great dish for winters in Northeast Ohio.

Perloo is a one-pot dish started on the stovetop in a Dutch oven then finished in the traditional oven. I made it for a friendly soup competition recently and it was a big hit. My Chicken Perloo won “People’s Choice,” and I think you might like it, too.

The dish starts with the Creole “holy trinity” of celery, onion and green bell pepper, with the usual sidekick of garlic. The holy trinity is like the French mirepoix and the Puerto Rican sofrito, which are all great bases for stocks, soups and stews. These vegetables are sweated down with just a touch of oil at a medium temperature, until they are soft and translucent, but not browning or caramelizing. The intent is to maximize their sweetness and to avoid any bitterness.

After about 15 minutes, add stewed tomatoes, cooking the liquid out of the tomatoes slowly before adding anything else. This brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes and reduces the acidity. Throw in some chicken stock, a BBQ rub for seasoning, the shredded meat from a grocery store rotisserie chicken and you have an inexpensive, fast, easy, hearty and healthy meal.

Here’s how to make it:

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 75 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

1½ C yellow onion, diced

1½ C celery, diced

1½ C green peppers, diced

½ C garlic, diced

14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes

6 C chicken stock

2 T BBQ rub (I suggest Meat Church Holy Voodoo seasoning)

1 t kosher salt

1 lb. rotisserie chicken meat, shredded

1 C arborio rice

scallions for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a Dutch oven to medium heat. Coat the bottom lightly with olive oil.
3. Add onion, celery and peppers and cook for 10 minutes or until soft and translucent.
4. Add garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.
5. Add stewed tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until most liquid is gone.
6. Add chicken and stock and bring to slow boil.
7. Add rice, BBQ rub and salt. Stir.
8. Put in oven for 20 minutes to finish, or until rice is done. 
9. Serve with garnish of scallions.