Greek Brown and Wild Rice Bowls

Week 364. Year seven done. Seven years of standing at the stove. Seven years of the bayou and the cottage and the roux. Seven years of children growing and leaving and coming back and growing more. Seven years of Mama getting smaller and Rémy getting larger and Colette getting more brilliant and Luc getting more independent and Danielle getting more indispensable and the gumbo getting more itself — the way all things get more themselves with time. The gumbo at year seven is the gumbo at year one, but with seven more years of hands and heat and memory stirred in.

The inventory: Mama, sixty-eight. Slowing. Still in the cottage. Still cooking, with help. Pierre, sixty-one. Still building, still silent. Angelle, sixty-three. Simone married. Danielle, forty-two. The general. The anchor. Luc, eighteen. LSU sophomore. Making dark roux in a dorm room. Colette, fifteen. Painting, writing, baking. Applying to RISD summer program. Rémy, twelve turning thirteen. Cooking, fishing, hunting. President of the cooking club. Journal filling. Top-five list at sixty-seven entries. The business: ten employees. $500K+ revenue. DeShawn is a master. The therapy: four years, working. The insomnia: managed. The tattoo: unchanged. C'est bon, cher.

Made a simple chicken and rice. The foundational dish. The dish that says: I am here. I cooked. We ate. The week is done. The year is done. The door is open. Come eat, cher. We're still here. Seven years and still here. Encore là.

Seven years calls for something honest — not a showpiece, not a celebration cake, just a bowl of rice and the kind of food that says we are still here. These Greek Brown and Wild Rice Bowls felt exactly right for week 364: hearty enough to honor the milestone, simple enough to stay true to what this whole project has always been about. With Rémy making dark roux in a dorm room and Colette reaching toward RISD and Mama still in the cottage, I needed a dish that carried everyone — something warm, nourishing, and quietly faithful, the way a good year should feel.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup wild rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup tzatziki sauce, for serving

Instructions

Cook the rice. Combine brown rice, wild rice, and chicken broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40–45 minutes until grains are tender and liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Season the chicken. Toss chicken strips with 1 tablespoon olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper until evenly coated.
Cook the chicken. Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken strips in a single layer and cook 4–5 minutes per side until golden and cooked through (internal temperature 165°F). Remove from heat and rest for 5 minutes.
Prepare the toppings. While chicken rests, combine cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and kalamata olives in a small bowl. Squeeze half the lemon juice over the mixture and toss gently.
Assemble the bowls. Divide the brown and wild rice evenly among four bowls. Top each with chicken strips and a generous scoop of the tomato-cucumber mixture. Finish with crumbled feta, fresh parsley, a squeeze of remaining lemon juice, and a dollop of tzatziki.

Nutrition (per serving)

Greek Brown and Wild Rice Bowls — The Foundational Dish at Year Seven