• 1 cut-up chicken (or 4 legs)
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large sweet red or green pepper, emptied of seeds and cut into narrow strips
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup long-grain rice (preferably non-treated), rinsed and well drained
• 1 teaspoon crumbled oregano flowers
• About ⅛ teaspoon saffron (to taste)
• 1 pinch whole saffron flowers (for effect)
• Small pinch cayenne
• Handful pitted rinsed black olives (not strongly flavored—the Niçoises are the best, but do not bother to pit them)
• 1½ cups boiling water (or chicken stock)
• 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut up (or, out of season, preserved tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• Fresh basil (if unavailable, substitute chopped parsley)

Use a large heavy copper plat à sauter or a wide earthenware poëlon. Brown the chicken pieces, salted, in the olive oil, remove them to a plate, and replace them by the onion and pepper, cooking over low flame and stirring regularly until soft and lightly colored. Sprinkle with salt (if moistening with chicken stock, take its saltiness into consideration), add the chopped garlic and the rice, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon until the rice turns milky-opaque in aspect, sprinkle over the oregano, the two saffrons, and the cayenne, stirring until the rice is saffron-stained, scatter over the olives, pour in the boiling liquid, and put back the chicken pieces, adding any juices that may have drained from them. Cover and cook over very low heat, a bare murmur at the liquid’s surface, for 15 minutes.

Gently stew the tomatoes, seasoned, sugar added, in the butter, stirring or tossing occasionally. Add them to the pilaf, strewing them regularly over the surface with their juices, without disturbing the rice, and leave again, tightly covered, over low heat, for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat, sprinkle surface with torn-up basil leaves and flowers, cover, and let stand another 5 minutes or so before serving.