Eat Something Good

arroz con pollo

When I was in college, I used to make a chicken and rice dish with tomatoes.  I had no memory of what it was called, but I remembered how it looked in the casserole dish and how satisfying of a meal it made.  When I looked at the New York Times Cook Book (Craig Claiborne), I was pretty certain it was arroz con pollo.   So I splurged and got some saffron for the dish.  Yeah, expensive stuff.  But it’s totally worth it.  I think saffron is an acquired taste.  At first, I didn’t really love it.  It had a medicinal taste to it that didn’t agree with me.  But my college friend spoke really highly of it and added that she thought middle eastern saffron was better than spanish saffron.  I chose to work with spanish saffron (McCormicks) simply because it was the only one available.

The recipe is good.  It is straightforward.  I liked that.  First, I seasoned the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and paprika.  I browned it on all sides and let it sit in a bowl afterwards.  Then I threw in the onions and garlic until the onion was tender.  Then I added the water and did some scraping to get the good stuff (fond lie, I think).  Then I threw in the whole can of whole tomatoes, bouillon cubes, bay leaf, oregano, saffron and eventually the rice.  I put the chicken breast back into the pan with everything else.  Then I baked it for like 1/2 hour (5 minutes longer than recipe said).  Next was to garnish and yes, it added even more flavor.  Fluffing the rice is also good at this point and then you throw it back in the oven for 10 minutes after it’s garnished with the pimientos.  The pimientos…

I had a little trouble with the pimientos.  As a matter of fact, when I made it in college, I don’t think I added any because I had no idea what they were.  I had to refresh my memory.  Here’s what I found out.  The pimiento, pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper (Wikipedia).  It is supposed to be a smaller version of a red bell pepper and have a similar taste.  That is if you don’t get the hot variety.  I actually had hot cherry peppers (no mention on label that they’re pimientos) and used a little of that and a little of the roasted red peppers.  I think the only thing I really knew about pimientos was that they were stuffed into green spanish olives.  I’m so glad I got it straight now.  Sort of anyhow.  Like is the hot cherry pepper I used a pimiento or what?  Yeah.

Steve didn’t like the taste of the saffron at first.  I think he was put off by the smell.  But as he ate on, he saw how the saffron worked with the rice and the chicken and just the whole dish.  Not only did it look beautiful but it was delicious.  The rice cooked up perfectly.  Nice and tender.  And as per my guest last night who had some of the leftover arroz con pollo - he said he doesn’t usually like chicken but that it was really good, really tender.  He’d never had the dish before.  Also, I always loved how the canned whole peeled tomatoes (Red Pack) tasted with a little rice and chicken on the fork.  Yey!  Steve & I had no trouble with the leftovers last night.  It was almost as satisfying as the first night we had it.

Okay see you later guys and as always, Eat Something Good!

I made some changes in this recipe.  Mostly technique.  The below recipe is as printed in the New York Times Cook Book, First Edition (1961).

Arroz Con Pollo Recipe: (Chicken with Rice)

1 four-pound frying chicken, cut up into servings pieces *

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups water

28 oz can (3 1/2 cups) canned whole tomatoes

2 chicken bouillon cubes (I used Knorr’s)

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon oregano

2 cups raw rice (I used camilla brand, a spanish rice)

1 package frozen peans or artichoke hearts, defrosted**

3 pimientos, cut in pieces

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Season the chicken with one teaspoon of the salt, black pepper and paprika.  In a skillet heat the oil, add the chicken and brown on all sides.  Remove to a baking dish.

3.  To the skillet add the garlic and onion and saute until the onion is tender.  Add the water and heat while scraping loose the brown particles.  Add the tomatoes and their liquid, bouillon cubes, seasonings and remaining salt.  Bring to a boil and pour over the chicken.  Add the rice and stir.  Cover tightly.

4.  Bake twenty-five minutes.  Uncover and toss the rice.  Stir in the peas, arrange pimientos on top, cover and cook ten minutes longer.

* The deal with the chicken.  Steve doesn’t like dark meat so I seldom cook it.  So I bought medium-sized bone in chicken breasts without the wings.  I used about four pounds worth of it.  5 chicken breasts.

** I used to have a thing against mixed vegetables.  I’m talking about the cubed carrot, corn & pea combination.  Yes, I link it to caferterias which is about the only place I’ve ever seen them.  I have a change of heart on this mix now because I enjoyed it so much in our dinner.  Even our favorite salvadorean restaurant mixes it into their rice.  It looks a little cheesy but it tastes good.   I used them instead of peas because I didn’t have any peas (or artichoke hearts )on hand but plenty of boxes of mixed vegetable as they are one of Steve’s latest obsessions.