Monday's Bread Bowl: Arroz Con Pollo

Latin dish brings sexy back to chicken and rice

This dish has a lot of sizzle, flavor, and textures for a one-pot dish. Arroz con pollo originated in Spain but there are many variations in Latin American and Carrbbean cuisine. It’s the national dish of Puerto Rico. We borrowed elements from two online sites: SimplyRecipes.com and Gourmet.com. The Mixed Stew crew aimed for a simple way to come up with the intense flavors familiar to fans of arroz con pollo. We didn't want to use a marinade for the chicken as some cooks do because the complex flavors of the rice mixture was enough for us. Here’s our version:

What you will need:

Wide sauteuse pan or skillet with a lid that can be used for both frying and braising
Large wooden spoon
Slotted spoon or slotted metal spatula
Chef’s knife
Cutting board
Measuring cup
Measuring spoons
Glass baking pan or large metal bowl for dredging chicken in dry mix
Medium sized bowl for sauce mixture

Chicken:

¼ cup olive oil
2 1/3 to 3 lbs of chicken thighs and drumsticks (separated pieces, not whole quarters) with skin on
½ cup of flour
Coarse ground salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika to taste
Chili powder to taste

Rice:

2 cups Jasmine rice
2 small-medium dry Spanish chorizo
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water with 1 tablespoon annatto/achiote powder stirred in
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained of juice
Pinch of dry Mexican oregano
Pinch of salt
1 bay leaf
8-10 pimento-stuffed, green olives, cut in half

Cooking and Directions:

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet or sauteuse pan on medium-high heat. Put the flour in a glass baking dish or wide bowl, mix in the coarse salt, freshly ground pepper, paprika, and chili powder. Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and then dredge lightly in the flour mixture and put in the pan to brown, skin side first. Cook a few minutes (4-6) on each side, just enough so that the chicken has browned nicely. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to remove from pan and set aside on a rack.

Remove pan from heat and let it cool for a bit but do not clean it. Take the chorizos and remove any tough skin wrapping from the sausages. Then, dice dry chorizo meat. Go back to pan where chicken was browned and remove all but a tablespoon or two of the olive oil from the pan. Put pan back on medium-high heat and cook chorizo for about 2-3 minutes. Remove chorizo bits from hot pan. With the oil from the chorizo added to what olive oil remained in the pan, add the rice to brown. Stir at first to coat the rice with the olive oil in the pan. But do not stir too vigorously or you will prevent it from browning. Allow the rice to cook up to 90 seconds in the oil. But be careful not to burn. Once the rice has a nice coating of oil and has "toasted" a bit in the pot, add the onion and garlic. Now stir frequently until the onions are just about translucent. Mix chorizo bits with contents of pan.

Place the chicken pieces, skin side up on top of the rice mixture. In the medium size bowl, combine the stock, water and annato, diced tomatoes, oregano, bay leaf and pimento-stuffed green olives. Add salt to taste. Pour the mixture into the pot carefully. Bring pan to simmer and then set heat on low. Cover pan and cook for 35-45 minutes. Remove from heat. Let covered pan sit for 10-15 minutes after removing from heat before serving.