Arroz Con Pollo (Chicken with Rice)

Hello hello!

This will be my second post in 5 months, good lord- this needs to stop! I was putting off making this blog public until I had at least 5 posts, but found that there was always an excuse to put off blogging. Please excuse the half hazard banner of a culinary school picture I took, the lack of food categories or overall "beginner feel" but I had to start somewhere, right?  Granted it's been a busy 5 months full of surprises (yay, we're expecting baby girl in July :)!), so I figured if I made these recipes available, both you and I would hold myself accountable for more blogging, more recipes, more pics. I cook every day for a living, so that's the hard part really - all I want to make sure I do now is write about it and take a few pics, so help me out.I promise to shower you with fantastic tested and tweaked recipes if you do instead of just quick Facebook photos of my food. 

Yesterday I had a stay-cation from work and decided to cook, which I realize sounds a little nuts, but the fun part about cooking at home when you cook for a living is that you get to cook all the things your client/boss is too afraid, not interested or too allergic to try. When I cook for myself and whoever is around to have a helping, I always ensure to make enough to have leftovers. Why go through the process of making a mess of the kitchen, pots, pans, bowls, knives for one serving? When I worked as a personal chef with a variety of clients, a client favorite was Arroz con Pollo. It also happened to be a Latin dish that I was very familiar with growing up with a Colombian grandmother who could cook her cola off. I remember the first time we tackled this dish for a Cuban client, it was intimidating - poaching chicken in exact liquids, then timing it just right to know when to add the rice without letting it burn. Another time, I made a minor change like substituting brown rice for white rice and basically ruined the dish because the cooking time and liquids are that exact and it turned into a mushy mess. There has to be an easier way, I thought and tonight I came up with one. High five!  I'm not making promises though- this is not Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals, the recipe is still numerous paragraphs long and I was hesitant to even post this recipe up so early into this blog, but I figure the end result was tasty and comforting enough and way easier than the Cooks version to make you follow through with all the steps and yes, all of the ingredients. You will learn what a sofrito is and how to make one in case you didn't know. I also realized afterwards that this is almost an entirely gluten free recipe. If you prefer to make this gluten free, simply take care to purchase gluten free tomato sauce and chicken broth. So, for a quick 30 minute dinner, look away I tell you! If you want a good " healthy Sunday night dinner that extends for the week as leftovers meal", or "my in-laws are coming and they have a soft spot for authentic Latin cooking", try this guy, dare I say - this is like a warm hug from your abuelita. Or my abuelita. It's like I loaned her to you. Here you go and good luck!

Mise en place (the stuff you chop/prep in order to cook)- red and green peppers, onions

                                        Chopped Onions, pimentos and capers

                I happen to have some extra green onions, so I threw them in

                                       Chicken thighs waiting to be shredded

       Steaming, simmering sofrito

                                              Chow time!
Arroz con Pollo
(Originally Published in the September 2006 Edition of Cooks Illustrated Magazine)

Chicken marinade:

6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press 
Table salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar plus 2 additional teaspoons
Ground black pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs 

Brown rice: 
3 cups medium-grain brown rice

Boiling water

Sofrito:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine 
1 small green bell pepper and 1 small red bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine

 (about 1 1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce (Insert GF brand, if making Gluten Free)
3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (Insert GF brand, if making Gluten Free)

Final Mix ins:

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
2 cups green olives stuffed with pimentos (manzanilla), pitted and halved 
1 tablespoon capers
Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. While chopping or mincing garlic, add one tablespoon of salt and scrape into paste with knife. Add oregano, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to garlic-salt mixture; stir to combine. Place chicken in bowl with marinade. Coat chicken pieces evenly with marinade; set aside for 15 minutes then cook or place immediately on foil lined oven pan (depending on how much time you have) and cook in oven for 15 minutes. Use meat thermometer to tell when they are cooked at at least 165 degrees as every oven is different. Once cooked, set aside to cool.

While chicken is cooking, place medium large pot of water to boil. Once boiling add 3 cups of brown rice and set timer to follow package instructions. Remember, brown rice takes longer than white rice. Once cooked, strain and set aside in bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion, green and red peppers, and pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, 4 to 8 minutes. Add tomato sauce can and broth; stir to combine. Bring to simmer; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until thickened and ready to be added back to rice.

While sofrito simmers, take cooled chicken and shred over bowl of brown rice. Once sofrito is thick enough, add in chicken and brown rice mixture. 

Finally, mix in olives, capers (chopped if you prefer), 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and salt/ pepper to taste; stir well. Squeeze 1 lemon on top.