Arroz con Pollo y Chorizo (Chicken and Rice with Spanish Sausage)

As I wrote last month in December 2009, My husband and I were not big fans of Arroz con Pollo because we found it on the bland side. My mom helped me create a more flavorful basic recipe and now I have enhanced it with the smoky delicious flavor of fresh Chorizo. If you are using dried chorizo, be mindful that it can quickly overpower the other flavors so use less sausage. The fresh versions are mild and complement the chicken and vegetables of the basic recipe.

1 lbs Fresh Hot Chorizo (6 Links - If using Dried Chorizo use half as much as it is much stronger)

2 lbs Boneless Chicken (I use thighs or breasts but if cooking with bone-in chicken, cook 3 lbs)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Sofrito (1 green pepper, 1 white onion, 6 garlic cloves)

1 can tomato sauce

1 can chicken broth

1 cup white wine (can also use a light  beer)

3 pimientos

3 packages Goya Sazon con Azafran

2 bay leaves

2 cups white rice

Kosher Salt and Black Pepper very generously at every step (see recipe below)

Take chicken and chorizo out of refrigerator to become room temperature. Remove chorizo from casing. This is done easily with kitchen shears but a knife will work too.  Cut into chunks and pan fry in olive oil that has become fragrant over medium heat.

While chorizo is browning, rinse off, pat dry and salt and pepper both sides of chicken generously. Create sofrito by cutting white onion, green peeper and 6 cloves of garlic. You can cut in bigger chunks than usual because you are going to blend after cooked. Remove browned chorizo from pan and heat up 2 more tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until fragrant.

Once olive oil is fragrant, saute sofrito until onion soft. Salt and pepper sofrito very well as arroz con pollo can get bland and needs to be salted correctly every step of the way.  Once onion is soft, not browned, add chicken and brown both sides lightly.

Then add liquids (wine, tomato sauce and chicken broth) pimientoes and spices (Goya packages, bay leaves and more salt and pepper). Simmer and then reduce heat to low for one hour.

After an hour, remove chicken from broth. I use cooking tongs to remove and place on platter. Allow it to cool and the shred (or debone and shred if you are using a whole chicken).

Once chicken is removed from pot, blend tomatoes, onion, pepper and garlic into a smooth consistency. This step is alot easier with a hand blender but if using a regular blender please let broth cool down first or else it tends to splatter out of blender and onto everything - including yourself - not fun. Once cooled down, scoop out vegetables with a slotted spoon into blender and make puree.  Return chicken, now shredded, and browned chorizo you set aside earlier into pan over low heat.

Add one and half cups to two cups of rice, depending on the rice to chicken ratio you like in your completed dish.  Cook for approximately another hour until rice is soft. Stir and check on rice often - taste for additional salt as well. I use a thick bottom pan and cook on low temperature. It is very easy to burn rice on bottom of pan so stir every 10 - 15 minutes to combine flavors and prevent burning. You can garnish with peas by adding frozen peas toward the end or strips of pimientos but we like it just as is.

Enjoy!

Special tools used:

Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine Sauce

While we usually eat Latino food at home, another exception we make is when I try to copy something incredible we ate at a restaurant. My husband took me to Daniel in New York City a few years ago to celebrate and we had Daniel Boulud's delicious short ribs!!!! I found the recipe on the web and hopefully these step by step instructions will take some of the intimidation out of French cooking because the broth can be adapted and simplified based on whatever vegetables or amount of wine you have in the house. The meat literally falls off the bone and the tender beef and rich wine sauce is wonderful over creamy mashed potatoes!!!

Ribs:
Approx 3 lbs of Short Ribs
Vegetable Oil to sear ribs
Flour to dredge ribs
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauce:
3 Bottles of Red Wine (3 is ideal but you can make a delicious dish with 1 1/2 bottles)
10 Cloves of Garlic, peeled
8 Shallots, peeled and cut in half (a large Onion can be used as a substitute)
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
2 Stalks Celery, peeled and chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts chopped (Additional onion can be used as a substitute)
Fresh Italian Parsley and Thyme ideal, if not sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of dried
2 Bay Leaves
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
3 quarts Beef Broth
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove ribs from refrigerator to get to room temperature. In a large stockpot, heat red wine over medium high heat. Allow to boil until it cooks down by half. As I said, this will create Daniel's ideal sauce but if time and/or money are an issue, I have made it with one to one and half bottles of wine that I poured into sauce later in the cooking process when adding beef broth and the meal was still delicious! The sauce just has less of an intense red wine taste and more of a balanced beef/vegetable broth taste that is enhanced by the wine. The great thing about this dish is that once you do it, you can make your own adjustments to the sauce and vegetables to create your family's version.

But back to the recipe...while wine is heating, season ribs with salt and pepper and lightly flour ribs. Heat vegetable oil over medium high heat and sear all sides of the short ribs.  I only flour one side because in order too get the ribs golden brown on all sides, I tend to burn some excess flour that falls off while browning.  So minimal flour is needed.

Take time during this step and brown all 6 sides of the short ribs. Not only will the ribs be better but the sauce will be formed around those caramelized bits.

While browning the beef, cut your vegetables into equal size chunks. They can be on the large side as you will remove before serving.

Continue browning in batches.

Until all ribs deep brown on all sides but not burnt.

Remove all but a tablespoon or so of fat from pan and lower heat to medium.  Caramelize vegetables and add seasonings.

The add tomato paste and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.

Now add back the ribs and the wine and beef broth and bring to a boil.  Cover pot and cook in 350 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours until meat is literally falling off its bones...At this point you can stop and allow dish to cool and place in refrigerator overnight if you have the time, not to mention the space in your refrigerator. This allows the fat to rise and harden at the top which is very easy to remove and produces a less greasy sauce ultimately.  Once you remove fat, gently heat pot on stove over medium heat and continue with the following steps.

Set ribs aside in a dish that you can cover and place in 200 degree oven to keep warm. Remove all bones and vegetables from sauce.

Boil remaining liquid down to approximately a quart.

Serve warm ribs and sauce over mash potatoes for a decadent meal perfect for any special occasion or just a way of telling your family you love them!

Ropa Vieja (Braised Flank Steak)

Another one of our family's favorite Cuban beef recipes is Ropa Vieja. The flank steak cooks slowly in a highly flavorful broth and is then shredded and cooked with onions and peppers in a tomato sauce that has been enhanced with white wine and seasonings.  When served over white rice, it becomes the perfect latino comfort food.

2 lb flank steak

Braising liquid:

Water to cover steak

1 Onion coarsely chopped

1 Carrot peeled and coarsely chopped

3 cloves Garlic

1 Bay Leaf

1 teaspoon dried Oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 Goya Seasoning package

Sauce:

Olive Oil

1 Onion cut in slices

1 Green Pepper cut in slices

4 Cloves Garlic

1 Can Tomato Sauce

1/2 Cup White Wine

1 Package Goya Seasoning

1 Bay Leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cover steak with cold water in deep pot and create a vegetable broth to braise beef.  Add onion, carrot and seasonings and cook over low heat for 2 hours until beef easily pulls apart.

Remove steak from pot and allow it to cool at room temperature. Once it is cool enough to handle, shred steak into strips.

While steak is cooling, heat olive oil over medium low heat and add strips of onion, pepper and chopped garlic once oil is fragrant. Season with salt and pepper once onion is soft.

Add tomato sauce, wine and seasoning and simmer for 20 minutes. Add beef and taste stew for salt and pepper. Cook over low heat another 30 minutes.

Serve with white rice and enjoy!

Picadillo

Another one of my hubby's favorite dishes! Although we don't eat the traditional version that is both savory and sweet. I make it savory and spicy with homemade french fries and a little heat from hot sauce! I also make it with 90% lean ground beef to cut down on the fat and it becomes a delicious, quick weekday dinner served with rice and a vegetable.

1 lb 90% lean ground beef

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Sofrito (1/2 onion, 1/2 green pepper and 3 cloves of garlic)

1/4 cup White Wine

1/2 cup Tomato Sauce

Splash of Hot Sauce (We like Goya)

Splash of Worcestershire Sauce

1 Bay Leaf

1 package Goya Sazon

2 small potatoes

Vegetable oil (to fry potatoes)

Salt and Pepper to taste

optional:

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup stuffed olives chopped up

Remove ground beef from refrigerator and cut up vegetables for sofrito.  Warm olive oil over medium heat and saute onion, pepper and garlic once oil is fragrant. Season sofrito with salt and pepper and add ground beef to brown with vegetables.

Season beef with salt and pepper and add tomato sauce, wine, bay leaf and Goya sazon once beef is browned. Add a splash of worcestershire sauce and a generous splash of hot sauce and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, peel and cut two small potatoes and fry over medium high heat in small skillet pan. (If I am in a big hurry, I bake ready made french fries and chop them up before I add. They are not quite as good as the homemade version but they do the job in a pinch.) Add potatoes once golden brown and taste for salt and pepper. If I was making the traditional version, I would also add the raisins and olives now - but we prefer to leave them out.

Mix well and cook another 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed into the meat and potatoes.

I serve the picadillo with white rice and a vegetable.

Enjoy!!! Also makes a great filling for empanadas...