Arroz con Pollo: Our First Attempt

 

Arroz con Pollo is one of our favorite dishes. It's simple, comforting, and flavorful. We've had some really good examples of this dish at places like Guantanamera and Cuba. However, we've also had some really poor examples of this dish. It's got to be done in such a way that the rice is firm and not mushy, the flavors are bursting, and the chicken is soft and tender and juicy. Most importantly, it can't just be yellow rice with a chicken breast sliced up over top. The chicken has to be made with the rice - together - so the flavors blend and complement and build upon each other.

We'd never cooked this for ourselves but we figured we'd give it a try. Bryan had seen an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay a while back when Flay challenged someone to make this dish, and so we looked up the recipe online. Flay actually lost this throwdown, so we didn't have any qualms about modifying the recipe a bit to make it more like what we were looking for.

Making the Dish
What You'll Need

Colorful vegetables. 

1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oregano
2 tsp powered garlic
2 tsp powdered onion
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 legs chicken
4 tbsp olive oil
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 spanish onion
2.5 cups rice
1.5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 lime

First things first: making the rub for the chicken. This blend of seasonings is what gives the chicken -and as such the rest of the dish - its flavor, so this is actually one of the most important parts. We were a bit concerned that the recipe did not call for saffron (and also a bit relieved, because saffron is relatively expensive), but it turned out not to really need it. 

For the rub, combine 1 tablespoon each of kosher salt and oregano with 2 teaspoons each of powdered garlic, powdered onion, black pepper, and ground tumeric. Combine to that 1 teaspoon each of cumin, paprika, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Blend it all together.

Herbie tries to scale the dishwasher to get himself 
a piece of the freshly rubbed chicken. 

Take out your chicken and pat it dry. For this dish, we recommend chicken legs (drumsticks and thighs, on the bone). Drizzle a little olive oil over the chicken and then rub the seasoning into the meat, going under the skin and getting it right into the meat. Let it sit out with the rub while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. 

Dice up a green and red bell pepper, and onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. Once those are prepared, you're pretty much ready to go.

In a large dutch oven, heat up a quarter cup of olive oil really high, until it's smoking. Once it's extremely hot, put in the chicken, skin side down and let it brown. It may splatter, so be careful.
You really want to get the chicken nice and golden brown at this point, so leave it on for about 4 or 5 minutes. Then flip it over and do the same to the other side. 

Once the chicken is golden brown on both sides, take it out and put it on the side. You should have some caramelized bits on the bottom of the pan. Throw in your diced veggies and get them coated in the olive oil, adding a little salt and pepper if you like, and stir it around to get the bits up from the bottom of the pan. Cook these down for a few minutes until everything is nice and tender. 

Add in your rice. The recipe calls for 3 cups of rice, and this will definitely serve about 6 people. We used a little less than the full 3 cups so that we could have extra rice for the side of our meals the rest of the week. Pour this into the veggies and stir it around so it's all coated, and cook it for a few minutes. 

Next, put in the chicken broth, about 1 or 1.5 cups. This should be enough to cover all the rice and then some. Take the chicken and drop it in, get it submerged completely, and have the rice distributed evenly throughout. Add a bayleaf, and some fresh ground black pepper. Bring the whole mix to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. 

After about ten minutes, open the pot and check. Things should be coming together now. Add in about 1.5 cups of frozen peas and a the juice of half a lime. Cover again and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes. At this point, you should be checking every now and again to make sure it doesn't cook to long.

The mix is starting to look very Arroz con Pollo-y as we add the peas to the pot. 

Once everything is done, take out the chicken and plate it. Add a tablespoon of chopped cilantro and the other half of the lime's juice to the rice and stir it all around. Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve over the chicken, and enjoy!

The Result

The final result. The delicious, delicious result. 

We were very happy with what came out. It wasn't the perfect Arroz con Pollo (we may have cooked it a few minutes too long), but it was very tasty for a first attempt. Now that we've started, we'll probably keep trying new versions. One change we'll definitely try is shredding the chicken after it's cooked and mixing that into the rice prior to serving. Additionally, we may give it a shot using some saffron. Since it's expensive and we'll want to get the best use of it, we may have a whole "saffron week" on the blog. Stay tuned for that :) 

Lastly - thanks to everybody who sent their wishes to Herbie! He really appreciated all the messages and is doing much better today, pretty much back to his old self. He really enjoyed the Arroz con Pollo... really we should have called this blog "Herbie Loves Chicken". 

Herbie loves chicken.