Adobo Chicken and Rice

I really have to post each day...that helps to get the blog indexed more often by Google.  I'll take suggestions...;)

Chicken and Rice in the latino community is a staple and every cook has their own version.  Well, with my oven on the fritz, I had to go stove top.  This one sounded good and was delish!  There is a bit of prep involved.  I didn't use the chicken breasts, only the thighs which I did half.  I halved everything else but the spice rub...which is what makes the whole dish.  I also left out the olives.

If you make, send me pics!  rickwoodland8@gmail.com

via www.foodnetwork.com

• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons granulated onion
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 4 chicken thighs, with skin, cut in 1/2
• 4 chicken breasts, with skin, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced
• About 1/3 cup tomato powder or 1 to 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 cups long-grain rice
• 4 3/4 cups homemade chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen peas (not thawed)
• 3/4 cup pimento stuffed green olives
• 3/4 cup pitted picholine olives
• Freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• Freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
• Squeeze lime juice

Directions

Mix together the salt, granulated garlic, cumin, granulated onion, paprika, black pepper, turmeric and oregano in a small bowl. Season both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and then season with the adobo seasoning mixture.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Place the chicken in the oil skin side down, in batches, if necessary, and saute until golden brown. Turn the chicken over and cook until the second side is golden brown. Transfer the chicken to into a separate pot with all cooking juices, cover and allow to cook through over medium heat. Keep warm.

Place the browning pan with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil back over high heat. Add the onions, green and red peppers and cook until soft. Add the tomato powder, garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the rice to the pan, stir to coat the rice in the mixture and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well, cover, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes add the peas to the pot, cover and continue cooking until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and let sit 5 minutes covered. Remove the lid, fluff the rice and gently fold in the olives, cilantro, parsley, oregano and squeeze of lime juice. Add the chicken and stir to combine.

It was a lot of labor but the result was awesome.  Here are some pics from the different stages:

Mis en place...very important in this dish.  There are so many ingredients.

Here are the thigh pieces with the rub on them.

Parts in the pot.  Don't crowd!

Once again, I forgot to take the beauty shot...leftovers instead



A little bit of work, but totally worth it.

Happy Eating!



Poulet, pomme et creme a la Normande

I have decided that this fall is going to be the Fall of The French.  I'm looking to make a bunch of delish French inspired food from classics by Julia to modern interpretations from Bourdain and from this book: "Around My French Kitchen" by Dorie Greenspan. 

This dish was very good.  Nice balanced flavor...smooth with the cream.

Chicken, Apples and Cream a la Normande

AP flour for dredging
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, without tenders at room temperature (I used only two, but kept all the other ingredients the same)
1-2T unsalted butter
1-2T olive oil
1 large apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 medium onion, finely chopped
8 mushrooms, stemmed wiped clean,thinly sliced and cut crosswise in half.
1/3c chicken stock
2T Calvados, apple jack or apple brandy
2/3c heavy cream

Put flour on a plate, add salt and pep.  Dredge chicken and shake off access.

Put a large deep skillet over medium-high heat (I used a porcelain covered cast iron pot a make stews in) and add 1T of the butter and olive oil.  When the butter is melted, place the chicken in the pan.  If the pan is small, don't crowd, make a couple of batches.  After 3 minutes flip onto the other side for 3 minutes.

If you're low on butter and oil, add more and then place in the veggies, season with S&P and cook until the new additions are glossy from the butter and oil...cook for one minute more and pour in the broth.  When the broth bubbles, reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked through.

Turn the heat up again and add the Calvados.  Boil until almost all evaporated.  Add the cream and keep on the heat on high cook until sauce reduced by 1/4.   If you had to remove the chicken from the pan, slide them back in to coat and serve immediately.

Took me about 20-30 minutes

Mis en place for the dish

On the plate - yummie!

Happy Eating!

Homemade sauerkraut.

Fermentation has been used for centuries to preseve food.  Germanic tribes figured out how to ferment cabbage...one of the peasant foods.  Here's my try at it.

Here are the ingredients and the 'crock' to ferment in.  You can use any glass, ceramic or food grade plastic pail.  Avoid stainless because it may become etched by the fermantation process.

Cabbage, Salt and Spices.  Pretty simple.

Here's the recipe:  http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=sauerkraut

It's actually a two to four week process, but well worth it and the stranges odors that it creates. Here are some images from the process.

This is one my favorite tools, a madoline. 

This is a fancy one, but there are many resonable models.  Very dangerous!  The blades are as sharp or sharper than a chef's knife.  You adjust the knife to the desired width of the cabbage and you get perfectly sized cabbage shreds everytime.  Makes short work of the cabbage.

Here's an example of the output.  If you look closely, you'll see a fork stuck in the cabbage. I never directly hold the product on the mandoline.  There is a saftey handle for it.

You put the shredded cabbage in the crock or jar and keep pressing it down every couple of inches. It helps to start the salt extract water from the cabbage.

I decided to try some spices this time.  Caraway seeds and Juniper berries

Viola!  Here's the final setup.  The bowl and jar of water are there to make sure the cabbage stays underwater.  I'll check it in the morning and then every couple of days.

Happy eating!