I know, our
delightful guest Victoria Hamilton gave a recipe for this dish only a few short
months ago. But I've found that there are more variations to this than you can
shake a stick at. My husband makes one
that involves tomato paste and peas.
Mine is comfort food, from a recipe my mother used.
There's a
backstory to this dish. My
great-grandmother was wealthy, and her only child, my grandfather, was not exactly a
go-getter. When he married, at twenty,
Mom bought him and his lovely bride…an orange plantation in Cuba. So for several years they spent part of each
year in Cuba, doing who knows what. "Managing," I assume, since they weren't working the groves
themselves, I'm sure. The last trip they
made there was in 1928, when my mother was a toddler. That year a hurricane wiped out the house,
and they never rebuilt it. But they held
on to the property (and paid the taxes on it!) until the Communist takeover in
the 1950s. I still have the deeds.
I may have
mentioned before that my grandmother didn't cook, but somehow she passed on
this recipe to my mother, so I guess that makes this a Cuban version. My mother made it regularly when I was
growing up, and that's why I know about saffron, which is an essential part of
the dish.
About a half teaspoon |
My Mother's
Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken)
Note: Since there are only two of us at home, I
usually cook this using two bone-in chicken breasts. You can easily double it, or use other
chicken pieces.
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees F.
Vegetable
oil for sauteing
2 chicken
breasts
Salt and
pepper
1 yellow
onion, chopped
3 cups chicken
stock
1/2 tsp dried
saffron
1 1/2 cups
rice (not instant)
Season both
sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a thin layer of oil in
a sauté pan and sear the breasts, turning once.
Put the chicken pieces in a greased baking dish that has a lid.
Saute the
onion in the same pan over medium heat, until soft but not browned. Spread the cooked onions over the chicken
pieces. Add the stock and saffron to the
pan and stir, scraping up any browned bits in the pan. (You should taste it at this point, and if
the stock is not too salty, add salt.)
Pour the
liquid over the chicken pieces. Add the
rice and distribute evenly in the liquid (note:
make sure you get all the rice submerged and there's none left sitting
on the chicken, or those bits will not cook).
Cover the dish
and place in the preheated oven. Cook
for 20-30 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
That Cuban orange plantation tale is priceless. Great story and recipe, Sheila. You're right, there's no sub for saffron, but a little goes a long way for flavor and color, well worth it.
ReplyDelete~ Cleo
Why not put the chicken on top, thereby guaranteeing that the rice and broth are where they belong?
ReplyDeleteAfter living in Key West for many years, I make this dish quite often. Luckily, in Florida, groceries carry Arroz Con Pollo seasonings and yellow rice packets with the saffron already included.
ReplyDeleteP.S...I loved "Buried in a Bog" and can't wait for the next in the series.
ReplyDelete