Family History
This dish holds a pretty special place in my heart, and I can’t wait to share it with you. For me, the purpose of consuming food goes beyond nourishment, and into the realm of the memories intertwined with it. Although my ancestors originally hale from Armenian villages within Turkey, during the Armenian Genocide of 1915 those who survived, fled to other countries. My great-grandfather ended up in Cuba, and so my grandfather grew up with Arroz con Pollo being one of his favorite comfort foods. Later, their family moved to the United States where he would eventually meet and marry my grandmother – an Armenian woman born in America. She learned to make Arroz con Pollo for him, and so generations to come, all benefitted! That just goes to show, you don’t have to be Latin to appreciate the amazing flavors in this dish!
My grandmother had some great shortcuts to make this dish quicker to throw together. However, I love learning how to make everything from scratch, so I’ve taken her original recipe and gone old-school. I’ve taken all the shortcuts and reverted them to “from-scratch” methods that really shouldn’t be daunting.
Sure, this dish probably takes longer than your go-to chicken dinner recipe – but the steps involved impart a flavor you just can’t deny isn’t worth every minute!
Let’s start with what you’ll need. This ingredient list may have some items you don’t keep stocked, but I promise it’s worth the effort to get them!
Essential Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are some tips and thoughts on gathering your ingredients:
Avocado oil: I love olive oil, but when pan-searing or frying food, avocado oil is a healthier choice, since it has a higher smoke point. I also don’t mind the healthy fatty acid and antioxidant profile that avocado oil boasts 🙂
Saffron: Saffron is expensive, but an absolute necessary flavor to get this dish right. Please don’t skip it! I’ve found the lowest pricing at Trader Joe’s for saffron (and this isn’t an ad – this is simply based on personal shopping discovery). Guess what? I also buy the smoked paprika at TJ’s!
Tomato sauce: please consider purchasing tomato sauce in jars, instead of in cans. I try to avoid aluminum and plastic-lined products as much as possible. Jars are void of potential system disrupters and chemicals. I buy the jars of BioNaturae organic strained tomatos because they are affordable for a big jar, with absolutely no other ingredients mixed in.
Chorizo: If you can find organic, more power to you! I don’t love buying or consuming meats with hormones and diets laced with pesticide, and can’t seem to find organic, so I buy this chorizo at Whole Foods.
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First Steps: Setting the Stage
The first few steps of the recipe, are all about “setting the stage” for a beautiful presentation. I’m talking about browning the poultry and sausage on the stovetop before baking it in the oven, and using the animal fats rendered to season the sofrito.”Sofrito” is simply a blend of chopped bell pepper, onion and garlic. When I’m making this dish for a dinner party, I love completing steps 2 – 4 the day before. This way, the chicken and sausage are browned, the sofrito is cooked and I combine it in one large storage container to keep in the fridge overnight. The next day, you simply bring it out from the fridge about an hour before you plan to bake the entire casserole and let it come to room temperature.
Assembling the casserole
First, I like to stir in the tomato sauce, saffron, cumin, rice and stock in the casserole dish. Next, I add the sausage and sofrito, stirring the pieces into the rice. Finally, I carefully arrange the poultry pieces atop the rice mixture in an artful way worthy of presentation. Bake this dish covered, in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Allow the dish to rest while remaining covered for an additional 10-15 minutes outside of the stove, then place green olives throughout, and plenty of cilantro.
Arroz Con Pollo
Ingredients
- 3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces
- 4 tbsp avocado oil, divided
- 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 chorizo sausages, cut into 1″ slices with casing removed
- 1/2 c sofrito (1/2 each of green and red bell pepper chopped, 1 yellow onion chopped, 4 minced garlic cloves)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp saffron
- 14 oz tomato sauce
- 3 c brown rice (long, basmati, valencia… any will work! Sprouted is preferred for healthiest option)
- 4 c chicken stock
- 2 tbsp green olives
- 1/4 of a bunch of cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
- Remove chicken from packaging and blot dry with paper towel. In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp oil, paprika, salt and pepper – mixing well. Rub into chicken and marinate, covered in the fridge, for at least 30 minutes.
- Warm a large pan over medium heat, and prepare your chorizo. When the pan is hot enough, add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and immediately add your chorizo. Once it’s cooked for a few minutes and nicely browned, remove the meat (leave the fat in the pan) and put it on a separate dish. Add your marinated chicken pieces to the hot pan, allowing them to brown for 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to the dish with the chorizo.
- Add the sofrito blend to the fat in the pan, stirring well and frying until soft. Move the sofrito, chicken and chorizo into a large casserole dish with a lid.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, saffron threads (crushing them with your fingers as you add them), cumin, rice and stock. Place the lid on the casserole dish and put it into the hot oven for 45 minutes.
- Prior to serving, stir in green olives and cilantro.
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