Arroz con Pollo

We have been watching the TV show Dexter recently. There is a lot of Cuban food featured, because the show is set in Miami. When we went down the the Keys, we ate a ton of Cuban food. We liked it so much that we found a little cookbook in a gift shop called Cuban Home Cooking.


Most of the recipes I have for Cuban food come from that book.

Anyway Arroz con Pollo was mentioned in an episode of Dexter so we decided to make some up. I modified the recipe in Cuban Home Cooking just a tiny bit.

Arroz con Pollo

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut up into pieces
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
1 lemon, cut into slices
1/2 cup frozen peas
olive oil
14 oz can chicken broth
1/4 cup cooking sherry
Cuban yellow food coloring or saffron
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground black pepper
1/2 t oregano
Beer
3 cups water
salt to taste
1 1/2 cups rice

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven. Drop in chicken pieces and brown on all sides. Remove to a plate. Saute the onion, pepper, and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the diced tomato and cook for a couple minutes. Return the chicken to the pot. Add the wine, broth, cumin, organo, pepper and yellow food coloring or saffron. How much of the coloring is a matter of taste and judgment. It also depends on your particular brand of coloring. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

Next remove the chicken briefly. Add enough beer to the pot to make about 5 cups of liquid. Add the rice to the pot and stir. Bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pot, reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is tender. You may need to add more beer or water to the pot to get the rice right. When the rice is right, taste and add salt as needed. Stir in the green peas and cook until heated through.

Serve on a plate with chicken on top of rice. Squeeze a little lemon juice over and serve with a fresh lemon slice on the side.