Pollo Chilindrón

Pollo al Chilindrón

Whenever I don't know what to make for dinner, rest assured I usually end up cooking with some sort of peppers. Like a good Spanish girl, I'm a huge pepper fan. I make variations of Pollo al Chilindrón pretty frequently, since its not all that difficult. Expect it to take around 2 hours (it is a stew after all) because it requires one hour of simmering. But trust me it is very yummy once it's time to eat it.

Pollo al Chilindrón is from the Aragón region in Spain, which is comprised of the provinces Zaragoza, Huesca, and Teruel in the northeast section of Spain, but it is eaten throughout the country.

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (legs, thigh depending on preference)
Sea salt freshly ground black pepper
Rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 large red bell pepper (sliced into thin strips or chopped)
1 large green bell pepper (sliced into thin strips or chopped)
4 medium sized tomatoes (peeled, seeded, and chopped) or 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup jamón Serrano (Spanish cured ham)
1 cup of white wine
Minced garlic
1 teaspoon sweet pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika (pimentón)
1 bay leaf
1 cup of water


Cut chicken breasts into smaller pieces and season with salt, black pepper, and rosemary. Heat a spoonful of olive oil in a large frying pan and cook chicken, working in batches, until the chicken is brown on both sides. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pan and after heating, add the onions and peppers. Cook on a low heat for about 25 minutes until the vegetables start to brown.

If the vegetables are getting dry make sure to add a tablespoon of water so they do not burn. Once they are finished cooking add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Now add the white wine and cook until it evaporates which should be another 5 minutes.

Add the jamón Serrano and chicken pieces and stir. Make sure to keep any juices that have collected from the chicken and add to the mix as well. Cook for 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes (or tomato sauce), pimentón, 1 cup of water, and the bay leaf. Cook for 1 hour until the chicken is nice and tender or coming off the bone (for the legs and thighs). Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Buen provecho!



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What Lima does best: Ceviche and Pisco Sours

Peruvian food is famous throughout the world, and if you go to Lima you will see why. It is one of the most diverse cuisines and has currently become a popular cuisine to study by top chefs. Since Peru has such a diverse culture and multicultural background that includes, pre-Inca, Spanish, French, and Japanese to name a few, the food combines a variety of flavors. Not to mention the homegrown local ingredients that make the cuisine very unique. One of the highlights of my trip has been the soups we have eaten, where even a typically boring chicken soup (which they call diet soup) is just so good.

It seems like no matter where you go in Lima the ceviche is incredible. We ate some ceviche at a small restaurant in downtown Lima. The fish is fresh, as it should be considering how close you are to the ocean. If you look closely at the picture above you can see some Peruvian corn, or as I like to affectionately call it ´giant´corn. It is much larger than I´ve ever seen and has a softer texture.

The Pisco Sour is Peru´s national drink. It is pretty yummy, and made from Pisco, brandy made from grapes. Our bartender made a few Pisco Sour for us and showed us the process on how to make one.

Recipe:

3 parts Peruvian Pisco
1 part lime juice
1 part sugar syrup (jarabe de goma)
1 egg white
a drop of Angostura bitter

Astrid y Gastón is a popular restaurant in Lima and always written about in the guidebooks, however I can assure you that the food is incredible. Seriously I want the chef Gastón Acurio to be a part of my family so I can have his dishes whenever my little heart desires. He was born in Lima and has helped make Peruvian food a popular cuisine around the world, not to mention make little tourists such as myself smile with glee.

Of course we had to try the ceviche at Astrid y Gaston´s and so far it has been the best I have ever tasted. We tried the ´travieso´ceviche which was a mix of the catch of the day. I cannot reiterate how goooood the ceviche tasted.
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