2011 was...challenging. Lots of ill health, melodrama (family, friends, and work alike) and not a lot of time or inclination for blogging. Its done and gone now, though. Can I get an 'Amen'?!
Time to start putting fingers to keyboard again. I've seen my cooking really evolving, simplifying, these last couple of years. We were watching something on the Food Network (what else?) when one of the chefs said something about how a lot of new chefs would come up with these zillion-ingredient, ultra-complicated recipes...because they could, more or less. That burned. Not that I'm a chef, but I feel I am a pretty good home cook, and...I was guilty. Some recipes require quite a few ingredients, especially SE Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern/North African/Central Asian food, where lengthy ingredient lists can be pretty common. So I have begun simplifying my cooking. In all honesty, its improved my cooking quite a bit.
Our son has been down in SoCal keeping my mother company through the holidays, which are tough on her since the loss of my father. That usually just leaves my wife and I for meals. With all the stressors weave been experiencing we haven't done very much full scale cooking. Tonight, though, was another story. I had been thinking of making some Arroz con Pollo, the good old fashioned chicken and rice, and looked at a couple of recipes (one Mexican, one California Rancho). I kinda' tinkered at first, then ended up making bigger changes. I'm calling the final product Arroz con Pollo y Verduras. Or Rice with Chicken and Vegetables. Nowhere will you find canned green chiles and Monterey jack cheese. Instead, I made a coating for the chicken of extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, salt, herbs and spices. Dumped the marinated chicken into a hot skillet and let it develop a wonderful crusty, caramelized surface. Next came lots of vegetables - chunks of onion, bell pepper, carrot, celery and cauliflower. Sear those, toss 'em in the big pot with the chicken. Deglaze the skillet with some white wine. Dump that in along with some basmati rice, chicken stock, a few tomatoes and their juices, a couple of fresh bay leaves. Let it all cook until the juices have been absorbed. OMG good! Better than I had hoped for. The secret, I believe was a little chile heat and the bit of malt vinegar I added to the reducing wine. The dish had the faintest tang from the vinegar and a slow, mellow heat that built up. I made a ton for the two of us, so I am happy when I think that we have a ziploc bag-full in both fridge and freezer...
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