I spent last week in London, my favorite city in the world. Every time I visit I feel like I might not ever go home, like I could just quietly transition into a similar but much more charming life there. But the trips are always quick, and always work related, and that means I always end up eating meat pies and steaks and many, many deliciously fried things for several days in a row.
My early morning Friday return trip was delayed by nearly 4 hours – by 30 minutes at a time – and I had rolled out of bed at 6am after the office holiday party to make the mad dash to Heathrow. As I sat in Terminal 3, nursing a nasty hangover and feeling generally like garbage after 4 days of nothing healthy, this chicken is all I could think of.
The antidote to fish and chips, to sausage rolls, to steak sandwiches, is this simply prepared chicken over fluffy, hot rice. It’s topped with a Guatemalan sauce (get excited – I’m going there in February!) that’s composed of onion, bell pepper and tangy tomatillos. It’s completely delicious, layered and complex. The whole thing is a little soupy and gets soaked up by the rice and every bite of it is comforting and perfect.
Ingredients
- One 4-lb. chicken, cut into 8 pieces, backbone included
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons corn oil or mild extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 medium white onion (8 oz.), finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 large green bell pepper (8 oz.), cored, seeded, deveined and finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
- 12 oz. tomatillos (about 8 medium), husked and coursely chopped
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons precooked corn masa mix, preferably Maseca brand, or 1 slice stale white bread, crust removed and finely crumbled
Instructions
- Place the chicken in a 4-quart pot with 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes. Strain the cooking broth; separately reserve the cooked chicken and 3 1/4 cups broth (save the rest for another purpose).
- In a 12-inch sauté pan or medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until lightly golden, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and bell pepper; sauté, stirring for about 3 minutes. Add the tomatillos, the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and the black pepper and sauté, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the reserved chicken broth. Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor, add the cilantro and parsley, and process to a coarsely textured purée; you should have about 3 1/4 cups.
- Return the purée to the saucepan, stir in 2 cups cooking broth, and add the reserved chicken. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-low heat and simmer, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes.
- To thicken the sauce, in a small bowl stir the masa mix into the remaining 1/4 cup cooking broth, or soften the bread with some of the broth. Stir into the hot stew and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Notes
From Gran Cocina Latina
