Arroz (y habas) con pollo



In my second Throwdown with Bobby Flay-inspired culinary adventure, the Arroz con Pollo episode I recently watched made me realize how much I've been craving Latin food lately.

After researching a reference recipe, I decided to break from the traditional Puerto Rican method of preparation, and add some elements that I've been craving. This was a very time-consuming recipe, but I'm very pleased with the results. I only hope I remember everything that I did to prepare it all:

For the chicken:

• approx. 5 lbs. PC Free From Whole Chicken, cut into sections
• Marinated overnight in:
• PC Premium Aged Balsamic Vinegar
• two heads of organic garlic, oven-roasted
• Jelly Boys' Ginger, Lime & Cilantro Jelly
• a little filtered water
• sea salt
• fresh cracked black pepper

I used the chicken back and some sea salt to make a simple chicken stock. I also boiled some organic red kidney beans, then soaked them overnight to soften them. The chicken was lightly rinsed and patted dry the following day, then pan-seared in the chicken fat I skimmed off the chicken stock. The chicken was set aside until the rice and beans were cooked.

For the rice and beans:

• 1 chopped yellow onion, sautéed in the remaining chicken fat
• drained kidney beans
• frozen, organic tri-colour peppers
• organic, brown basmati rice
• chicken stock

Once the rice mixture had simmered until most of the liquid had evaporated, the chicken was added on top and the whole pan went into a 350° oven for about 45 minutes.

To serve, the rice gets treated as a side dish to the chicken and I add salsa verde to taste.