cook: arroz con pollo

I was lazy last week and bought a rotisserie chicken. There was so much leftover that Patrick said I needed to cook into enchiladas, but I was tired of that rotation and decided to make Arroz con Pollo instead. I had chopped a lot of onion and garlic and had on hand: olive oil, rice, chicken bone and vegetable broth, olives, capers, and luckily remembered the packets of sazon seasoning which contain annato, cilantro, and saffron.                     

Thankfully I reviewed the recipe I had in my big black binder from America's Test Kitchen. Because I wouldn't have remembered the bay leaves, the cumin, and the frozen peas. And then it became a matter of sautéing the onions and then adding the rice to the softened onions after 10 minutes. I also added a pat of butter because the rice was not glistening enough, and I wanted the grains to be toasted.

 

After toasting the rice, I added the Sazón, two flavors, one that was Culantro y Achiote and the other, Azufran. I also added the garlic and bay leaves as well as cumin. And because it was looking dry, the chicken and vegetable bone broth.

And then it was a matter of letting the rice simmer for 15 minutes to cook. However, I remembered the leftover chopped jalapenos and cilantro from the other night's tacos and added that to the simmering cast iron.

The rice had 5 more minutes to go, and so then I added the olives and the frozen green peas. 

Lastly, the leftover rotisserie chicken, which I had already sliced into chunks and the leftover lime wedges from taco night. I then folded the protein and citrus in the rice to combine.

Hubs said it was interesting, and I said, but I've cooked this before for dinner.

I interpreted my husband's comments to mean that he could eat the dish, but that it wasn't his favorite. I'm leaving on a road trip to Palm Springs, and so I portioned the leftovers into 3 servings and gave it to neighbors. Well a couple nights later, he asked for that leftover chicken and rice dish. Sheesh.