I’d hesitate to call this Nouveau Cuban as it’s really a classic Vaca Frita preparation with a different protein. I don’t see why you couldn’t make it with pork or lamb (fish, not so much). It’s very flavorful and the cubanocity rings in your mouth with each bite.

• It’s goin down:

• For the Mojo (“mo-ho” not “mo-joe”, Austin Powers be damned):

• 3/4 CupFresh orange juice
• 2/3 Cup Fresh lemon juice (lime works too)
• 4-6 ClovesGarlic
• 1 tbspSalt
• Combine ingredients and stir to dissolve the salt.

• Stage 1:

• 2boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.25 lbs.)
• 1/2 chicken bouillon cube

Place the chicken breasts that you rinsed in a pot and just barely cover with cold water.  Add the bouillon and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 20-30 minutes (you really can’t overcook the chicken like this).  When the chicken is done, remove and set aside.   You can discard the broth you just made or you can strain and reuse at your leisure–chicken soup anybody?

When the chicken has cooled enough, shred, along the grain, with your fingers or a fork into 1/2 inch strips or if you like your chicken-fried-cow more crispy, shred even finer.   Place in a bowl and pour in Mojo, such that the chicken is immersed and covered by the mojo.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour but no more than 3 hours.

• Stage 2:

• 1medium onion, sliced into thin (approx 1/8th”) rounds
• 2 tbsp Vegetable or canola or corn oil

Remove the chicken from the mojo and dry with paper towels on a plate. Important: Reserve the leftover mojo.

Place a heavy bottomed, shallow skillet or frying pan under medium-high heat.   Once the pan is hot, add the oil, it will shimmer and maybe smoke a little.  This is good.  Add the dried chicken shreds in one even layer to the pan.   Using my trusty Lodge 12″ cast iron pan,  I can only do about half the chicken at a time.  Do not stir-fry, allow the chicken to brown, nearly burn.  After about 2 or 3 minutes, turn over the chicken evenly in order to brown the other side (the higher the walls of the skillet, the trickier this is).

After another 2 or 3 minutes, toss in the sliced onion and stir fry a bit.  When the onions have begun to get soft ( about a minute) add a “chorro” of the reserved mojo and continue stir-frying.  Oh yeah, un “chorro” equals about 3 tablespoons.  You’ll get some nice steam action to finish cooking the onions along with mad flava.  Stir fry for another minute or so and once the mojo has mostly evaporated, pour out onto a platter.  I like this best with just white rice but I ain’t gonna complain about some frijoles negros over the rice.

As I got older, and as has happened with so many other foods I did not care for as a boy, I really grew to appreciate acp and all it’s variations. This includes “a la chorrera” even though I still prefer “seco” which is this post’s focus.

My lovely mother in law helped me with this dish. She is a rare bird in that her cooking prowess is matched by her patience and tolerance with others in the kitchen (yes, that would be me). This makes learning easy, as long as you don’t ask for precise measurements.

We used boneless, skinless thighs and breasts which made for a bit less chicken oomph, but why pick through bones when a highly trained poultry worker at a sanitary facility has already done this for you? Also, I don’t need to tell you that you should be spending the extra dollar per pound and buying organic birds and bird parts, right?

It’s goin down:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 minced garlic clove
1 lime’s juice
2 tsp salt

Place a cup of water and the remaining ingredients except for the chicken in a double-bagged gallon size zip top bag. Add the rinsed chicken (always rinse meats before using) to bag, toss it up a bit with a spoon and seal, pressing out as much air as possible. Marinate / brine for no longer than 3 or 4 hours but at least 2, turning and rearranging a couple of times. Don’t be afraid to throw in some macerated fresh herbs like oregano or thyme or even an un-macerated rosemary sprig??

The meez:

1 large chopped green/red/yellow/orange sweet pepper
1 large chopped yellow onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 fat pinch of saffron (think dip, not leaf)
2 medium size bay leaves
1/2 cup Virgin olive oil
1/2 can tomato paste (small can)
1 cup chicken broth
2 1/2 cups Valencia or Arborio or some sort of risotto rice
3 1/2 cups water
1 bottle beer, imported–of course, try Lowenbrau

After the chicken has soaked long enough, take it out and dry it on and off with some paper towels. To your dutch oven that has been gathering momentum for the past 5 minutes over medium high heat, add 1/4c of the oil. Once the oil starts a-shimmerin and a-smellin, place as many chicken parts in there you can without crowding. You are trying to give the chicken some nice brown crust, so as much of it should be in contact with the pan. Brown on the other side and place browned chicken in a dish covered with foil (loosely). Repeat with remaining chicken.

Add the other 1/4c of oil and when ready, add the chopped onion and pepper, reducing the heat to medium now. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, scraping up the browned chicken bits off the pan.

Add the minced garlic and cook for another 4-5 minutes until all these veggies are nice and soft and and quite silky in their extra helping of oil (it’ll come in handy for the rice). Add the oregano, the bay leaves and the saffron and stir some more, until the saffron fragrance tapers (1-2 min). Now add the tomato paste that you mixed with a 1/2 cup of water and cook this SERIOUS sofrito down for a few minutes so as to be more pasty than watery.

Throw in the chicken and it’s juices collected in the plate, making sure to toss all this together to coat the chicken in the sofri. This goes on for another 3-4 minutes. Now, add the 2.5c of rice and toss that with the chicken and sofri for a few minutes. Finally, add the 1 cup of chicken broth and 3.5c of water (ok, 4.5c if you want it sloppy), mix and bring to a boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat to as low as possible on your range. I use a “lumisnake” because my stove’s LOW just can go that low. Now kick back for the next 20-30 minutes and get your beer. I mean, you can go ahead and pound a couple, but save one for the rice!

Your rice is cooked now and there is still some liquid in the pot amongst the rice. This is good, yes. Crack yer beer and pour that bad boy in there and don’t be all slow or careful about it either, it’s not champagne for chrissakes. Look at that sucker foam up! Now cover immediately and turn off the stove. Wait at least 10 minutes before serving. How about a crisp romaine salad with a lime vinaigrette?

What makes this dish distinctive is the combination of the briny olives and the dry sherry as the “deglazer”. My mother hates olive oil but doesn’t seem to mind olives. My fiancee, the inverse. Needless to say, you can’t please everyone. For an interesting contrast and a bit of a sweeter sauce, add some dry seedless raisins with the olives and one chopped carrot with the potatoes. I went savory this evening.

Once I’ve separated my chicken parts, I will salt them and allow them to sit, uncovered in the refrigerator for a bit, perhaps an hour. This will season the chicken and leech out any excess moisture that would interfere with browning. Prep your veggies and get your meez together…

Brown the chicken pieces in two batches if you have a smaller pot (as I do). Once the pot is good and hot, add the olive oil and once the oil is fragrant and all wavy gravy in the pot, add the chicken–skin side down. Pour a glass of your favorite beverage, imbibe and focus on not moving the chicken.

After the skin is golden brown with some spotting (about 6 minutes), turn the pieces over, even scraping a bit so as to not leave behind huge chunks of the skin. Note that small little bits of the skin stuck in the pan are good great though. Transfer the browned chicken off heat and cover with foil loosely. There were will be a quite a bit of fat (from the chicken plus the initial olive oil), 4 tablespoons of which should be left in the pan.

To the fat/oil mix, add the chopped onion and green pepper, reduce the heat to medium and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
if the pan seems dry, add some more of the fat that you didn’t throw away.

You know it’s time to add the sherry when the garlic fragrance peaks. Better earlier than later. Now deglaze–pour the sherry in all at once, scraping any burned bits from the bottom of the pan. Allowing the liquid to reduce a bit (about 2 minutes) add the broth, tomato paste and bay leaf. Add the reserved chicken and and bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes, open and add the potatoes and olives as well as the carrots and raisins if you like. Bring to a slow simmer and cook with the lid slightly ajar for another 30 minutes, until the taters are tender.

At this point, remove the chicken pieces from the pot while we work on the sauce. Turn up the heat in the pot to medium bringing the liquid to a slight boil and reduce the liquid for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, careful not to let potatoes stick to the bottom. You want this sauce to be thin, but with a bit of body to cling to the rice when served.

While the sauce reduces, remove the skins from the chicken parts and extract the breast meat from its bones. You can also do this for the thigh and leg but I prefer the dark meat on the bone. Once the sauce has reduced in the pot a bit, adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.

Return the chicken meat to the pot and stir gently over medium heat so as to get a nice coat of fricasé love all over the chicken. Once the sauce returns to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and allow to sit for a few minutes (or as long as you can bear, it’s better the next day). Immediately before serving, add the squeeze of lime and stir.

Serve over white rice with maduros.