It was a chilly winter night when I made this dish. I was a little anxious about whether the baseball season would survive, and this is a big year for my St. Louis Cardinals. Pitcher Adam Wainwright and my favorite current player, catcher Yadier Molina, are back for one more year before retiring, and with the roster they have backing them up—including the return of all-time great Albert Pujols—it could well be a storybook year.
Yadi Molina is from Puerto Rico, and I was thinking of him when I made asopao de pollo. An asopao is basically just a stew; it can be made with chicken, pork, seafood … you get the drift. It’s part native Taino, part Spanish—basically Spanish cooking with Caribbean ingredients, just as you find in all the former Spanish colonies of Latin America.
Asopao de pollo is the ultimate Puerto Rican comfort food. It’s a fair amount of ingredients, but once you get past the vegetable prep it really comes together easily. The base is a classic Latin sofrito of bell peppers, onion, garlic, and tomato. I’m amping up the flavors with some prepared products from the Latin aisle, but they’re really not necessary (except the adobo seasoning, which is essential). The jarred sofrito contains bell peppers, onion, garlic, and tomato paste, as well as culantro: a Caribbean herb similar to—but different from—cilantro. The Sazon Goya adds savor and a little color thanks to MSG (which is unfairly vilified, in my opinion) and annatto. I added them because I had them around and they add another layer of depth to the dish. If you’re in an area without access to these Latin ingredients, don’t sweat it; the dish will be fine without them. If you can’t find adobo seasoning, use a blend of about 3 parts garlic powder, 2 parts each onion powder and salt with 1 part each cumin, black pepper and oregano, and ½ part turmeric. Mix up a decent-sized batch; it’s a great all-purpose seasoning. Also, many Latin sections will have a jarred condiment called alcaparrado, which replaces the olives, pimentos and capers…but be warned that some of these contain un-pitted olives, which will cause you to do a bit more work.
Ingredients
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1½ teaspoons adobo seasoning
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup sofrito with culantro
1 ½ cups long-grain brown rice
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1 packet Sazon Goya with annatto
4 oz. diced cooked ham
2 large bay leaves
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed
1 cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
¼ cup capers
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Season chicken thighs with adobo seasoning and black pepper.
To prepare
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir green pepper, red pepper, onion, garlic, and tomato paste in the hot oil, until the vegetables have softened slightly, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove vegetables from the pot and set aside.
Pan fry chicken in the pot until browned, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Return cooked vegetables to the pot along with sofrito, rice, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, Sazon Goya, ham, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until rice is tender and chicken is no longer pink inside, about 20 minutes.
Stir in peas, olives, and capers and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and discard bay leaves. Stir in cilantro and serve.
