The Epic “Arroz Con Pollo” With Romesco Sauce

Want to bring a taste of Spain to your dining room table?

Just follow this guideline for our take on Arroz Con Pollo, and you will feel like you are dining in the streets of Pamplona after a long day of running with the bulls.

The key to creating flavor for this epic chicken and rice dish is finding amazing quality Spanish ingredients. This recipe is straight forward, and easy to pull off.

Check out our links throughout this post to find these epic ingredients on Amazon.com to boost your flavor status.

Epic Arroz Con Pollo

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 7 portions

Ingredients

1 loaf sourdough
4 lbs. chicken (wings, drums, thighs cut in half)
1 ea palacios chorizo
1 ea piquillo peppers
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup shaved almonds
1/2 cup peeled hazelnuts
1/4 cup black currants
1 ea calasparra rice
2 bunches parsley
1 head garlic
sherry vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
grapeseed oil
knorr chicken bouillon
1 qt, chicken stock
Spices:
smoked paprika
madras curry powder
cumin
garlic powder
chili powder
diamond kosher salt
black pepper

Instructions

Step 1: Make the romesco sauce
Step 2: Make the parsley oil
Step 3: Cook the rice
Step 4: Cook the chicken and chorizo
Step 5: Plate

http://epicfoodblog.com/the-epic-arroz-con-pollo-with-romesco-sauce/

Epic Arroz Con Pollo Step 1: | Make The Romesco Sauce

If you want to make a great romesco sauce then use good Spanish ingredients. Good olive oil, good smoked paprika, good sherry vinegar, good bread (which is used to thicken the mixture along with the nuts), good fire roasted piquillo peppers, and perfectly ripe tomatoes.

Start by slicing the sourdough into 1/2 inch slices and toast at 350° F until hard and dry.

good sourdough bread

slices of sourdough

Next toast the nuts at 350° F until golden brown.

toasting hazelnuts and almonds

In a saute pan, toast the shaved garlic in olive oil until golden brown. Add the cherry tomatoes and remove from the heat.

toasting shaved garlic and cherry tomatoes

Next, weigh out all of the ingredients.

romesco sauce ingredients

In a food processor, start by pulsing the roasted peppers, olive oil, and cherry tomato mixture.

pulsing romesco sauce ingredients

Add the toasted bread and pulse until fully incorporated.

adding toasted bread to romesco sauce

Next, add the toasted nuts, and pulse. “Don’t over pulse, you want a chunky texture.”

adding toasted nuts to romesco sauce

Finish with the sherry vinegar, smoked paprika, and season with salt and pepper. Always serve at room temperature, never cold.

romesco sauce

Note: Always use a good smoked paprika for this sauce. We recommend Mas Portell.

mas portell smoked paprika

Romesco Sauce Recipe:

5 slices sourdough bread

1/2 cup shaved almonds

1/2 cup hazelnuts

9 ea paquillo peppers

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs. aged sherry vinegar

1 cup heirloom cherry tomatoes

1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

2 cloves shaved garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Note: This recipe is a guideline. If your romesco is a little loose then add more toasted bread. If it needs more acidity, then add few more drops of vinegar. Taste as you go!

Epic Arroz Con Pollo Step 2: | Make The Parsley Oil

This is a very simple step and adds a subtle but necessary flavor to the dish.

Start by picking the parsley leaves.

Add the leaves and grapeseed oil to a vita prep and blend thoroughly on high speed.

parsley and grape seed oil for parsley oil

blending parsley oil

Pour contents into a saucepan and heat to 220°F while continually whisking.

heating parsley oil and whisking

Once the temperature has reached 220°F, pull from the heat and immediately chill the oil over an ice bath. Let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour before straining through a coffee filter.

chive oil, parsley oil

Parsley oil:

4 cups picked parsley leaves

1 1/2 cups grapeseed oil

Epic Arroz Con Pollo Step 3: | Cook The Rice

Always use this particular short grain rice for this recipe. The reason being that it soaks up more liquid without getting mushy as compared to other rice. We like to use Calasparra rice which is most commonly used for making Paella, and curry powder as a substitute for saffron because we like the flavor it provides… You can find this rice here.

calasparra rice

Start by mincing 1/2 a red onion and measure out the spices.

calasparra rice ingredients

Next, bring the chicken stock to a simmer and whisk in the chicken base.

simmering chicken stock

In a stockpot on medium high heat, cook the red onion and extra virgin olive oil until translucent without browning.

cooking red onion and extra virgin olive oil

Next, lower the heat and add the rice. Continue to toast the grains of the rice for roughly 5 minutes and stir.

toasting rice grains

Add the spices and stir for another 2 minutes until fragrant.

adding spices to the rice until fragrant

Pour the hot liquid over the rice and add the black currents.

pouring hot liquid over the rice

Cook for 20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated.

cooking rice for 20 minutes

Cover with a dry towel and a lid to catch the remaining moisture, and keep covered for 10 minutes.

covering rice with dry towel

Remove lid, fluff the rice with a fork, season with salt, and keep at room temperature until you are ready to plate.

fluffing rice with a fork

Calasparra Rice Recipe:

1/2 red onion

1 1/2 cups calaspara rice

4 cups chicken stock

1 cube knorr chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp. madras curry powder

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. chili powder

2 tbs. dried black currents

2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Epic Arroz Con Pollo Step 4: | Cook The Spanish Chorizo And Chicken

Palacios chorizo is absolutely delicious and you can find it here. Not spicy, it has an amazing flavor and texture. When cooked, the seasoned fat from the pork is released and keeps this chicken extra moist. We liked to only use organic dark meat chicken for this dish, because it has more flavor.

Preheat an oven to 450° F. Heat a large flat sided saute pan with olive oil on medium high heat. Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper and place skin side down.

cooking chicken skin side down

Once the chicken starts to brown, add the sliced chorizo and spread out the pieces evenly.

adding sliced chorizo

cooking chicken and chorizo

Move the chicken to the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the chicken over half way through to brown both sides.

flipping the chicken

Note: There will be a fair amount of fat from rendering the chorizo. Do not discard.

Epic Arroz Con Pollo Step 5: | Plating

Once the chicken is finished, simply spread the rice out evenly on a small flat baking sheet and warm in the oven.

You can plate this dish individually or family style.

Start by spreading out the warm rice on a flat dish and and place the chicken and chorizo on the rice. Cover the chicken with the room temperature romesco sauce, and drizzle the red oil from the chorizo over the chicken. The rice should soak some of it up.

Finish with crushed toasted hazelnuts, parsley leaves and a drizzle of parsley oil around the plate.

Conclusion

This is a very simple dish and when done correctly and has tons of flavor for the amount of time and work put in.

These ingredients are simply delicious, and when left to speak for themselves they are really able to shine.

In our opinion, the Spanish are best at canning and bottling ingredients. Their techniques and care for the product are more superior than any other country, especially their canned seafood which is remarkable.

Want more info on what we are talking about?

Check out this article from food&wine.

Like this post?

Make sure to share with friends using our social media bar, and don’t forget to stop by next week when we discuss how to make an epic plate of potato gnocchi and lamb sausage.

Thanks for stopping by Epic Food Blog!