Fricase De Pollo

by Cristina | Last Updated: January 27, 2021

A good fricase de pollo can solve a lot of problems. I don’t know if that is true, but I know that it can solve me being hungry.

Being an active member of the internet, I have seen all the memes calling for bloggers to stop including a story before the recipe.

But this recipe brings back so many memories… haha I’m kidding. I will not bore you with the details. will jump right into this one

Ingredients

• 8-10 chicken thighs (Bone-in, skin on) *See notes below
• 2 cups mojo marinade (store bought is fine but Abuela’s Counter is better)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 ½  teaspoon salt (divided)
• ½ teaspoon of pepper
• 1 medium/large yellow onion (diced)
• 2 red peppers (diced)
• 4 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 cup dry white cooking wine
• 2 healthy tablespoons of tomato paste 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 cup alcaparrado olives roughly chopped (pimiento stuff will also do)
• 1 tablespoon olive juice from can
• 2 packets sazon goya (cilantro achiote)
• 2 small/medium russet potatoes cut into square chunks 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chicken broth

Instructions

1. Marinade chicken pieces in salt, and mojo overnight or at minimum 30 minutes prior to cooking. .. 
2. Once marinated, remove chicken from marinade and pat dry. **See notes below to know why
3. Sprinkle the chicken with salt. 
4. Heat the olive oil in a large pot, over high heat.  Wait for the oil to get very hot. 
5. Brown the chicken skin side down (in batches if need be to not over crowd the pan), will take about 7-9 minutes.  Then flip the chicken and cook for just about 2 minutes (doesn’t need to cook through).  Remove from pan and set aside. 
6. Add the onions and red pepper to the pan.  Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, the sazon packets, oregano, cumin, and saute until translucent. Then add in the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. 
7. Add the tomato paste and stir it into the veggies until it starts to look cooked out or about 2-3 minutes.  Add in the broth and the wine to the pan and simmer with the veggies and paste for 5 minutes.  Then add in half of your olives along with the olive juice and mix well.
8. Add the chicken back into the pot.  Do not drown the chicken with the broth, want to keep the chicken braising without soaking the skin.
9. Add potatoes, then simmer all together (covered) for 35 minutes. Stir occasionally and move it around. At 35 minutes if the potatoes aren’t soft enough let it braise for another 10-15 minutes.
10. Serve over white rice or your preferred vessel but just make sure you throw on plenty of extra sauce. The sauce is the key to this one.

Notes

**Make sure to pat the chicken DRY before adding it to the oil. If you put them in wet you risk it splattering and burning you, and it will steam the chicken instead of browning.