Chicken Afritada with Pineapple

In Filipino cooking there is a variety of tomato based stews heavily influenced by Spanish Cuisine. Chicken Afritada is one of them, simply chicken stewed in tomato sauce with garlic, onion, and bell pepper, salt, pepper and whatever spices/ herbs the cook prefers. Pretty similar to the tomato Spaniard and Cuban tomato based dishes I grew up with, however I'm also familiar with the Filipino variations of those stews since one of my aunts through marriage is Filipino and so is one of my best girlfriends Shantall :) however their stews have their own twist and a little change here and there makes a difference in taste and makes them unique.

I've been meaning to try a version of Chicken Afritada prepared with pineapples, giving it a sweet and sour type contrast, kinda reminds me of the Chinese-American sweet n sour chicken or pork as well :)

So without further chit chat this is my version of the Pineapple Chicken Afritada from observing other's prepare it and what I think works best for it :)

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken cut into 12 pieces (washed/ cleaned well, drained)
-1 onion chopped
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 can 20 oz. of pineapple chunks (reserve juice)
-1/2- 1 cup pineapple juice (from a can of pineapple chunks)
-4 medium carrots peeled cut thinly diagonally
-1/2 a large red bell pepper cut into large squares
-1/2 a large green bell pepper cut into large squares

Directions:
(1) Season chicken with salt and pepper, marinade for 15- 20 minutes. Now heat a real large pan or deep-pot on very high heat, add oil and let it heat up, and brown chicken all over, if your using a smaller deep pan or pot you will need to do this in batches. Add garlic and onion and stir for about 5-7 minutes until onion is translucent
(2) Add tomato sauce, pineapple juice and bring to a rolling boil, cover and let it simmer 25 minutes on medium low heat.
(3) Uncover and add carrot bring to a rolling boil on high, cover then simmer again on medium low for 5 minutes, uncover add bell peppers let it simmer 2-3 minutes
(4) Add pineapple chunks stir well and let simmer an additional 1-2 minutes
(5) Enjoy serve with lots of hot steamy white rice :)
P.S.

For my Cuban readers or Spaniard readers we can think of this as "Fricase de Pollo con Piña" or "Estofado de Pollo Con Piña" give it a try :)

Estofado de Lentejas Con Chorizo (Lentil and Sausage Stew)

Surfing the web I recently discovered a blog named "Las Hambres" (translates to "The Hungers") by Maria as soon as I saw this lentil stew in her blog I knew it was something I had to try, looked real comforting, simple and familiar. I grew up eating Spanish and Cuban bean stews and still do to this day so this diffidently hit home.

So anyways, yesterday I finally had the opportunity to cook this lentil stew, because there was nothing in the fridge I wanted to eat for lunch, so while the lentil stew cooked I multi-tasked, prepared some white rice, and made a salad I wrapped up everything in under 45 minutes and had a wonderful lunch & was able to also prepare a meat stew which I left simmering to be ready for dinner time so my family could eat it with the leftover white rice and salad I made for lunch (I'll blog about the meat stew sometime this month =)

So I'm blogging about it because well duh I wanna share the love with all of you and also because I prepared it somewhat differently, but it was inspired by her recipe and is very very similar. From now on when I want a simple Spaniard lentil stew with just chorizo this will be my go to way of preparing it :)

Ingredients to boil lentils with:
-2 cups (1 lbs.) dried lentils (rinsed and drained)
-water (enough to submerge lentils 2 inches in water)
-2 medium carrots, peeled cut into rounds
-1/2 onion left intact
-1/2 a small green or red bell pepper or 1/4 of a large one left intact uncut
-3 cloves garlic unpeeled and whole
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon black peppercons
-2 Spanish Chorizos (I used "Chorizo de Bilbao)

Ingredients for the sofrito:
-1/4- 1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 onion finely chopped/ minced
-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 large ripe tomato grated
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons but it really is to taste)

Directions:
(1) Throw lentils in a pot, add carrot, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns and spanish chorizo. Bring to a boil on high heat and cover, lower heat to medium and cook until lentils are tender (about 35- 40 minutes)

(2) While lentils are simmering heat a large pan with a generous amount of olive oil on medium high heat to start your "sofrito", add the onion and cook until translucent and caramelized about 7- 10 minutes, add garlic and cook down until fragrant about 3 minutes, add grated tomato and cook until the tomato has no liquid left about an additional 10 minutes, finally add balsamic vinegar give it a good stir, and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.
and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.

(3) When lentils are tender add about 30- 35 minutes, add the sofrito mixture, stir, taste for salt and adjust it to taste and let it simmer an additional 5 minutes, turn off heat,
remove the chorizo's, take the casing off if necessary and slice it into 1/4- 1/2 inch rounds, stir it back into the stew.
(4) Serve on it's own with over white rice or in a deep bowl with bread. A salad would go nicely with it too.

Horchata de Avena (Cold Oatmeal & Cinnamon Milk Drink)

So before I start just wanna give a quick brief, from my observations for those not familiar the term "Horchata" is basically a chilled beverage made from either grains, seeds, or nuts that are grounded up with spices (almost always cinnamon from what I've seen), and then strained with water to create a milky chilled drink that is sometimes combined with milk to make it richer and sugar to taste.

The most common one here where I'm from in Southern California is the Mexican Horchata, which is like a cinnamon infused rice milk, the second most common one is the typical Salvadorian one made from some type of nut and cinnamon. I know in Spain it is made from "Tigernuts" however many versions and variations exist all great in their own way :)

If you want a more detailed explanation check out wikipedia's entry for "Horchata"

So today I present to you a version made from ground toasted oatmeal and cinnamon I learned from my mother's Salvadoran friend we all just call her "Gomez". It is truely out of this world delicious and EXTREMELY refreshing in the summer, a glass of this cold will make you feel in heaven. The best part is that it is ridiculously easy to make (well at least for me)

Ingredients:
-1 large cinnamon stick (real cinnamon like Mexican cinnamon not "Saigon Cinnamon"/ Cassia Bark I'll explain it at the end of the post under "PLEASE NOTE")
-1 cup plain uncooked oatmeal (it can be quick cooking oats or the regular oats as long as it's uncooked and plain)
-water (as needed enough to fill a pitcher or to keep diluting you'll see)
-white cane sugar to taste (depends how sweet you like it, my family uses up to 1 cup)

Directions:
(1) Heat a pan on medium high heat, break the cinnamon stick and toast it, takes about 5 minutes stirring occasionally don't burn it.
(2) When fragrant add the oatmeal and stir frequently until it changed color, turns into a golden beige color, and it will also release a fragrance
(3) At this point throw all the toasted oatmeal and cinnamon into the blender and blend with water (enough to liquify it), then strain it into a large pitcher
(4) Now to extract more from the ground mixture, in the strainer where all the ground stuff is left add more water gently scraping and swishing it with your hand, until the pitcher is full
(5) Add generous amounts of ice, or cool it in the fridge and it'll be ready to serve :)
PLEASE NOTE:

About the cinnamon you see there are two types of cinnamon like the "REAL" cinnamon, which is the one cultivated in Mexico it looks different, is tender, dry, and breaks easily, it is usually like a fat log, really light brown, has a very light wood color. In large quantities it exposes no toxicity so it's pretty safe for anyone who uses cinnamon real often.

Then there is "Cassia Bark" sold in the USA as "Cinnamon" sometimes as "Saigon" cinnamon, this one has a slightly spicy taste, sort of reddish, and is often sold as cinnamon. The sticks are also smaller and it is much firmer and hard it has great flavor. In large amounts it can toxic and harmful. However I'll be honest I prefer this one, but when making the drink it doesn't get ground up as easily because it is harder, and sometimes you'll get hard bits of it in the drink, nothing straining multiple times won't fix, but yeah that's my reason for using real cinnamon when making this drink.

If interested in more just google about it ha ha, I don't want to write a bunch of paragraphs about Cassia vs. true cinnamon he he.