Something Different, Something Fun!

So I'm not a starving artist; well not yet! When I first set out on my blog journey the idea was to not only show and talk about my current work but to also show and tell my cooking. I have always said that the reason why I'm always painting onions and tomatoes is because I use them a lot in my cooking...Well here's the show and tell part.
The other night I made one of my favorites. Chicken stew! This is one of the many things I learned from mom, but I added a little of my own stuff to this.

The ingredients: Boneless,skinless chicken breast(this is for healthy reasons, better if you use bone in chicken for flavor); one med. to large tomato, one large onion, two large potatoes, about three garlic cloves (the more the better), small can of tomato paste, white wine, olive oil, salt and pepper, and diced carrots and peas. I don't have set measurements since I cook by sight and smell.

Prep: Chop the onion into squares. Slice the tomato into long wedges. Cut the chicken into the desired portions, and cut the potatoes into round slices. Chunks work well too.
I start by heating the oil and then adding the onions. Stir the onions to keep from burning and until transparent. Then I add the chopped (minced) garlic followed right away with salt and pepper. This creates a good base, what we call the sazon!
After I stir the seasoning base for about three to five minutes, I add the chicken and let it soak up the flavor of the onions and garlic. When the outside of the chicken turns white I add the tomatoes and let it cook together for about five minutes until the tomato releases all its juice.
Then I add the tomato paste and potatoes. Stir well and let it simmer until the stew takes shape. This might take about twenty minutes or less, depending on how high your heat is.
Once the stew looks right I add the carrots and peas. Stir well and let it simmer for about five minutes. The veggies cook fast so you have to keep an eye out for the potato since it's the slowest one to cook. When the water content starts to reduce I add the wine, stir and let it simmer some more. About five minutes.
This is how the stew should look once it's ready. When the heat is on the stew looks very loose but after you let it rest for a few minutes it starts to thicken.
Here's the stew ready to go to my stomach served over white rice. Always white rice. We Peruvians eat everything with white rice. For more flavor I add fresh chopped parsley, but I didn't have some for this shot. Trust me, fresh parsley tops almost everything I cook. I hope you enjoyed this little window into my personal time and space at home.