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.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Mmmm...I can smell it from here!
Luis Colan said…
Hi Jan, it was nice to meet you a few weeks back. If you like how it smells then you're going to love how it tastes!

luis
::Alejandro:: said…
Vaya, vaya.

Pintor Y cocinero.

Estarás haciendo feliz a tu.....lucky son of a gun.


Alejandro
Peru Food
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Luis Colan said…
Pintor porque asi naci Y cosinero porque como buen Peruano me gusta tragar.
Ojala que mi...piense lo mismo que tu.

Luis
::Alejandro:: said…
¿?

I love this: Pintor porque asi nací.

Que lindo suena eso. Que dicha la tuya.

Lo demás...growing pains?
ming said…
if you are ever in malaysia man, give me a buzz, and i'll take you to some of the best food in the world, we have it all here in out little island called Penang
Luis Colan said…
Hi Ming, thanks for the invite...i'll take you up on it in the near future. First I need to save some money. I'm sure you have some culinary wonders in your island. God, I'm getting hungry already just thinking about it.

Luis
Anonymous said…
Fellow Peru Food reader here - just wanted to let you know, I made this estofado over the weekend for friends, the only variation I made was marinating the chicken in olive oil and a little rosemary, and searing it before adding it to the stew pot. It went over phenomenally - even my husband, a Peruvian as well, agreed that it tasted just like when he was a kid. Thanks for sharing your mother's recipe.

I especially like your paintings of the fruit and veggies!

Chau!
Luis Colan said…
Hi Carol,
I very happy you and your husband enjoyed the stew. Once I learned how to make I couldn't top. There's another variation to it, wich is adding chopped up bacon to cook with the chicken at first, this gives it a very nice smoky flavor and aroma.
I'll have to try it your way some time soon.
Happy Eating.

Luis
Kitty said…
love this. I'm always looking for recipes, and the more authentic the better.
I can imagine how parsley makes the dish. I'll give this one a try.

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