Month: September 2017

Big Little Bites > 2017 > September

Arroz con Pollo

Posted on by biglittlebites

Family History

This dish holds a pretty special place in my heart, and I can’t wait to share it with you. For me, the purpose of consuming food goes beyond nourishment, and into the realm of the memories intertwined with it. Although my ancestors originally hale from Armenian villages within Turkey, during the Armenian Genocide of 1915 those who survived, fled to other countries. My great-grandfather ended up in Cuba, and so my grandfather grew up with Arroz con Pollo being one of his favorite comfort foods. Later, their family moved to the United States where he would eventually meet and marry my grandmother – an Armenian woman born in America. She learned to make Arroz con Pollo for him, and so generations to come, all benefitted! That just goes to show, you don’t have to be Latin to appreciate the amazing flavors in this dish! 

My grandmother had some great shortcuts to make this dish quicker to throw together. However, I love learning how to make everything from scratch, so I’ve taken her original recipe and gone old-school. I’ve taken all the shortcuts and reverted them to “from-scratch” methods that really shouldn’t be daunting.

Sure, this dish probably takes longer than your go-to chicken dinner recipe – but the steps involved impart a flavor you just can’t deny isn’t worth every minute! 

Let’s start with what you’ll need. This ingredient list may have some items you don’t keep stocked, but I promise it’s worth the effort to get them!

Essential Ingredients You’ll Need

Here are some tips and thoughts on gathering your ingredients:

Avocado oil: I love olive oil, but when pan-searing or frying food, avocado oil is a healthier choice, since it has a higher smoke point. I also don’t mind the healthy fatty acid and antioxidant profile that avocado oil boasts 🙂

Saffron: Saffron is expensive, but an absolute necessary flavor to get this dish right. Please don’t skip it! I’ve found the lowest pricing at Trader Joe’s for saffron (and this isn’t an ad – this is simply based on personal shopping discovery). Guess what? I also buy the smoked paprika at TJ’s!

Tomato sauce: please consider purchasing tomato sauce in jars, instead of in cans. I try to avoid aluminum and plastic-lined products as much as possible. Jars are void of potential system disrupters and chemicals. I buy the jars of BioNaturae organic strained tomatos because they are affordable for a big jar, with absolutely no other ingredients mixed in.

Chorizo: If you can find organic, more power to you! I don’t love buying or consuming meats with hormones and diets laced with pesticide, and can’t seem to find organic, so I buy this chorizo at Whole Foods. 

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chicken drumsticks in a roasting pan with green olives

First Steps: Setting the Stage

The first few steps of the recipe, are all about “setting the stage” for a beautiful presentation. I’m talking about browning the poultry and sausage on the stovetop before baking it in the oven, and using the animal fats rendered to season the sofrito.”Sofrito” is simply a blend of chopped bell pepper, onion and garlic. When I’m making this dish for a dinner party, I love completing steps 2 – 4 the day before. This way, the chicken and sausage are browned, the sofrito is cooked and I combine it in one large storage container to keep in the fridge overnight. The next day, you simply bring it out from the fridge about an hour before you plan to bake the entire casserole and let it come to room temperature. 

Assembling the casserole

First, I like to stir in the tomato sauce, saffron, cumin, rice and stock in the casserole dish. Next, I add the sausage and sofrito, stirring the pieces into the rice. Finally, I carefully arrange the poultry pieces atop the rice mixture in an artful way worthy of presentation. Bake this dish covered, in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Allow the dish to rest while remaining covered for an additional 10-15 minutes outside of the stove,  then place green olives throughout, and plenty of cilantro. 

chicken drumsticks in a roasting pan with green olives
Print Recipe

Arroz Con Pollo

Course: Main Course

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces
  • 4 tbsp avocado oil, divided
  • 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 chorizo sausages, cut into 1″ slices with casing removed
  • 1/2 c sofrito (1/2 each of green and red bell pepper chopped, 1 yellow onion chopped, 4 minced garlic cloves)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp saffron
  • 14 oz tomato sauce
  • 3 c brown rice (long, basmati, valencia… any will work! Sprouted is preferred for healthiest option)
  • 4 c chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp green olives
  • 1/4 of a bunch of cilantro

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
  • Remove chicken from packaging and blot dry with paper towel. In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp oil, paprika, salt and pepper – mixing well. Rub into chicken and marinate, covered in the fridge, for at least 30 minutes.
  • Warm a large pan over medium heat, and prepare your chorizo. When the pan is hot enough, add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and immediately add your chorizo. Once it’s cooked for a few minutes and nicely browned, remove the meat (leave the fat in the pan) and put it on a separate dish. Add your marinated chicken pieces to the hot pan, allowing them to brown for 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to the dish with the chorizo.
  • Add the sofrito blend to the fat in the pan, stirring well and frying until soft. Move the sofrito, chicken and chorizo into a large casserole dish with a lid.
  • Stir in the tomato sauce, saffron threads (crushing them with your fingers as you add them), cumin, rice and stock. Place the lid on the casserole dish and put it into the hot oven for 45 minutes.
  • Prior to serving, stir in green olives and cilantro.

Favorite Fried Rice

Posted on by biglittlebites

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Can you Make Fried Rice with Brown Rice?

Yes! In fact, I love making fried rice with brown rice instead of white. The texture, the hearty, slightly nutty flavor… and if it’s sprouted rice, even better! If you’ve been following Big Little Bites for a while, you probably already know why sprouted grains are SO much healthier and easier to digest than their common counterparts.

How to Make Healthier Fried Rice

Fried rice feels like an indulgent meal, am I right? Fried in plenty of butter with loads of umami flavor thanks to soy sauce and full of calories! What if I told you that you can put those calories to work for you, by making them count? Not literally… but by choosing ingredients that have health benefits, you are choosing to nourish your body instead of bog it down with empty calories.  Choosing sprouted short grain rice over white rice, is just one way I amp up the nutrition of my Favorite Fried Rice.

Some paleo friends may argue that brown rice is unhealthy due to phytates and lectins (they bind to vitamins and minerals, preventing them from being absorbed) – however, the reason white rice doesn’t contain those anti-nutrients, is because it’s been processed to remove the bran and germ from the grain. So here’s the answer to what’s really the healthier option: sprouted brown rice! The sprouting process removes those anti-nutrients, so you don’t even have to worry about them anymore, and improves the overall nutritional content! 

There are two essential ingredients that lend most of the flavor to fried rice: soy sauce and butter. Did you know that soy is one of the most genetically modified (GMO) foods in the US? If you are wondering what the big deal is, click here for facts about GMO’s.

Choosing organic soy sauce is a great way to avoid GMO’s because genetic engineering is prohibited for organic products, meaning the farmer cannot plant genetically modified seeds or feed genetically modified foods to their livestock. Soy sauce is made from fermented soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and molds and lends the much coveted 5th taste: “umami” to foods. Soy sauce lends plenty of salt to Favorite Fried Rice, so be careful not to add any table salt. 

Another favorite, healthier swap is grass-fed butter for regular butter. How do you know you’ve got the good stuff? Butter should be a rich yellow color due to the cows feeding on grass and absorbing so much beta-carotene from plants. Now, butter isn’t exactly a superfood, and it isn’t even in my everyday rotation. However for certain recipes, such as my Favorite Fried Rice, there’s just no getting around the use of butter because it’s such a part of the flavor profile of the dish! That being said, incorporating grass-fed butter into your diet on a here and there basis is healthy! Yes, grass-fed butter contains  saturated fats like coconut oil, but in small amounts this fat works to stabilize your blood sugar. Grass-fed butter is also significantly greater in nutrition benefits, compared to butter from grain-fed cows. According to Dr. Axe, grass-fed butter is better for your heart, an anti-inflammatory, a great source for vitamin A, contains energy-boosting and appetite-suppressing MCT’s, is high in anticancer CLA, rich in vital cholesterol and a good source of arachidonic acid. If you’re allergic to casein like our middle daughter, or lactose-intolerant, you can substitute butter for ghee in this recipe and others. 

big bowl of healthier fried brown rice with mixed vegetables
Print Recipe

Favorite Fried Rice

A healthier fried rice, rich in flavor but better for your body!
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 c sprouted short grain rice, cooked ahead
  • 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion, minced
  • 1 large clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 c frozen organic mixed peas, carrots and corn
  • 2 tbsp grass-fed butter or ghee
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 1/4 c organic soy sauce use shoyu, which is Japanese soy sauce
  • 3 organic eggs
  • 1 tbsp Eden Foods Gomasio seasoning
  • 1 sliced scallion

Instructions

  • Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add toasted sesame oil and the minced yellow onion. Stir occasionally until the onion becomes clear and slightly browned (about 10-15 minutes).
  • Add the minced garlic and stir for another 30 seconds.
  • Stir in the frozen vegetables just until defrosted. Remove to a large serving bowl.
  • Create an open well in the middle of the skillet and crack the eggs into it. Using a wooden spoon, break them up without scrambling, and cook until almost set. Remove them from the pan, placing them atop the bowl of vegetables.
  • Add grass-fed butter and 1 tbsp avocado oil to the now-empty skillet, turn up the heat to medium-high and and give it a swirl.
  • Spread the rice evenly into the skillet, and let fry undisturbed for 2-3 minutes (allowing it to get a little crispy on the bottom).
  • Stir in the sliced scallion and transfer to the bowl of vegetables and eggs.
  • Pour in the soy sauce and mix well. Sprinkle with Gomasio or toasted sesame seeds before serving!