Name: Pollo al Chilindrón (Aragonese Chicken Stew)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 450 g Chicken, bone-in pieces, patted dry; 40 g Serrano Ham, finely chopped; 150 g Red Bell Pepper, sliced; 100 g Green Bell Pepper, sliced; 300 g Tomato, chopped or grated; 120 g Onion, thinly sliced; 3 clove Garlic, finely chopped; 2 tbsp Olive Oil; 1 tsp Paprika; 1 Bay Laurel Leaf; 120 ml Water, hot, as needed for simmering; ¾ tsp Salt, adjust carefully because ham is salty; ½ tsp Black Peppercorns, freshly crushed; 1 tbsp Parsley, chopped, for finishing

Pollo al Chilindrón (Aragonese Chicken Stew)

1 hrtotal

Prep 15 min · Cook 45 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Mild

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Method

Season the chicken with part of the listed salt and black pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a wide pot and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove it to a plate.
In the same pot, cook the Serrano ham briefly, then add onion, garlic, red capsicum, and green capsicum.
Cook until the vegetables soften, then stir in paprika for a few seconds.
Add the tomato, bay leaf, remaining salt, remaining black pepper, and hot water. Return the chicken to the pot.
Simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and the pepper-tomato sauce becomes thick and glossy.
Finish with parsley and rest briefly before serving.

How to tell it's done

The chicken should be tender, and the sauce should be chunky, glossy, and reduced rather than watery.

Getting it right

Tip

Brown the chicken before simmering; this gives the stew deeper flavor and better color.

What to serve it with

Serve with bread, rice, or simple boiled potatoes to soak up the pepper-tomato sauce.

Common mistakes

The stew is thin and the peppers taste raw.: Cook the peppers and onion down slowly, well past the point where they look done, before the tomato goes in. Chilindrón is built on a soft, sweet pepper base, and rushing it leaves a watery stew with crunchy strips in it.
The chicken is dry by the time the sauce is right.: Brown the chicken, take it out, build the sauce, and return it for the last twenty minutes. Leaving it in the pot for the whole cook overshoots it long before the peppers are ready.

Substitutions

Use boneless Chicken if needed, but bone-in pieces give better stew flavor.
Ham can replace Serrano Ham if needed, though the flavor will be less Spanish.
Use Yellow Capsicum if either red or green capsicum is unavailable.

Storing and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge and is better on the second day. Freezes for three months. Reheat gently; the peppers soften further each time, which does the dish no harm.

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Ingredients