Arroz Con Pollo

One of my favorite meals, growing up was my mother's arroz con pollo, chicken and rice. It was delicious, filling, and for an Argentine family that had beef of some type everyday, chicken was a nice change.

Then when I was newly married, I took my husband to visit Argentina, and on our last day in Buenos Aires we found this little cafe to have lunch. I ordered Arroz con Pollo, and it was amazingly good. If I could have, I would have stayed another day, just to eat there again.
But, I never learned to make it myself. Until one day I bought a cookbook that had a pretty good recipe for chicken and rice. I made it and thought it wasn't my mothers everyone liked it.
So this is what I'm making for my family tonight:

Ingredients
Chicken (3 pounds), cut up, salt and freshly ground peper
2 tablesppons olive oil
1 large onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium-size green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 cup rice
1/2 pound Italian sausage (about 2)
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron
1 can cut tomatoes, Italian style
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I go lighter)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (again, I go lighter)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup pitted black olives, sliced

Directions
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken and sausage and cook, turning, until brown all over, about 10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. Transfer with tongs to a large flameproof casserole.

2. Add onion, garlic, and bell peppers to skillet and cook until onions and peppers are soft. Transfer to casserole; and rice.

3. To skillet add saffron, tomatoes wine, oregano, cayenne, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan. Pour into casserole. Stir to distribute rice evenly. bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minute, until chicken is tender.

4. Stir in peas and olives and heat through. Serve immediately with penty of ice cold beer!

Enjoy!

Julia