A flamboyant Latin-American answer to the Spanish paella, the festive one-pot treat known as arroz con pollo is adored across Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean. This Cuban iteration was a famous late nineteenth-century dish served at Casa Arana, a stately restaurant located at the mouth of the Almendares River near Havana's emblematic seventeenth-century Chorrera Tower. According to novelists and historians, the chicken rice named after the tower was a big hit among Spanish colonial officers in the last dying days of Spain's reign over Cuba. Now often resurrected at restaurants and eaten at homes for a late Sunday lunch, the deliciously soupy arroz features chicken and medium-grain Valencia-type rice brightened with saffron. It is moistened with broth, wine, and always a splash of Cuban beer, and decorated with peas and strips of roasted red pepper. What a great dish to bring to a potluck!
What Is Adobo? While many Americans think of “adobo” as the tomato-based sauce packed in cans with chipotle chiles, the most basic definition of the word is “sauce” or “seasoning.” The Spanish term originally referred to a vinegar- or chile-based sauce or paste that was added to meat as a preservative. Over time, the term came to apply to similar dishes in Latin American and Filipino cuisines. In the Philippines, where adobo is considered the country’s national dish, it’s a braise commonly prepared with chicken or pork. Vinegar and soy sauce (acetic acid and salt are natural preservers) flavored with aromatics like garlic, bay leaves, and black pepper serve as the braising liquid. The tangy cooking liquid is then reduced to make a sauce, and the dish is served with steamed white rice. Light coconut milk can be substituted for regular coconut milk. Serve this dish over rice.
This kebab is a perfect balance of flavors; juicy aromatic spiced chicken, garlicky, creamy labneh, and crispy fried savory onions, all topped off with little pops of sweet and sour pomegranate.
The secret to a good Thai larb is the roasted rice powder, which adds texture and also thickens the dressings, helping them to stick to the chicken. Served with some raw vegetables, it makes for a great light dinner. You could also try this with pork, beef or turkey mince.
In the summer you can use fresh cherries, pitted, instead of dried ones.
I am yet to meet someone who doesn’t like chicken wings. Traditionally this recipe was made using the whole chicken, however it is so much more shareable when made with wings.
Sometimes we feel like a substantial salad that is a meal in itself with all the elements of good food—plenty of greens, crunchy raw pepper, and loads of flavor. This is also a great way to use up leftover chicken or turkey. Serve with a tzatziki dressing and tomato salad. This is our friend Anne Hudson’s method of preparing the wonderful Greek yogurt and cucumber dip, which she learned to make the local way when living in Greece. You can also enjoy the tzatziki with bread or as a dip for vegetables. (Gluten-free if using quinoa or brown rice.)
This is a classic Danish summer dish that is served with variations from region to region. It is very important for all the ingredients to be seasonal, with new potatoes, and it has to be a big, juicy, tasty chicken.
There is no way I could even attempt to match the virtuoso performance that Maya Angelou put on when she prepared her curry for me in her Sonoma kitchen over four decades ago. My own curry, from my book Sky Juice and Flying Fish: Traditional Caribbean Cooking, is more of a West Indian–type curry that includes potatoes along with the chicken. They serve to not only stretch the chicken, but also to lend substance to the curry. While this is traditionally eaten with roti, I like to serve it with rice (yes, I know two starches, but why not) and then add as many of the “boys" — mango chutney, tomato chutney, chopped peanuts, raisins, finely grated coconut, lime pickle, fresh pineapple pieces, kachumber salad, raita, and papadum — as I can get.
Piquillo peppers, descendants of Peru’s chile de arbol, require a long, hot, dry growing season, which fits Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley to a T. Gardeners and farmers get their piquillo pepper seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University or online from Peppermania. Piquillos are not edible raw; instead, they’re smoke-roasted over wood and then packed in brine in jars or cans. If you grow piquillos, simply smoke-roast them until they’re done. Banana peppers are a good substitute for the piquillo peppers, too.