Pollo en Fricasé ~ Chicken in Sauce

Pollo en Fricasé or Chicken Stew in English is a traditional Puerto Rican recipe where chicken is braised in wine then made into a wonderful stew with vegetables and potatoes. It the kind of food that warms your heart, fills your tummy.

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Pollo en Fricasé ~ Chicken in Sauce

Mike Gonzalez

Fricase de pollo a traditional Puerto Rican chicken stew that is braised in wine.

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 10 mins

Total Time 1 hr 25 mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Puerto Rican

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 3 lbs chicken
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp achiote tinted oil
• 1 oz salted pork
• 2 oz lean cured ham
• 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
• 1 medium bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 2 sweet peppers seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
• 4-5 leaves culantro cilantro-chopped
• 10-12 pimiento stuffed olives
• 1 tsp capers
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 2 leaves bay
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 lb potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2½ cups hot water
• 1 16 oz. can green peas
• ½ cup of wine

Instructions

 

• In a heavy olla (Pan), heat the achiote oil on medium-high heat. Brown the diced salt pork and ham.
• Reduce heat to low and add the dried oregano, onion, pimiento pepper, sweet peppers, garlic cloves and the culantro leaves.
• Sauté all the ingredients, for about 10 minutes or so, to bring all the flavors together.
• Increase heat to medium, add all the chicken and cook for about 3-4 minutes. (Rican takes a swig of wine)
• Add all the remaining ingredients and bring it to a boil. This is where you taste it to see if you added enough salt to your taste.
• When it starts to boil, reduce heat to medium, cover it and cook it for about 45-50 minutes.
• Add the peas or your other favorite veggies like canned carrots etc, and boil uncovered until the yummy sauce thickens to your taste. (Rican takes another swig of wine)
• Serve with white rice and avocado slices.

Notes

Save lots of time by chopping, dicing and cubing everything ahead of time.

Be sure if you use potatoes, to place them in cool water, so they won’t lose their color.

If you want to use frozen veggies, be sure to have them ready and cook them according to the packaging instructions. You can substitute the water you boiled the frozen veggies instead of plain water.

Keyword Chicken

Did You Know

Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking describes Fricasé as “halfway between a sauté and a stew” in that a saute has no liquid added, while a stew includes liquid from the beginning. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first sauteed (but not browned), then the liquid is added and it is simmered to finish cooking. 

Cookbook author James Peterson notes that some modernized versions of the recipe call for the meat to be thoroughly browned before braising, but the classical version requires that both meat and vegetables remain with no caramelization.