Spanish Chicken Stew

 Originally, the recipe calls for Pork Cheeks but I have none in hand. I got the recipe from Yummy Book: Weekend Cooking and the recipe was actually called Spanish Pork Cheeks with Sauce or in spanish, "Carillada de Cerdo Iberico en Salsa".

I hate that Spanish isn't part of our curriculum anymore. Knowing more languages than your usual mother tounge would be really awesome, yeah?

So before I post the recipe for the Spanish Chicken Stew (I revised the dish so you gotta revise the name! Hahaha!), I'll first post what we had for snacks or in filipino, meryenda.

We had variations of Crostinis. One was served with my fave ingredients together: Basil, EVOO, mozzarella and chopped tomatoes. I wished I had Buffalo mozzarella for it works well in this dish.  

 

I also got a little creative with the garnishes I have here so the other variation is made of spiced mayo, grilled pepperoni, melted mozzarella cheese and Alfalfa Sprouts.

Oh my gosh, I am so inlove with Alfalfa sprouts right now that keep on adding them to anything and everything! Makes you feel you're eating light even if you're not. I like it's veggie or should I say, grassy taste! 

So enough about these devil Crostinis (I ate almost a whole serving of baguette!) And below is the recipe for the Spanish Chicken Stew.

This is my first time to try this dish and promised to follow the recipe through and through (except that I added olives and celery because I need to get them out of the refrigerator, fast!) but after adding white wine and simmered it for 10 minutes, I didn't like its somewhat bitter taste.  I actually find the original recipe kinda really really bland.

I  read the recipe again and again and found out that there's no seasoning it with salt and pepper or even fish sauce (excuse my filipino heritage, we cook almost everything with fish sauce!). For real? No salt and pepper? What happened to salt is a staple ingredient in any dish for it brings out the flavor in any ingredient there is? Is this dish an exemption? So what now? Should the recipe taste really bland or what? 

I grabbed my Italian seasoning and worked it way towards goodness. Also for the love of nice little kick, I was to add black pepper but opted for Spanish Paprika. We're cooking a spanish dish, right? 

Also Added Chicken powder to enhance that chicken taste, a little dab of fish sauce and simmered it for 30 minutes and then whoala, not bad for a revised dish! I also added chopped green bell peppers for a little green in color.

Spanish Chicken Stew

oil for sauteing

2 whole chicken, chopped into pieces

1 head garlic, crushed and minced

2 onions, diced

1/4 cup black olives, chopped

3 stalks celery, diced

1 cup water

fish sauce to taste

2 cups white wine

2 medium carrots, cubed

3 bay leaves

Heavy dash of Italian Seasoning

Chicken powder to taste

1 teaspoon of Spanish Paprika or more 

1 green bell pepper, cubed

In a pot, heat some oil then saute garlic, onions, celery and olives. Add chicken pieces and season with fish sauce to taste. Cook for a few minutes. Pour water and white wine. Add carrots, bay leaves, Spanish paprika and Italian seasoning. Cover low heat for 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and the sauce is rich. Remove bay leaves and add the cubed bell pepper. Serve warm. 

How about you guys? What's for dinner?