Pollo Escabechado

Wash chicken well, then pat dry. Salt and pepper the skin side.

Heat olive oil in a pan with a large surface area (I use a 5-qt straight-sided saute pan). Brown the chicken, skin side down, then turn skin side up.

Add onions, garlic, carrots, pepper, wine, bay leaf, spices and knock it around a little to mix everything up. The wine should come to about halfway up the chicken, so add a little more if necessary.

Bring it all to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cover. Cook for an hour or so, until chicken is done, tender and falling off the bone.

Add vinegar and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, just to take the edge off.

Serve chicken and veggies over rice or your favorite starch. I use rice because you can ladle extra juice over it, and this is my idea of a good time.

Notes:

Alino complete is a spice mix that we get everytime a Chilean relative comes up. The one we get is a mix of dried oregano, cilantro, salt, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper all whizzed in a spice grinder into a fine powder. I think it’s sort of like a curry powder, in that you can make your own to taste and keep it on hand.

I also use more cumin than the recipe calls for because I love it. It’s easy (and gross) to overdo it though, so tread lightly until you find your sweet spot!

I have known to be ambitious and mix the wine and all the spices up in a jar first so that it’s pre-mixed when added to pan. It doesn’t really matter in the end, just mix everything well.