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Pollo en pepitoria — chicken in almond and saffron sauce
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Source: https://recipheon.com/en/recipes/main-dishes/pollo-en-pepitoria-chicken-in-almond-and-saffron-sauce
About this recipe
Pollo en pepitoria is a Spanish chicken dish braised in an aromatic sauce of almonds, saffron and cooked egg yolks. This home version uses thigh meat without skin or bones, which is easy to cut into small pieces. The onion softens in olive oil, and dry white wine lifts the flavor from the bottom of the pan. A paste of warmed almonds, garlic and egg yolks gives the sauce body without flour or bread. The almonds keep their thin brown skins, giving the finished sauce a finely flecked texture. The egg whites also go into the dish, chopped and added at the end. A wide pot or deep skillet with a lid works well: first brown the chicken in batches, then let it braise gently. Divide the chicken and all the sauce into four portions and serve as soon as the egg has been mixed in.
Ingredients
For four portions of chicken and sauce
650 g raw chicken thigh meat without skin or bones, net weight
200 g peeled yellow onion
8 g peeled garlic
40 g raw unsalted almonds without hard shells, brown skins on
30 g extra virgin olive oil
120 g dry white wine, about 12% alcohol by volume
350 g water for braising
100 g hard-boiled peeled eggs, about 2 medium (size M) eggs
0.1 g dried saffron threads
5 g salt
0.3 g ground black pepper
Steps
If starting with eggs in their shells, carefully lower them into gently boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes. Cool in cold water, peel and weigh out 100 g cooked egg without shells. Separate all the yolks from the whites in this portion and keep both. The water for cooking and cooling the eggs is not part of the 350 g water specified for the sauce.
Weigh 650 g raw chicken thigh meat without skin or bones. Pat dry with paper towels and cut into pieces about 4–5 cm across. Mix with 3 g salt and all the pepper. Finely dice the onion and halve the peeled garlic cloves lengthwise. Have ready a wide, heavy-bottomed pot or deep skillet about 26 cm in diameter, with a lid.
Heat all 30 g olive oil in the pan over medium-low heat. Add all the almonds and garlic and stir for 2–3 minutes, until fragrant and the garlic is lightly golden. Do not let them burn. Spoon the almonds and garlic into a mortar, leaving the oil in the pan; do not remove the brown almond skins.
Increase the heat to medium and arrange half the chicken in a single layer in the remaining oil. Brown on both sides, transfer to a plate, then repeat with the second batch. Allow about 10–12 minutes in total for both batches. The meat should brown on the outside; it will cook through during braising. Keep all the juices that collect on the plate.
AI-generated Add the onion and remaining 2 g salt to the same pan. Cook over medium-low heat for 7–8 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent. Pour in all the weighed wine and cook for about 3 minutes, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom with a spatula. Keep all the onion, oil and liquid in the sauce; do not pour anything off.
Return all the chicken and every drop of juice from the plate to the pan and pour in 350 g water. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and reduce the heat. Braise for 25–30 minutes, stirring gently once or twice, until the chicken is fully cooked and tender. The liquid should bubble only gently; a vigorous boil would thicken the sauce unnecessarily before the paste is added.
While the chicken braises, grind all the warmed almonds and garlic in a mortar to as fine a paste as possible. Add all the reserved egg yolks and saffron threads and continue grinding. Loosen the paste with 3–4 tablespoons of hot cooking liquid taken from the chicken pot. It should become thick and creamy, with fine flecks of almond skin.
AI-generated Add all the paste to the chicken, scraping the sides of the mortar thoroughly. You can rinse the mortar with a spoonful of sauce from the pot and pour it all back in. Stir gently and simmer without a lid over low heat for 5–7 minutes. The sauce should thicken slightly and coat the meat, retaining the fine texture of the almonds; stir along the bottom so it does not scorch.
Finely dice the reserved cooked egg whites and add them all to the cooked chicken. Gently stir them through the sauce and warm over low heat for about a minute, without boiling vigorously. The dish should contain all the yolks in the paste, all the whites from the weighed portion of eggs and all the sauce from the pan.
AI-generated Divide the chicken and all the sauce with egg into four portions, scraping up the sauce from the bottom and sides of the pan too. Serve hot, immediately after preparation. Cool leftovers promptly in a shallow container, cover and refrigerate; use within 2 days. Reheat gently, stirring, until the entire dish is thoroughly hot.
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