Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Chicken in Sherry Sauce


In 1969, my mom, dad and I left Cuba for Spain and eventually the United States. At the time, my mom and dad thought they would never return to their beloved homeland. They believed they would never see their parents, siblings, or friends again. It must have been terrifying, especially for those Cubans who had never been anywhere outside the island of Cuba. My parents were like that. My mom and dad had never left their country, had never even been to Miami, only 90 miles away. I can only imagine the fear, the uncertainty and the desperation they felt when they boarded that plane in January 1969 bound for Madrid, Spain.
For many fleeing Cubans, Spain was just a pit stop on their way to the golden streets of the USA. We lived in Madrid for 2 years awaiting our US entry visa. During those 2 years, my mom and dad struggled to maintain a roof over our heads and I'm sure to maintain their own sanity. I don't remember Madrid. I have flashes of images but no cohesive memory. But my mom loves to tell me stories about our time in Spain, especially, my time at the Tapas bar located on the street level of the apartment building where we lived. Here is a picture of me sitting on my mom's lap at the bar. (European culture does not consider it a crime for a child to enter a bar or to take a sip of wine or beer.) My mom loves to tell me stories of how I would go downstairs, sit at the bar and order Tapas and beer. In reality, it was more like a plate of olives, crackers, cheese and a shot class full of the mildest beer available. She said there was never any fear that I would be kidnapped by some deranged psychopathic child molester. It was a different time and a different place from today's world.
Anyway, getting to the point of my blog, which is food, I made this recipe today from an old Tapas recipe book. The original recipe calls for chicken livers and much less Sherry. But there is no way I'm making chicken livers so I substituted it with chicken breasts. It works wonderfully. Here is my homage to Spain...OLÉ!

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts, washed and cut into 3 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion sliced into long pieces
3 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 cup Spanish Sherry
salt and pepper for taste
handful of green olives
handful of chopped parsley

In a large sauce pan eat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook until very soft.

Add the chicken, salt and pepper and cook until brown on all sides and well cooked.

Removed chicken from pan and place in a warm plate.

Add the sherry to the pan and deglaze using a wooden spoon to scrap the bottom of the pan. Add the olives and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces to the pan again and stir together.

Serve the chicken over yellow rice. Toss the chopped parsley over the chicken and rice. Serve.

Easy to make and delicious!

HEALTHY/LITE VERSION:
This dish is really not fattening. Replace the yellow rice with brown rice or just serve with a salad.

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