Pollo en Pepitoria

This is a classic dish in Spanish cuisine, originally prepared with hen rather than chicken. Today it is prepared with chicken and does not need to be marinated in wine overnight, but that will enhance the flavor. Saffron gives it a golden color. The wine sauce is thickened with ground almonds and boiled egg yolks.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large chicken (3+ lbs)
• salt to taste
• 4-6 Tbsp olive oil for sauté
• 2 medium onions
• 8 oz (125 ml) white wine
• 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) chicken stock
• 1 large bay leaf
• 2 sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 12 ground almonds
• 3-4 saffron threads
• 1/8 tsp (a pinch) of ground cinnamon
• 2 hard-boiled egg yolks

Preparation:

This Chicken in Pepitoria Sauce Recipe makes 4-5 servings.
Cut the chicken into 10 pieces and salt well. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy bottom frying pan or casserole dish and brown the chicken on all sides.

While chicken is browning, finely chop the onions and garlic and set aside.

When chicken is browned, remove from pan and set on plate. In same pan, sauté the onions until translucent. Pour a bit more oil into pan if necessary. Put chicken back in pan. Add the white wine, stock, bay leaf and thyme. Cover and simmer on medium heat for approximately 25-30 minutes.

While chicken is cooking, boil two eggs and set aside to cool. When cool enough to touch, peel and remove the hard-cooked yolks.

Grind the almonds in a food processor or blender. Place ground almonds, saffron threads, cinnamon and yolks with a couple tablespoons of stock from pan into a mortar and grind into a paste with the pestle.
Stir the almond-egg mixture into the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. This will thicken the sauce a bit.

Serve chicken and spoon sauce over rice or fried potatoes. The Spanish like to use rustic bread to soak up the extra sauce.