Arroz con Pollo

You know when you've been lazy busy all day and you just can't think of anything you want to cook or everything you have to cook will probably take too long? This happened to me the other day. My sweet husband has been awesome enough to take on the grocery list making duties (apparently it takes me way to long to do it - score!) and one of the dishes he chose was arroz con pollo, a Mexican dish - can't get enough Mexican around here! I know the recipe came out of my recipe box, but prior to that, I'm clueless as to its origins. As I was reading through it I thought, This recipe doesn't sound very much like the arroz con pollo I used to eat at Cazador.

When I mentioned that to Guy, he told me to make it like they do. I gazed at him with stupidity while I contemplated the idea. Then I decided to take the easy way out - the Interwebz would have the answer! But it didn't. All I found were Progresso recipes and the like - ones that called for cream of chicken soup (bleh!) or ingredients I would only be able to find in a Latin market.

Finally I decided to wing it. For my family of 5 (with 4 eating), here's my recipe for arroz con pollo:
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Ingredients:

• 3 cups of prepared rice (I use brown but you can use white)
• 2-3 T olive oil
• 3 or 4 Small Frozen Chicken Breasts, thawed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped 
• 2 T minced garlic (I always use lots of garlic. Use less if you don't like it so much)
• oregano to flavor
• paprika to flavor
• 8 oz. fresh baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 1/2 C water
• 1-2 tsp chicken base (I use Better than Bullion)

Prepare the rice. I use a rice cooker because I can't cook rice (or milk-based sauces) without scorching or burning it.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Thaw your chicken and cut into pieces. Throw it in the pan, sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste. Add onion, pepper, and garlic and cook until onions are transparent and chicken is nice and browned and cooked through. Add oregano and paprika to flavor (I used about a T of oregano and 1/2 T of paprika). Taste your delicious concoction and add more spices if you need to. Reduce heat to medium low, add 1/2 cup of water and mushrooms. Cover and simmer until mushrooms are heated through and are tender - about 5 minutes. Add 1 C water and chicken base and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add your rice to your dish, mix thoroughly, and you're ready to eat! Alternatively, you could just put the chicken mixture over the rice.

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If you try the recipe, let me know how you like it or what you did differently!

I especially like the fresh mushrooms in this dish, they add a really robust and savory flavor. I can't imagine canned mushrooms could add the same flavor, but give it a shot if that's all ya got! I could have also used a little more oregano according to my husband. I told him next time he cooked it, he could add as much as he wanted, lol! Overall, I was very pleased with the flavor and texture of this delicious and quick meal - it was very similar to the restaurant version that I miss so much. It may not be "authentic" but it sure is good!