Asopao!

Today abuela and I made Asopao de Gallina. Asopao is a very traditional Dominican and Puerto Rican dish that is sort of a mix between paella and stew. Asopao de Pollo is the more traditional plate. It is made with chicken. Asopao de Gallina is made with hen. Abuela and I chose to make it with hen because it tends to have more flavor than the chicken. Not to mention we've been kind of tired of cooking with chicken. We had an amazing time making it and an even better time eating it! The trick to a successful Asopao is two things. One the sofrito. You do not buy a pack of sofrito, you have to make it. Making Latin food without creating your own home-made sofrito is like an Italian making pasta with a jar of Prego Spaghetti sauce. It's just not right. The second important thing is constantly stirring and keeping the rice moist and watery. Check out the recipe below.

Asopao De Gallina

Ingredients:
- 1 full red onion
-2 bell green peppers
-1 red pepper
-1 teaspoon of grounded oregano
-1 cup of cooking wine (Goya cooking wine, dry white wine)
-8-10 garlic gloves minced
-1 tablespoon of Adobo
-5-6 pieces of cilantro recao
-2 tablespoons of vinegar
-1 teaspoons of olive oil
-2 tablespoons of Worchester sauce
-Spanish olives
-Roasted peppers (Mancini)
-1 can of fresh cut sweet peas
-1 full hen
-1/2 tangerine (optional)
-2 teaspoons of tomato paste
-4 cups of water
-2 cups of uncooked white rice
-1 pack of Sazon Goya (Con Culantro y Achiote)
-Tabasco hot sauce

1. The first step is to prep the hen. First take a full hen and wash it then cut it and divided into separate pieces.
2. Then season the hen. We seasoned it a day before. Sprinkle some adobo, grounded oregano and pour a little bit of Worchester sauce. Then add a cap of vinegar.
3. Then we had it sit in the fridge over night.
4. The next step was to make the sofrito. We took 1 full red onion/chopped, 2 green bell peppers/chopped, 1 red pepper/chopped, and add it to a blender. Then add 1 teaspoon of Grounded Oregano, 1 cup of cooking wine, 8-10 garlic gloves minced, 1 tablespoon of adobo, 5-6 pieces of cilantro recao, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Worchester sauce to the blender. And have it mix well.
5. Then pour a large cooking spoon full of olive oil to a large pot. Then pour in the pieces of hen. Let the hen soften.
6. Once it starts to soften add the home-made sofrito and stir it around.
7. Then once the meat starts to brown, take a tangerine and cut it in half. Take half a tangerine and squeeze the juices onto the hen.
8. Then add 2 teaspoons of tomato paste.
9. Then add 4 cups of water
10. And then add 2 cups of washed, uncooked white rice.
11. Taste it, if it lacks salt sprinkle a little bit of adobo and grounded oregano.
12. Constantly continue to stir it, so it doesn't stick. The trick is that the rice doesn't dry up.
13. Then add one pack of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y Achiote)
14. Add 2-3 drops of Tabasco hot sauce
15. Constantly stir
16. Once you see that the rice is cooked cover it, the trick is that the rice stays moist.
17. Once the rice was completely cooked we took about 3 teaspoons of sweet split green beans from the can and poured it over the asopao. Then we took 2 pieces of roasted peppers and sliced them real thin and spread it over the food. Then we took about 4 olives and sliced them in half and neatly placed them over the food.

Bon Appetit!