A Southwestern, Chickeny, Tomatoey-Type Thing

So it was IronHomeCook time again in the Raihala household this weekend, and my wife presented me with her ingredient: Diced tomatoes with green chiles, two 14-oz cans worth. Hmmmm…immediately I began thinking of something southwestern…I mean tomatoes and green chiles? How could it be anything but?

However, my brain went completely to mush, and I just couldn’t think of anything. I was frozen with indecision or any clue as to how to proceed, so I made….pizza. That gave me another day to think about what to do with the tomatoes with green chiles. Not just any pizza, mind you, but with a homemade dough and excellent Boar’s Head pepperoni. I even made homemade tomato sauce (although I got carried away with the garlic and nearly made my beautiful pizza inedible).

The next day, I grabbed my cookbook, “The Feast of Santa Fe,” which has the bestest Indian Fry Bread recipe you’ve ever tasted, and started looking for inspiration. It started coming to me, and by and by I had an idea of where to start, and what to use. My wife had also purchased boneless, skinless chicken thighs (which I dearly love…they are cheap at $3.99/lb, and to my mind and taste buds, are far, far better than chicken breasts, which can dry out so easily, has less flavor, and is usually a lot more expensive), so I figured I would use those. I also had three dried ancho chiles (I think they were anchos, but then I’ve had them for a fairly long time) that needed to get used, and some good chile powders from Penzey’s, so I decided to just start with the chicken and move on from there.

I poured some olive oil into my trusty La Crueset dutch oven, and heated it over medium heat until it was shimmering. I dropped the first set of chicken thighs into the pot and browned them with salt and pepper, being careful with the heat so as not to burn the nice fond that was forming. It took four batches (Susan had bought three packs of thighs), and after it was all done I had a very nice fond on the bottom. I threw 4 minced cloves of garlic into the oil, and then thinking about some of the Indian recipes I’ve made, I decided to fry the spices with the garlic for a bit before adding anything else. I dumped in the three ancho chiles that I had stemmed, seeded, and ground in my Cuisinart Mini-Prep, a tablespoon of cumin, a tablespoon of more Ancho Chile powder from Penzey’s, and a ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. I added a bit more oil, and then started stirring. The spices combined with the fond on the bottom to form a rich, dark glaze. I threw in 2 chopped onions, and stirred them in with a bit more oil. I was thinking of adding a bit of liquid to deglaze the pan before the fond burned, but I wanted to sauté the onions, not boil them, so I turned the heat down a tad, and figured that the onions would release enough liquid to deglaze the pan anyway. That is exactly what happened, and after about 10 minutes I had deglazed the pan and browned the onions.

I dumped in the diced tomatoes, the browned chicken thighs, and a can of chicken broth so that the liquid covered the covered the chicken, and reduced to the heat to medium-low for a slow simmer. I let that cook for about an hour, and then added a pound or so of quartered red potatoes. I let that cook for another hour, and when the potatoes were fork tender, I decided to experiment a bit. I was thinking about mole sauces, and figured I was pretty close to one with what I had, so what would happen if I threw in some unsweetened chocolate to make my sauce even richer? However, it turned out we didn’t have any….phooey! But, Susan told me, we did have unsweetened cocoa powder…maybe that would work? Delighted, I grabbed the cocoa, and was considering how much to put in when I thought that perhaps I should try it out on a small bit of sauce before potentially ruining a fairly large amount of food with an ill-conceived idea.

I grabbed a small stainless steel bowl and ladled in some of the sauce. It smelled and tasted wonderful…the flavor was rich and deep. I threw in a teaspoon of cocoa, and….couldn’t taste a thing. I threw in more…still not really doing it for me, so I dropped in a large dollop and stirred like crazy. Eagerly, I raised a spoonful to my lips, and tasted. It was….nasty. Gack…I was overwhelmed with raw chocolate flavor. Clearly, I have a bit to learn about making mole sauce. I decided to not mess with an already good thing, and just served it as it was, being very glad that I had decided to try the cocoa on a small scale before hand.

Anyway, here is the recipe, which I am calling my Southwestern Chickeny Tomatoey-Type Thing, because I don’t know what else to call it.

3 to 3.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 dried ancho chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon ancho or chipotle chile powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 onions, diced
Olive oil, as needed
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes with chiles
1 can chicken stock or broth
1 lb small red potatoes, quartered

-Brown the chicken in batches in the olive oil, sprinkling each batch with salt and freshly ground pepper
-Saute the garlic in the olive oil after the chicken for about 1 minute
-Fry all of the spices with the garlic in the oil…add another tablespoon if it looks too dry
-Add the onions; sauté until browned; use the released liquid from the onions to deglaze your pot
-Add the chicken back in and the tomatoes
-Add the can of chicken broth
-Simmer for approximately an hour; add the potatoes
-Simmer for another hour, or until the potatoes are fork tender and the sauce has reduced a bit
-Can garnish with cheese and sour cream, and also good with tortillas…but also just good as it is!