Puerto Rican Chicken in Green Sauce - a perfectly simple slow-cooker dish

Puerto Ricans may proclaim this recipe as "bizcocho e titi" which literally translates to "Auntie's cake."  Americans, however, prefer the phrase "easy as pie."  Regardless of what phrase you choose there is no mistaking that this delicious dish requires minimal effort. 

The secret to the outstanding flavor is slow-cooking in freshly prepared "sofrito."  Sofrito is a mainstay in Puerto Rican cooking.  Traditionally this multi-purpose sauce is composed of island fresh ingredients like ajices dulces, a small sweet pepper, and recao, a potent cilantro-like herb.  No need to hop a plane to San Juan to gather your ingredients -  bell peppers and cilantro can be easily substituted.  Sofrito can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days if you are planning ahead or care to make extra sauce for future use in stews, beans, pork or fish. It also freezes beautifully.  Some freeze it in ice cube trays for optimized portioning.

Any combination of chicken drumstick, thighs, or breast is appropriate.  I positioned the breasts at the bottom of the slow cooker to avoid drying out the meat.



Ingredients

4 skinless chicken thighs (bone-in)
2 split chicken breast
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups packed cilantro leaves (1 full bunch)
6 garlic cloves, halved
1/8 - 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped (adjust based upon how much heat you can handle)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth

Rice and beans

Directions

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and the cumin. Let stand for 10 minutes.



Prepare the sofrito by combining the cilantro, garlic, jalapeños, onion, red and green bell peppers until coarsely chopped in a food processor. With the motor running, add 1/4 cup chicken stock and oliv oil and process until smooth.



Place sofrito in your slow cooker and stir in the remaining chicken stock. Add the chicken. Cover and cook on medium for 3 hours.  Occassionally reposition the chicken for even cooking.  Chicken will be fork tender and falling off the bone when cooking is complete.

Serve with rice and beans.