Chicken Callaloo Pepper Pot @ home 1/2/2018

 Chicken Callaloo Pepper Pot

Another quick dinner idea for a cold evening in January:

Thinking about what I had on hand for a quick dinner, I thought that something a little spicy would be a good choice.  Problem:  no fresh hot peppers in the house.  Well, that's a pretty easy problem to solve.

I thought about beef pepper pot, but no beef in the house..and maybe something less soupy with more substance.   Well, who has to be authentic when you can be.....imaginative!   How about chicken pepper pot 'stew', using more of the roasted chicken that was left over (that we used in the chicken avocado fresh mozz salad).

So, here goes....

The Recipe

Ingredients

--2 sweet peppers (I used one yellow and one orange)--chopped

--1 sweet onion---medium to large dice

--olive oil

--1 can of Jamaican callaloo (I was going to use frozen spinach, but I had a frozen box....didn't need quite that much--and  I didn't have a more versatile bag of frozen chopped spinach)--besides, callaloo is probably a more authentic pepper pot ingredient)

--leftover roasted chicken--you pick the amount--I used about 1/3 pound

--garlic (if using fresh, finely chop it and add it after the onion; if using garlic powder or granulated, toss it in after the callaloo)

--ground hot pepper---your choice--cayenne, chipotle, whatever - you pick the amount

--1 can of cream of chicken soup (a cheater ingredient---I only had 30 minutes to get this done after all)

rice

--other herbs/spices that you like:   allspice (up to a teaspoon), dried thyme (a teaspoon), a bay leaf.....

Preparation...time to cook!

--In a large skillet, add a reasonable amount of olive oil (or your choice of oils);   add the chopped sweet peppers (if you had a hot pepper---serrano, scotch bonnet, jalapeno, etc) you could add that here, thinly sliced; saute briefly

--add the diced onion; cook until these begin to soften (add your fresh garlic now, or granulated after the cream soup)

--toss in your cooked chicken--chopped to an edible size

add the can of cream soup (you could use healthier thickening choices, but this will work in a hurry)

--Begin cooking your rice (1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water; I didn't add any salt....the callaloo has enough salt for the whole dish)

--Open your can of callaloo; drain it; rinse it to remove excess salt---add to the skillet (you could add chopped frozen spinach here instead in a quantity that looks good to you...or fresh spinach)

--As the pepper pot starts to come together and thicken, taste it for saltiness (you may need salt if you added fresh or frozen spinach)

--begin adding a dash of ground hot pepper of your choice (I used chipotle)

--stir and cook for a moment; taste for the degree of heat you desire

--repeat the ground pepper 'dash' process until the dish is hot enough for you!!

Time to enjoy...

Once the rice is cooked, serve the pepper pot over a steaming bowl of rice.  Voila--interesting dinner in 30 minutes.

Comments from Marianne...

You'll notice that I don't measure much in these recipes.  It would be a different story if it was a baking recipe---there a little precision helps ensure an edible result.

This kind of a dish is pretty versatile.....add things in the quantities that sound good to you.  

Other options---use collard greens instead of callaloo or spinach (these would require more cooking time), add a diced sweet potato at the beginning (before the peppers and onion so it has time to cook through), add some sliced okra early in the process--this could thicken the dish without the cream soup--with a little water or stock 

This 'recipe' made enough for 2 people with enough 'leftovers' for a quick lunch later in the week---paired with a nice green salad or a refreshing fruit salad (I'm thinking--pineapple and berries in a nice light key lime vinaigrette---a variation on the wildly popular mango key lime salad at Marianne's), this would be a great lunch.   And, I'm always thinking about how to do LESS work tomorrow : )