I've made it a goal of mine in life that if a friend of mine says we should hang out that I immediately make plans to do so. My friend, we'll call her, Lyla said that to me today. Knowing I had nothing to do and the house to myself I invited her over for dinner. This offer is rarely rejected. In anticipation for our girls' night I took some chicken out to thaw. I came back tothe kitchen a few house later and began pulling ingerdients to make a spanish rice stew. I didn't have the diced tomatoes with chilies that I'd been hoping were still in my cabinat. I was stuck with diced tomatoes that were spaghetti sauce ready; diced with garlic, basil and oregano.
"I'll make it work."
I cup up the chicken, trimmed the fat and threw it in a stock pot with some EVOO. I seasoned with salt, fresh ground pepper, cumin, coriander, a dash of red cayenne pepper and threw on garlic powder at the last minute. When the chicken was no longer visibly pink, I mixed 3 tablespoons of beef boullion in 2 cups of hot tap water and dumped it in the pot. I took an extra 1/2 cup of water to get out the remaining granules left in the measuring cup and poured that in. After I had stirred this up I put in 1/2 cup of rice and the spaghetti tomatoes. I tasted it. Sweet. Added a can of red kidney beans. Still sweet. Hmm. More black pepper, cumin and coriander.
Aha! Worcestershire! Yeah my dad used the last of it in his chili last week. Racking my brain, going through cabinets I found nothing to unsweeten my spaghetti stew. I kept searching. Marsala wine? Smelled it. Why not? I poured some in. Hmm. What else? Dark chili powder. Bingo. I covered 1/2 the stew in it. Stirred it in. Covered the top again, stirred it in. Sprinkled more cumin, coriander and then onion powder. More Marsala wine ( 1 cup total?). Finally! Kicked the sweet out! It was still subtlety sweet which was fine because I'd achieved a gorgeous savory flavor with he beef bouillon Marsala and spices. Absolutely delicious and divine on a cold rainy January day. If only my friend would arrive with her wine I'd be set.
(Pairs well with a sweeter wine)
Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 1/2 cups of warm tap water
3 Tbs beef bouillon
1/2 C rice.
2 cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
1 can red kidney beans
1 cup of Marsala cooking wine
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Coriander
Garlic powder
Dark Chili powder
Onion powder
