Chicken in Sweet-Tart Sauce – Pebre de Pollo

Recipe< Zarela’s Veracruz, Hougton Mifflin, September 2011

When I’m in Mexico exploring a spot new to me, I always start asking people who’s the best cook in town.  I tried it in Tuxpan, a Huasteca-area river town that I always think of as the city of spectacular sunsets.  The invariable answer was “Angelita” –- Doña Angeles Juárez Molina.
This gracious, efficient woman, a former president of the city restaurant association, runs a rosticería or place specializing in rotisserie-broiled chickens.  Yes, rotisserie shops are as popular in Mexico as in the United States (and a lot older).  Angelita’s best-seller is a version basted with orange marmalade and curry powder –- absolutely delicious if decidedly un-Mexican.   But she is also a champion of traditional local dishes like this richly flavored stew with its accent of fruit.
The Spanish influence is obvious in the caper-olive-raisin-sherry combination.  But the dish has nothing in common with the sauce called pebre or pebrada in Spanish cooking, a mixture of vinegar with black pepper (hence the name) and garlic.  I wonder if the brined olives and capers in Angelita’s pebre are a later stand-in for the original vinegar.  The large amount of black pepper is a stronger link.  I’ve taken the small liberty of sauteing the tomatoes and onion, which Angelita boils (sauteing offsets the blandness of our tomatoes and restores a little edge of freshness to our frequently elderly onions).  I’ve also taken to serving the dish with pickled jalapeños on the side –- I find them a perfect complement to the flavors.

Makes 4 servings

1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 – 5 cloves
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-sized white onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
3 large ripe tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds total), coarsely chopped

One 4-pound chicken, quartered
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup capers, rinsed, patted dry with paper towels, and spread out to dry completely
2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade.
15 – 20 pimiento-stuffed green olives
1/2 cup dark raisins
2 tart, crisp green apples, cored and cut into eighths
1/4 cup dry sherry (I use fino)
Pickled jalapeño chiles (optional)

In an electric spice or coffee grinder or a mortar, grind the peppercorns and cloves to a coarse powder.  Set aside
In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed skillet or wide saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil to rippling over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 – 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  Add the tomatoes and the pepper-clove mixture.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, for 12-15 minutes, until the mixture is lightly thickened.  Let cool slightly and process to a puree in a blender.  Set aside.
Season the chicken with salt and a good grinding of black pepper.  In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to rippling over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken pieces and cook, turning once, until lightly golden, allowing about 3 minutes per side.  Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.  Quite a bit of fat (rendered from the chicken skin) will now be in the pan; pour off all but 2 tablespoons.  With a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape the bottom to loosen the flavorful browned scraps.
Return the pan to medium heat.  When the fat ripples, add the capers and stir-fry for about 2 – 3 minutes, until they puff slightly and become brown and crisp.  Scoop out and set aside.  Add the
reserved tomato puree and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the flavor is concentrated and the fat is starting to separate.  Stir in the chicken stock, olives, raisins, apples, and all but about 1 tablespoon of the fried capers.
Add the reserved chicken pieces with any cooking juices.  Bring to a boil and cook, covered, over medium heat for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the chicken is just done.  (Actually, you’ll get best results if you add the leg pieces first, wait 5 minutes, and then add the breast pieces).  Taste for salt and add up to 1 teaspoon if desired (the capers and olives will provide some).  Stir in the sherry and cook about 5 minutes longer, until the raw alcohol taste is gone.  Serve at once, with the remaining fried capers scattered over the dish.  If you like, serve pickled jalapeños on the side.