Chicken a la Crema

Ingredients

Base
1 —whole chicken (or ~1½ lbs chicken thighs)
~1½ lbs —mushrooms (cremini and bunapi are good)
1 —yellow onion
Spices
3 —poblano peppers
1 tbsp —kosher salt
1 tbsp —chili powder
¼ tsp —cayenne powder
1 tsp —black pepper
2 tsp —cumin
1 tsp —dried oregano
4 —cloves garlic
Sauce
1 (14.5 oz) —can crushed/diced tomatoes
1 —quart chicken broth
1 —bay leaf
1 cup —sour cream

Method

Prep

  • Quarter a chicken or make sure your pieces are ready to be cooked
  • Wash the mushrooms and slice them
  • Peel and dice the onion to ~1 cm
  • Wash and seed the peppers, slice into thinish strips
  • Peel and finely dice the garlic

Cook chicken and vegetables

  • In a large pot over high heat with some tongs, add canola oil
  • Brown chicken pieces until dark on both sides (~5–6 mins per side)
  • Remove chicken to a bowl
  • Reduce heat to medium and add mushrooms and onions with some salt
  • Cook until well browned (~8–10 mins)
  • Add the peppers and spices and cook until the peppers start to soften (~3 mins)
  • Add the sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer
  • Add the chicken back in
  • Simmer for 1 hour 15 mins

Finish

  • Remove the chicken to a bowl to let cool
  • Raise the heat back to high and reduce the stewing liquids by half
  • Break up the chicken into smaller pieces, and remove anything you don't want if using a whole chicken
  • Add the chicken and drippings back to the sauce and simmer for 15 mins

References