Pollo en Salsa de Almendras

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy casserole with lid, 28 to 30cm
• •Blender or large mortar and pestle
• •Tongs and slotted spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the chicken

   Rub the dry chicken with 10g of the salt and all the black pepper. Leave it for 20 minutes while you weigh and prepare everything else. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess. Dry skin browns; wet skin sticks and spits.

2. 2

   Toast the majado

   Heat 60ml of the olive oil in a wide casserole over medium-low heat. Fry the bread for about 2 minutes, turning until crisp and deep gold, then lift it out. Fry the whole garlic cloves for 2 minutes until lightly golden and remove them. Add the almonds and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until honey-gold through the centre. Lift them out at once. The almonds continue darkening after they leave the oil, and brown almonds make a bitter sauce.

   This toast is the step that decides the dish. Pale almonds give a flat sauce; scorched almonds cannot be rescued. Honey-gold is the mark.
3. 3

   Brown the chicken

   Raise the heat to medium-high. Brush away any dark crumbs but keep the almond-scented oil. Brown the chicken in two batches so the pieces do not crowd the pan, beginning skin-side down. Give each batch 5 minutes on the skin side and 2 minutes on the second side. Add the remaining 30ml oil only if the casserole looks dry. Transfer the browned pieces to a plate; they will still be raw inside.

4. 4

   Cook the sofrito

   Lower the heat and add the onion with the remaining 2g measured salt. Cook for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring often and scraping up the browned chicken juices, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and almost jammy. This is the sofrito, the slow onion base. If it catches before softening, add 15ml water and lower the heat; more oil will not fix a fire that is too high.

5. 5

   Begin the braise

   Pour in the fino and scrape the bottom clean. Let it bubble for about 3 minutes, until reduced by half and no sharp smell of alcohol remains. Return the chicken and its juices, keeping the skin sides mostly above the liquid. Add 400ml of the stock, the saffron, and the bay leaf. Bring just to a simmer, cover, and cook gently for 25 minutes.

6. 6

   Grind the picada

   While the chicken braises, put the fried bread, garlic, and toasted almonds in a blender with the reserved 200ml stock. Blend for 60 to 90 seconds, scraping down once, until the picada, the ground thickening paste, is smooth and creamy rather than gritty. A large mortar works too: pound the garlic first, then the almonds, then the bread, and work in the stock gradually.

   Do not replace the fried bread with flour. Bread gives the sauce its soft body and carries the olive oil; flour makes it pasty.
7. 7

   Thicken the sauce

   Pour the picada around the chicken and stir it into the cooking liquid without tearing the skin. Simmer uncovered over low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking the casserole by its handles now and then. The finished sauce should coat a spoon but still pour. If it becomes stiff, add water 25ml at a time. Once ground almond enters the pot, a hard boil makes the sauce catch, so keep the fire low.

8. 8

   Check and rest

   Check the thickest piece of chicken away from the bone; it must reach at least 74°C, and the meat beside the bone should no longer be pink. Remove the bay leaf, taste the sauce, and add up to 2g more salt if needed. Rest off the heat for 10 minutes, then scatter over the parsley. The sauce thickens as it stands, so loosen it with a spoonful of water before serving if necessary.

Chef Tips

• •Buy raw blanched almonds and toast them yourself. Ready-roasted almonds are often too dark, salted, or stale, and you lose control of the flavour that decides the sauce. Ordinary blanched almonds work well; Marcona almonds give a rounder, more buttery finish.
• •Use dry fino or manzanilla sherry, never cream sherry. A dry, unoaked white wine is the sensible substitute and makes a slightly brighter, less nutty sauce.
• •Choose thighs and drumsticks of roughly equal size so they finish together. A whole chicken cut into pieces is traditional too, but the breast pieces should be checked early and removed once they reach 74°C, then returned for the final rest.
• •After adding the picada, keep the sauce at a quiet simmer and scrape the bottom occasionally. Ground nuts and bread thicken quickly, especially in a wide casserole.
• •Serve with fried potatoes or plenty of plain country bread for the sauce. If almonds are unsafe at your table, make pollo al ajillo instead; replacing the nuts here removes the thing that gives this dish its name.

Advance Preparation

• •The almonds, bread, and garlic can be fried one day ahead. Cool them completely and keep them together in an airtight container, then grind the picada shortly before it goes into the casserole.
• •The finished dish can be made one day ahead and improves as the sauce settles. Cool and refrigerate it within two hours, then reheat gently until the chicken reaches 74°C, adding water a spoonful at a time because the almond sauce thickens in the cold.
• •Leftovers keep for up to three days, covered and refrigerated. Reheat only the portion you need so the chicken does not dry out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)