World Cup Food Recipes - Uruguay

Pollo con vegetales (chicken and vegetables) in a rich white wine gravy

Uruguay qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup yesterday (Tuesday) with a 1-0 win over Italy. Sadly, the biggest talking point by far after the match was the "alleged" incident involving controversial striker Luis Suarez and what action if any FIFA are likely to take retrospectively. That is something upon which the football world still awaits clarification at the time of writing but one thing is for sure, negativity like this should not be allowed to in any way overshadow what has largely been a wonderfully competitive and entertaining World Cup so far.

Uruguayan Pollo con Vegetales (Chicken and Vegetable Stew)

This delicious stew sees pieces of on the bone chicken stewed with a variety of vegetables in a thick white wine sauce. I've used chicken thighs but chicken drumsticks or even on the bone breast portions would work equally well. The secret is in the fact that the chicken must be on rather than off the bone.

Uruguayan chicken and vegetable stew ingredients

Ingredients (Serves One)

2 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
6 small new potatoes
1 small carrot, washed, topped, tailed and chopped
6 small button mushrooms
2 teaspoons plain/all purpose flour
1/4 pint fresh chicken stock
1/4 pint dry white wine

Vegetables prepared for stew

Directions

Pour the vegetable oil in to a large stew pot and bring it up to a medium heat. Add the chicken thighs and take two or three minutes to brown and seal them all over, turning them around frequently with cooking tongs.

Browning chicken thighs in hot oil

Add the onion and garlic to the pot, along with the seasonings/herbs. Stir fry for another minute or two.

Garlic and onion are added to chicken thighs

The rest of the vegetables can then be added to the pot. I also scattered in the flour at this stage. This meant that the simple act of adding the liquids would help disperse the flour more evenly.

Remaining vegetables and flour are added to browned chicken

Pour the chicken stock and wine in to the pot and stir carefully but well. Turn up the heat just until the liquid nears a boil then reduce to achieve a gentle simmer. Cover and continue to simmer as gently as possible for half an hour.

Chicken and vegetable stew is brought to a simmer

Turn off the heat and leave the stew to rest for ten minutes. After this time, lift the chicken thighs from the pot to a holding plate with a slotted spoon.

Cooked chicken thighs are lifted from stew

Again using the slotted spoon, lift the vegetables to a serving plate and spoon on some of the sauce.

Vegetables and sauce are spooned in to serving plate

The chicken thighs should be laid on top of the vegetables and the meal is ready to serve.

Tucking in to pollo con vegetales