Let’s face it, Chicken a la King can be a snoozer. Comforting perhaps, but a bit of a culinary soporific. When that classic dish travels south of the border, however, it sizzles. The Peruvian version, Aji de Gallina, adds walnuts, Parmesan and spicy aji amarillo chilis to give it zing and depth of flavor. The recipe below is adapted from Marian Blazes’ version in About.com and makes a really different, snazzy version of the old standby. Serve it with hard boiled eggs, olives, potatoes and walnuts and you really have a feast.

The Ingredients

• 1 1/2 – 2 pounds mixed boneless skinless thighs and breasts
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3-4 yellow aji amarillo peppers
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts – plus extra for garnishing
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 6 slices white bread
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 4 yellow potatoes
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 10 black olives, halved

The Cooking

Cook the yellow potatoes in water until tender. Let cool, peel, cut into quarters, and set aside. Place the bread in a small bowl and pour the evaporated milk over it to soak. Set aside. Place the chicken in a pot with the chicken stock, and bring to a simmer. Poach for 10-15 minutes, until chicken is just barely cooked through. Set chicken aside to cool, and strain the broth and reserve at least 3 cups.

While the chicken is poaching, remove stems and seeds from the aji amarillo peppers and process peppers with the vegetable oil in a blender or food processor until smooth. Sauté the garlic and onions with the puréed peppers and oil until the onions are soft. Be careful not burn garlic Remove from heat and let cool. Shred or cut the cooled chicken into bite-size pieces.

Process the evaporated milk and bread mixture with the nuts and Parmesan cheese until smooth. Add the cooked onion mixture and process briefly. Return onion mixture to pan, and add 2 or more cups of the reserved chicken stock as needed to bring the sauce to the right consistency. Bring to a low simmer, and stir in the chicken. Heat until warmed through, adding more chicken stock if sauce is too thick.

Serve over rice, garnished with the yellow potatoes, slices of hard boiled egg, black olives and chopped walnuts.

Yields 6 servings

The Beverage Pairing

A dry fruity white wine with a decent amount of alcohol to balance the richness of the cream sauce, and cool the fire.

Adapted from Marian Blazes’ “Peruvian Spicy Creamed Chicken -Aji de Gallina” http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/ajidegallina.htm

After playing around with the aforementioned chicken recipe from our friend Joel, we came up with this version. We’ve called it “Orient Express Chicken” as a nod to its exotic ingredients from Europe and the Levant. Try it, play with it, and report back – there’s lots of room for additional interpretation.

• 1 whole chicken, quartered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¼ cup smoked Spanish paprika
• ¼ cup ground Aleppo peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black Malabar peppercorns
• 1 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
• 1 cup black nicoise / kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• ¼ white wine
• ¼ chicken stock
• Chopped Italian parsley

Rub chicken with half of the olive oil, season with ground pepper and coat with a mixture of the paprika and ground Aleppo peppers. Melt the butter and add the remaining olive oil, then sauté the chicken skin side down for 10 minutes. Turn and sauté another 5 minutes.

Toss in olives and the roasted red peppers and any remaining paprika/pepper mix. Deglaze the pan with the wine, then  add the chicken stock. Finish cooking the chicken in a 375° oven for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is done. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve with saffron rice on the side to mop up any extra sauce.

Yields 4 servings

It’s hard to do new variation on chicken, but at a dinner the other night my good friend Joel served a roast chicken coated in smoked Spanish paprika and ground Aleppo peppers from Turkey, surrounded by roasted red peppers and kalamata olives.  The flavor was incredible – and the deep red color was quite the show stopped for a self-proclaimed casual dinner.  I immediately started thinking of how to adapt into a more formalized recipe, since he is one of those cooks that swears he never follows a recipe.  Some of us need more formalized guidance.  I’ll experiment and  “play with it” (as Chef Adrien at Project Open Hand always says) then serve to the Spicey Spouse and post the results.