Pollo al Disco – A Traditional Argentine Stew with Wine, Chicken, Rice and Veggies

Think stew is a winter food? Think again!
This booze-laden stew called pollo al disco is a treat also on a summer day.
What’s not to like? You prep this flavorful dish on a BBQ or over a wood fire and you need a lot of wine and / or beer for it!

If that doesn’t awake your inner Neanderthal then nothing will.

Pollo al Disco traditionally is prepared using a plough disc converted to a pan.
Its thick metal helps spread and retain the heat of the fire and it’s concaved shape makes it function a bit like a wok-pan.

But… I don’t have a plough disc.
Instead I have a Dutch Oven.
This cast-iron pan serves well as an alternative as it has similar heat-spreading properties as the plough disc.

Ingredients

To make 4 people happy you’ll need:

  • Boneless chicken (500 grams)
    Legs are more fatty so those are my preference
  • 3 Bell peppers of varying colors
    Red, green, yellow, orange
  • 1 big onion
  • 1 leek
  • Peas (50 grams)
  • Rice for 4 people
  • 1 liter of white wine
  • A bottle of beer, just in case the wine isn’t enough
  • 3 Bay leaves, salt, pepper and a bit of sunflower oil

Preparation

Heat up the fire.
You’ll need to keep things hot for about 40 minutes.

Then, cut up all the vegetables.
But not the peas. That would just be silly.

Heat up some oil.
Add the chicken and add salt and pepper to taste and fry it all nice golden brown.

You may opt to remove the chicken at this point.
Leaving it in will make it all soaky and blend in with the other flavors we’re about to add.
If you do, also remove the remaining liquids and add some fresh sunflower oil.

Toss in all vegetables, except for the peas.
Stir them for a few minutes so they get mildly cooked.

Add about 1 litre of wine, champagne or beer and add the bay leaves.
Wait until it all starts boiling.

Add the rice.
It’ll take a bit longer to cook the rice than is prescribed on the box.
Just make sure to taste things once in a while.

Add the peas and allow them to warm up for a minute.

Enjoy!

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