Chicken and Soda Casserole

Third to the five recipes from Yummy Magazine (May 2011) I wanted to try...


Chicken and Soda Casserole

Recipe by: Chef Jun-Jun de Guzman

{Serves 5 to 6}

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2/3 cup sliced onions
• 1/4 cup corn or canola oil
• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (adobo style)
• 2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup clear soda (either 7Up or Sprite)
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram

How to Cook:

• Saute garlic and onions in oil until onions are translucent. Add chicken and cook until it renders its fat, about 15 minutes.
• Add Worcestershire sauce and soda. Bring to a boil, then add tomato sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Season with salt, ground pepper, and dried marjoram. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot.

Notes to Consider:

• To make this dish a success, you must slowly render fat from the chicken by simmering it slowly over very low heat or by using the smallest burner on your range.
• This dish is even better the day after, but you have to keep it in the refrigerator or freeze it to prevent it from spoiling. When you're ready to serve, just heat it up using very low heat. You can also add water if the the sauce becomes too chunky.

The May 2011 issue of Yummy Magazine is all about "Real Easy Recipes," and this one was really easy to make, a good dish for busy moms or busy yuppies or college students living on their own because it didn't require too much ingredients.

As for the taste, well... while cooking this, I could only taste the sauce and thought it was quite ordinary, much like chicken afritada minus the veggies. However, when I served this and had a taste of the chicken with the sauce, that's when I realized how good the dish was. While I still want to have potatoes in the dish, I can say the dish can stand by itself - just chicken and the sauce - and I did find it more delicious adding chili garlic sauce on my rice as I eat it.

No major rants and raves from my family members, but my brother did eat a lot, and I was really surprised by his gesture. When he asked me to hand him the bowl of rice and seeing him populate his plate with rice and this dish, he just said, "Sorry, it wasn't delicious..." which was actually a sarcasm - he actually meant it was delicious that is why he was having second (or third) servings.

My sister got to taste the dish the morning after (I served this for dinner) because she wasn't around for dinner. When I told her this dish might be a good base for an afritada recipe (I told her I will cook this again and add potatoes), she told me the potatoes might just ruin the taste because it was already good by itself.

Oh well, I guess there really is no need to complicate things. :)

*** Jenn ***