Arroz con pollo con tomates frescos

Tonight the tomatoes have met their fate: I chopped them up and made a big pot of arroz con pollo.

My method was loosely based on this recipe, and considering how it’s written, loose is the only way you can follow it. And it’s loosely based on all the other times I’ve fried up some onions and chicken parts and added broth and rice. Like this:

Tonight’s narrative of Arroz con Pollo

Seasoning:
1 t ground cumin
1 t oregano
1/2 t salt
1 t ground pepper

4 chicken legs

1 14 oz bucket Goya sofrito (yes, I cheated; I wanted to see what they thought a sofrito should be.)
1/2 t achiote (ground annatto)
1 bay leaf

2 C rice
1 lb tomatoes, chopped
1 12 oz beer
~ 1C chicken broth
1 C frozen green peas
olive oil

Bring the sofrito into the fridge overnight to thaw.

Discover that the butcher gave you all left legs. That makes it easy to cut them in two.
Sprinkle seasoning over legs and drizzle with olive oil. Turn to coat. Let them marinade a couple hours.

Sauté chicken in iron frying pan, (no need to add extra oil), a few minutes on each side. Do this in two stages to keep from crowding the pan. Transfer to charismatic orange pot when crispy and brown.

Meanwhile, sauté sofrito in charismatic orange pot, in a little oil. Mash it a bit because it’s still mostly frozen. Remember that you were supposed to infuse the oil with annatto, so instead you add achiote to the sofrito.
Add tomatoes and bay leaf. Taste for seasoning. Wow, sofrito is salty! Good thing we’re adding lots of rice.

When the chicken is done, pour the rice into the fat in the frying pan and stir to coat. (Yes, chicken fat is a good thing.) Add to orange pot.
Deglaze the frying pan with the broth and beer. Add tasty liquids to the orange pot.
Turn heat to low and simmer until rice has absorbed the liquids, at least 15 minutes. (I kept checking, so I think it took about 30 minutes this time.)
Add green peas, stir and cover again. Cook another 5 minutes.
Devour.