So…when I’ thinking about cooking I’m usually focused on time efficiency. This means “Must Cook FAST!” but time efficiency does not always mean fast, just efficient. Example? Here you go: A few days ago I decided to make a salad and needed to cook some chicken to add to said salad. If I’d been in a HURRY I would have cut the chicken into strips, put it in a pan with olive oil and a spice like ginger, garlic powder or chili powder and I would have been done in ~5 min. This day however, I planned on washing a mountain of dishes and doing a little cleaning in the kitchen (yep, pretty domesticated) so I had more time to play with. Time for El Pato. I browned the chicken in a pan for about 3 minutes then I added 1-8oz can of El Pato (I’ll talk more about El Pato in a future post). I covered the pan and let it cook on medium for ~30 minutes. During this time I cleaned, organized and generally made myself useful. After cleaning had sucked the life from me, I uncovered the chicken and let the sauce cook down to a tacky consistency. The chicken was falling-apart tender and I simply scooped some onto the salad I had cut previously. Garnished with a bit of green chili sauce, things were looking good!
When everything was said and done the meal cooked for close to an hour but I INVESTED less than 10 minutes in it’s direct preparation. Clean-up included. Keep in mind I made enough chicken to provide about 8 meals (4 for me, 4 for Nicki). That is VERY time efficient cooking that is delicious, nutritious and actually fun to do. If you are less messy than Nicki you might even finish with a clean kitchen….
Hey Robb! Looks promising. Estas bailando con el Pato!
/el Sueco
I guess you think you’re special now with 2 blogs huh? This recipe looks good…I’ve never thought of simmering the El Pato down to make it stickier. But I already beat you to a mention of the deliciousness of El Pato over on my blog.
Lovin’ the recipes Robb! And keep up those domestic chores…I think Nicki could whoop you.
Scott Kustes
Modern Forager
El Pato is great and we heard it from you first! Don’t make the mistake of getting the other El Pato jalapeno sauce and simmering chicken in it, then trying to eat it.
My wife was looking around for new recipes several days ago and I showed her this post. After work I was lounging for a bit and she announced to me that she was making the chicken Salad from that Robb guy. I said great, but make sure you do the dishes as well, just like he says. Needless to say, I laughed at that one more than she did.
Anyhoo, it’s a keeper. Thanks!
BTW, my first experience with El Pato.
El Pato is Legit! Perfect for a soup base, or spicing up scrambled eggs. I need stock in that stuff!
I finally found El Pato the otherday. I bought about 10 cans, having never tried it before. I made this salad for lunch today, needless to say the purchase was a great investment. I’m having trouble imagining what El Pato wouldn’t taste good on. Thanks for the knowledge.
Kyle-
El Pato is awesome! I’ll do a review on it in a few days.
Robb
Great blog! I need help in this area.
Thanks.
jen
My pleasure Jen! Your blog rocks BTW!
Robb
Robb,
What is your thought on CNS recovery? Is it mostly sleep or can there be benefits from specific nutrition or some supplementation?
Joe-
When I hear CNS recovery I’m thinking more power activity…is this what you are talking about? Sleep, good food and possibly phosphatidyl Serine might help. This is a nice hting bout CF I tend not to get that super crispy CNS feel I used to get when PL’ing.
Robb
Robb,
Just found El Pato at Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati! JJ’s is the place to find all sorts of fresh food and other items from different countries. I was excited to get a can of it. Then I found out I can also just get it at Kroger or Biggs. El Pato is going mainstream. Can’t wait to try one of your recipes with El Pato.
Great Blog!
PG
Bring on The Duck!