{"id":2775,"date":"2025-08-03T04:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T04:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2025-08-08T14:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:55:26","slug":"puerto-rican-arroz-con-pollo-olives-and-asparagus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/es\/puerto-rican-arroz-con-pollo-olives-and-asparagus\/","title":{"rendered":"Arroz con pollo de Marisa con aceitunas, pimientos rojos asados y esp\u00e1rragos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you’re craving arroz con pollo \u2014 Puerto Rico\u2019s super-hearty national comfort food \u2014 here’s a throwback recipe and food story of my mom\u2019s family-famous and delicioso take on this essential dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I found out that tomorrow is my last day on this earth, I’m ready, last meal-wise, it\u2019s this dish: Mom\u2019s arroz con pollo with pimento-stuffed olives, roasted red peppers, and asparagus. It takes me right back to childhood: to the island I grew up on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arroz con pollo makes me think of Puerto Rican mothers in Puerto Rican kitchens: my mother Marisa, and her<\/em> mother, my grandmother Roc\u00edo, and her<\/em> mother, my great-grandmother Antonia de los Angeles Travieso Nieva. She was born in 1885 and died during childbirth, in 1912, leaving six kids in Mayag\u00fcez, Puerto Rico. The children were parceled out to uncles and aunts across the island and even back to family in Spain. I like to think that the ones in Puerto Rico were able to see each other every so often, over arroz con pollo Sunday dinners: sibling sustenance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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My great-grandmother, Antonia de los Angeles Travieso Nieva, 1885\u20131912.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Mami made arroz con pollo, my sister and I would crowd in the kitchen and watch her brown the chicken \u2014 marinated overnight in garlic, salt, olive oil and red wine vinegar \u2014 in her big, metal, ancient caserola. She never premade sofrito, like my neighbor Do\u00f1a Felipa<\/a> does. She’d just saut\u00e9 onions, green bell pepper and garlic in a pan, add tomato, salt, pepper and cumin, and call it a day. Mami also did not use saz\u00f3n packets like everyone else. She was anti-MSG and pro-low-salt, even way back in 1970s Puerto Rico. She’d use white rice only if guests were coming. Otherwise it was brown rice. She\u2019d then add chicken stock (never water), a bay leaf, cilantro and olives \u2014 put the lid on: And that was that until los invitados sat down. On arroz con pollo nights, the house smelled amazing: garlic, green pepper, cumin, salty.<\/p>\n\n\n

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My abuela, Roc\u00edo Servera Jim\u00e9nez, in the 1920s or 1930s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Her arroz con pollo ingrediento secreto? A can of asparagus she’d add at the last minute. Canned<\/em> is key \u2014 the asparagus has this vinegary, concentrated, shriveled-savory-tart taste. Then she\u2019d sprinkle a can of baby peas, diced roasted red pimento, and a last flourish of chopped cilantro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dish is foolproof. The guests ate every last bit. Back then, people smoked\u2014never my mom, sometimes my dad. They\u2019d all go take a cigarette and maybe a dance break and then come back to the table for brandy and Mom\u2019s Always Requested Flan<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marisa
Marisa Jim\u00e9nez Caviness, 1970s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now I’m the one cooking arroz con pollo, and I will make it often for mom, when she comes to live with us next summer. I\u2019ve tweaked our family recipe in three ways. One, I add white meat (Mom only uses thighs). Two, gracias to the many batches Do\u00f1a Felipa<\/a> and I made and froze, I start with thawed, pre-made sofrito<\/a>. And three, I sneak in a packet of adobo achiote seasoning, to make it super-t\u00edpico Puerto Rican and give it that traditional ruby-orange color and island sabor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know, MSG. Sorry, Mom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is my slightly updated version of Mom\u2019s family recipe, my last meal on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mom\u2019s Arroz con Pollo with Olives, Red Peppers & Asparagus<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\n\t \n\t \t\n \n <\/svg>\n\t Print<\/span>\n\t <\/a>\n\t <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mom\u2019s Arroz con Pollo with Olives, Roasted Red Peppers and Asparagus <\/h2>\n\n
\n \t\t \t\t\tRecipe by Marisa Caviness<\/span>\n \t\t\n
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