Just as I started cooking tonight's dish, I received an unexpected phone call that kept me busy for the next hour. Thankfully, my wife jumped in and took over and we enjoyed a delicious dinner as planned. PHEW!
Ajiaco is a chicken and corn stew that's quite popular in Colombia, and now in our home as well! Stewing the corn cobs adds a freshness to this dish that I didn't expect, but eating them is tricky (cut off the kernels and stew the bare cobs, which are then easy to remove, to achieve the same flavor). That little bit of cayenne goes a long way and gave the dish a surprising kick. And, we both ate yuca (also known as cassava) for the first time! It's very mild and starchy, like a potato, and slightly sweet.
All in all, I love this recipe and it was a snap to make. (Right, honey?!) Here's how my wife made ours:
2 Tbsp butter
3 lbs chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cayenne
2 tsp paprika (We used sweet, but smoked would work, too.)1 cup chicken stock
3 cups low-fat milk (We used 1% lactose-free, and it worked perfectly.)
2 lbs yuca, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
4 ears corn, shucked and cut into 1" rounds
Juice of one lime
Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken till it's no longer pink. Remove the chicken and set aside. Sauté the onion, garlic, cayenne and paprika till the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Then, put the chicken back into the pot along with the stock, milk, yuca and corn. Bring this mixture just to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for till the yuca is tender, about an hour. Add the lime juice right before serving.
Cook's Note: The original recipe says to serve this stew with slices of bread that have been toasted in the oven till golden, like giant croutons. I bet that would be really tasty, but we forgot to buy some bread... Whoops!
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