Exploring the Epicultural: Chicken Breast Two Ways

Two couples -- one a southern Italian/French Canadian mix and another a blend of Lebanese and Cuban influences -- tackle the versatile chicken breast in two recipes that will leave you wanting more.

Experience

CHICKEN CLAUDIA

4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 medium onions, cut in 1/4-inch slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (16-ounce) can tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon fresh oregano or basil-crushed
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 to 2 bay leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine

In a skillet, brown chicken in hot oil. Remove chicken and drain on paper towels. In same skillet, cook onion and garlic until tender, but not brown. Return chicken to skillet. Combine tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and seasonings. Pour mixture over chicken. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in wine. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes longer or until tender; turn occasionally. Remove bay leaves; skim off excess fat. Plate chicken breasts. Ladle sauce over chicken. Makes four servings.

ARROZ CON POLLO

4 chicken breasts, boned and skinned
1 large onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons oil
1 small package Bijol or saffron
3 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can beer
1 small can peas

Cook onion, bell pepper and garlic in oil for four minutes. Add chicken and Bijol or saffron; cook for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes; cook another 15 minutes. Add beer and allow to come to a boil. Drain and measure reserved broth to use to cook rice (the ratio is 1 cup uncooked rice to 2 cups broth). Add liquid back in; add measured amount of rice. Cook on high for three minutes; cover. Lower fire to medium until rice is cooked. Add peas, and leave on low until water is absorbed. Makes four servings.

Two couples prepared chicken breasts in one of their ethnic/cultural styles. Here are the delicious results.

Americans are hungry for the next trend; surprisingly, comfort foods that take people back to grandma’s ethnic kitchen are often that “happening thing.”

Comfort food for couples, though, can mean balancing cooking decisions between their culturally diverse backgrounds. Here are two couples doing just that.

Claudia Barbiero and husband Alessandro DiTaranto met in 2000 when he was on leave from his post in the Italian army.

He was visiting a friend in Connecticut, where Claudia, a native French Canadian lives. They married three years later. Alessandro then moved to Connecticut after receiving permanent leave from the army.

Before marriage, Claudia says she wasn’t much of a cook but has grown into the role and enjoys seeing the outcome of her prepared meals. Both say that they love to eat.

Alessandro especially misses the southern Italian food he grew up with and had to leave behind, so Claudia typically cooks every night.

She makes meals that are traditionally Italian, consisting of a vegetable, meat and pasta.

Claudia claims to handle most of the heavy lifting in the kitchen, while Alessandro takes on the role of cooking supervisor, spice guy and clean-up.

On the opposite end of the country in Arizona are Emily and Naseeb Saliba. Emily and Naseeb were both born in Lebanon but took different paths to the United States.

As an adult, Naseeb came directly to the U.S. and settled on the East Coast, while Emily spent most of her childhood in Cuba.

It wasn’t until she was an adult that she moved from Cuba to the States. There, the couple met and married. Soon after, they moved to Arizona and started their family.

For this couple, food influences switch between Arabic and Cuban.

While still in Cuba, Emily began cooking at the age of 16 to help out her large family; not only did she become an expert, she became expert in cooking Cuban dishes. Emily says that the Cuban culture impacted her deeply, more so than her own Arabic culture.

As a passionate cook, Emily spends most of her evenings in the kitchen preparing either an Arabic or Cuban dinner (usually Cuban).

Her husband doesn’t care much for work in the kitchen; he prefers to sample the food and compliment his wife on another job well done.