Pollo Al Ajillo

DD and I were browsing through recipe books at the bookstore and came across a book of Spanish recipes. One of the recipes was for Pollo Al Ajillo, or Spanish garlic chicken. We loved the look of it, but weren't looking to spend any money so we wrote down the name of the recipe, left the book behind and went browsing the interweb.

We found a recipe on Recipezaar and decided to give it a try.

It was very easy. We used chicken breast pieces as DD doesn't like meat on the bone. I used a tiny bit more saffron than required because my saffron was a little bit old.

I found it to be quite bland, actually. It needed a lot of salt to be tasty. The underlying flavours had promise, but they just didn't come across in the finished dish. I don't know what I did wrong, because the reviews of it seem quite good. I halved the recipe, but the original is below.

Oh well, it was nice to try something new.

Pollo Al Ajillo
from Elmotoo on Recipezaar

1/2 cup olive oil (I didn't use anywhere near this amount, maybe that's why it didn't work?)
1kg chicken, cut into 8 pieces
salt
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, juice of
1 pinch saffron, crushed and diluted in very small amount of water

Heat oil in large skillet. Add chicken pieces and cook over moderate heat until golden brown.

Place chicken pieces in large, shallow casserole. Season with salt. Pour off all but 4 tablespoons of oil in skillet.

Saute garlic. Stir in water and bring to boil. Pour over chicken. Add lemon juice and saffron.

Cook, covered, over low heat about 15 minutes or until meat is tender. Serve, spooning sauce over chicken.