Arroz Con Pollo(TODO)

A couple of weeks ago my little cousin Mireya aka Puppet had a request for my mom. She needed to bring a dish to one of her cooking classes and wanted to impress the chefs. What better way then to make Arroz Con Pollo!?! My mom makes a KILLER Arroz Con Pollo, which many of you have tried. I have donned it Arroz Con Todo! Todo in Spanish means EVERYTHING, which is pretty much what my mom puts in this dish.

Since it's a family secret and has been passed down from my beautiful aunts in Costa Rica, to my mom, and now to my cousin...I can't tell you the recipe. I can tell you what is in it...kinda.

The Arroz Con Todo has: Rice, chicken, lil' smokie sausages(my personal fav), green olives, capers, cabbage, onions, carrots, Italian sausage, mushrooms, shrimp, green beans, slices of steak, and peas. It may vary from time to time depending on the person she's making it for but you'll see some or all of these ingredients in the Arroz Con Todo.

Traditionally Arroz Con Pollo is just rice with chicken and you don't see all the other things my mom has added. Lots of people call my mom's Arroz Con Pollo a mix of Paella and Jumbalaya. I call it delicious. Something I have grown up with all my life. Never did I ever think it was special. Just a typical Costa Rican dish that was fed to me and I ate. That changed once I discovered food in a whole different way and have learned a great deal about my love for it. Not just food but the passion about it and the love and care people put into it.

I take great pride in the knowledge and love my mom puts in her dishes. I now know about the secrets and the special ingredients that she puts in these special dishes. I'm extremely proud of my cousin who is studying the art of cooking and hopes to be a professional chef some day. She has learned a great deal from my mom.

So the girls cooked away, and finally finished and emptied the giant pot into a giant dish ready to serve. The culinary faculty at my cousin's school raved and ate their faces off. Her chef instructor along with other chefs took some home. People asked what was in it, how was it made, but my cousin gave very little information out. She came back and told my mom about what all the chefs said and that made my mom happy. Cooking is all about the love you put in the meal. The care you take in picking out the ingredients and prepping the food. The hope that once you plate it someone will like it. Such a personal interaction that people forget. Next time someone cooks something for you, remember that and appreciate it.