A traditional Guatemalan recipe that Pete helped to make when he worked in a restaurant in Guatemala

1 Whole chicken, quartered
3 c Chicken stock
2 Large tomatoes, chopped
1 pint Tomatillos, chopped
2 Dried Ancho chiles, seeded and chopped
1⁄4 c. Sesame seeds
1⁄4 c. Shelled pumpkin seeds
1 t. Cinnamon
1 t. Crushed red pepper

Brown the chicken over high heat in a pot with a tight fitting lid. Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the tomatoes, tomatillos, and anchos to a boil in another pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Toast sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and red pepper in a dry, heavy skillet. Let them brown, but try to avoid excessive blackening. Remove from heat and place in a blender. Pulse until pulverized. Add the tomato mixture to the blender and puree.

Pour the blended mixture into the chicken pan and simmer uncovered until the sauce is nice and thick. Correct for salt.

Serve over rice with a side of cooked black or pinto beans and warm corn tortillas.

Bien provecho!

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (must be skin on)
2 garlics
fresh rosemary
1 cup white wine
1.5 cups chix stock
1/2 lemon

Bring chicken thighs to room temp. Salt and pepper each side
Heat up about 2 tbs canola oil (doesn't spatter as much as olive oil) in your big cast iron pan over med-high heat depending on how hot your stove gets
When the pan is hot but not smoking, put the chix thighs in skin down for about 4 minutes, until the skin is a deep gold and crispy, then flip the thighs and cook on the other side about 3 minutes
Remove thighs to a separate plate
Turn down heat to low-med, wait a minute for the pan to cool off a bit and then put in garlic and rosemary. Saute until you can smell the garlic, about 1-2 minutes
Pour in white wine, turn heat up to med-high and cook off wine until it's reduced to 1/3 the amount of liquid
Pour in chicken stock, and put chicken thighs back in the pan skin side up! Liquid should not cover the tops of the thighs
Bring liquid to a simmer, and then turn down to keep at low simmer. Tent a piece of aluminum foil over the pan so it's mostly covered but an inch is exposed for steam to escape.
Simmer exactly 30 minutes
Remove thighs from pan to a clean plate. Taste the sauce (it will be pretty liquidy and that's what you want) to see if it needs salt (mine never needs salt, for some reason the salt on the chicken makes the sauce pretty salty), and squeeze in half a lemon into the sauce. The lemon is the most important part!! It makes it so freaky good!
Make some mashed potatoes or rice, put two thighs on a plate over your starch and ladle over a good amount of the sauce. Yum!