Bring Salvadoran flavors into your home with delicious student recipe

Photo: Andrea Melendez, January 20, 2017

Salvadoran Style Panes con Pollo or pavo (Chicken or Turkey)

By: Andrea Melendez

Panes rellenos (stuffed bread) is a warm submarine like sandwich that is typically served at Christmas or New Year’s celebrations. The chicken or turkey is marinated and pulled apart to be placed in the sandwich underneath the homemade sauce that comes along with it. It is typically served with cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise and mustard. Specific spices are added in, including achiote molido and relajo. These can easily be found in Spanish/International supermarkets in the spice and sauce sections.  Each area and family has a different variation of the sandwich based on family recipes and “secret ingredients.” My mom has her own spices and ingredients that make it her own and my favorite version of panes con pollo. Other names for this dish are “panes con chumpe” or “panes con Pavo” which represent the turkey option.

• Whole chicken
• Dijon mustard — 1/2 cup
• Worcestershire sauce — 1/2 cup
• Tomatoes, cored — 10
• Red Onions, chopped — 6
• Green peppers, chopped — 6
• Garlic — 10 cloves
• Water or stock — 3 cups
• Salt and pepper — to season
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup “Relajo” Salvadoran spice mixture found in any International/Spanish grocery store or market
• Boiled eggs
• Remolacha (canned eggplant) – 1 can
• Achiote molido sauce (1/2 cup)

1. Wash the chicken with cold water. Pat dry. Season the inside and outside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Mix mustard and Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl, then rub the mixture all over the outside of the chicken. You can refrigerate it overnight or do it about two hours before. Just as long as it’s seasoned for a period of time, the flavors will come out nicely.
3. Put the chicken, (breast side down), in a roasting pan on the lowest rack of the oven. Cook for 1 hour at 350°F.
4. Flip the chicken breast side up. Add the relajo spice mixture including achiote molido (ground annatto) to the roasting pan, on and around the chicken. Cook for approximately 2 more hours until cooked through. (Make sure you spoon some of the excess liquid over the chicken every 20 minutes or so to keep it moist. You can also cover the chicken with foil to keep it from browning too much.) Once it is fully cooked you can remove the foil and broil for 10 to 15 minutes to have a nice crispy skin on top.
5. Remove the chicken to cool.
6. Make the sauce: Add the liquid, peppers, garlic and onions in addition to the excess sauce from the roasting pan to a blender and puree. Pour salsa into a saucepan. (Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper if needed. When sufficiently cooled and easy enough to handle, you can pour into a cleaned ketchup or salad dressing bottle for easy use.
7. The chicken, when cooled, can be sliced and then served as sandwiches. This is how we eat it. In our country we use pan frances, a sort of long dinner roll that is customary and found in any international/Spanish bakery if you look enough. You can toast the bread, but it is not typically necessary as the bread should be fresh from the day. Lightly add in mayo, mustard, lettuce tomatoes, remolacha which are canned eggplants, boiled eggs, and cucumbers. Add in the chicken and then pour a healthy amount of the sauce on top. That sauce according to my mom is 50% of what makes that dish and without the sauce is just a plain old chicken sandwich.