Chicken in Tomato-Caper Sauce

Mami turned eighty-two this week. Not her birthday — that is in October — but I am counting wrong. She is eighty-one. She turned eighty-one in October 2017. She is still eighty-one. My math is wrong because my heart is doing the counting and my heart counts differently than a calendar. My heart counts in meals cooked, in more garlics received, in the number of times she has walked three blocks to my kitchen and sat in her chair and supervised. My heart says she is ancient and eternal and both at the same time.

This week was about Lucas. He smiled. His first real smile — not gas, not reflex, but a smile directed at me, Carmen, his abuela, the woman who holds him and talks to him about sofrito and garlic and the Delgado nose. He looked at me and he smiled and I made a sound that cannot be written in any language. A sound that means: the world is okay. Whatever happens, the world is okay, because this baby smiled at me and the smile was real and the love behind it was the kind that does not require words or language or comprehension. It just requires a face. My face. His face. The space between where the smile happens.

I have been cooking for Jenny three times a week. She has lost the postpartum fog and is starting to cook for herself again, which is good and also slightly disappointing because I loved being needed in that immediate, desperate, postpartum way. But she is independent. She is learning. She asked me for my arroz con pollo recipe — the full one, the real one, not the simplified version. I taught her the way Mami taught me: stand next to me, watch my hands, taste this, more, less, there, right there. She is a good student. She will never make it like me because she is not Puerto Rican and the rice knows, mi amor, the rice KNOWS whose hands are holding the spoon. But she will make it with love and that is enough.

Eduardo came home and found Lucas asleep on my chest on the couch and he stood in the doorway and looked at us and he said nothing and the nothing was everything. The nothing was thirty years of marriage and four children and now a grandson sleeping on the chest of a woman who has not stopped feeding people since 1988 and who will not stop, not ever, not while there is sofrito in the freezer and a baby on her chest and a husband in the doorway saying everything by saying nothing.

Jenny asked me for the real recipe this week—not the shortcut version—and I thought of this chicken in tomato-caper sauce, which is the kind of dish that rewards you when you slow down and pay attention, the way a baby rewards you when you finally stop rushing and just hold him. The briny capers, the tomatoes breaking down into something silky and bright—it is a dish that asks you to be present. I made it for her on Thursday, and she watched my hands, and I thought of Mami watching me, and of Lucas on my chest, and of Eduardo in the doorway, and I understood again why I have not stopped cooking since 1988 and why I never will.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and black pepper.
Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook 5–6 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer to a plate; chicken does not need to be fully cooked through at this stage.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet, add the garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant, stirring constantly so it does not burn.
Add tomatoes and broth. Pour in the diced tomatoes with their juices and the chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the capers, oregano, and red pepper flakes if using.
Simmer together. Return the chicken to the skillet, nestling it into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 12–15 minutes until chicken is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
Finish and serve. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning. Scatter fresh parsley over the top and serve directly from the pan, spooned over rice or with crusty bread alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken in Tomato-Caper Sauce — The Recipe I Taught Jenny When She Was Finally Ready to Learn