Chicken and Chorizo
The chorizo is first rendered in the pan, with the fat then used to cook the chicken and sliced peppers. Heavy with paprika, the chorizo fat lends a vivid colour and powerful flavour to this dish, which is based on the Spanish dish of migas. Many bread-eating cuisines have recipes that make use of old bread, giving a lifeline to any stale bread, soaking then toasting as the bread does here in the chorizo fat and chicken juices. A simple green salad would be a fabulous accompaniment.
Serves
4
Ingredients
- 600g boneless, skinless chicken (thigh is best), diced
- 250g cooking chorizo, casings removed and roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more if needed
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced into 1cm strips
- 2 thick slices of day-old bread (about 100g), crusts removed, torn into small pieces (about 1–2cm)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1 x 400g can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1⁄2 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Season the chicken with salt and pepper
In a frying pan, fry the chorizo in the oil over a high heat until browned and the fat has begun to run out, remove the chorizo from the pan, leaving the fat behind, and keep to one side on a plate.
Add the chicken and pepper to the pan with the chorizo fat and cook over a moderate heat for around 12–15 minutes, until nicely coloured and the chicken is cooked through. remove from the pan, keeping any fat behind once again, and keep to one side with the chorizo somewhere warm.
Add the bread to the pan, and just a splash more olive oil if you think it needs it, and fry the bread for around five minutes, until it has absorbed all the fat and has begun to toast nicely.
Add the garlic and cook for around 45 seconds more, then return the chorizo and chicken and peppers, along with any resting juices, to the pan.
Add the chickpeas and cook over a moderate heat for two minutes – enough just to warm the chickpeas through. remove from the heat, then add the sherry or red wine vinegar and scatter with parsley before serving.
Recipe extracted from One Pan Chicken by Claire Thomson (Quadrille, £20), Photography © Sam Folan
