Chicken and Chorizo
I love smoked paprika, it was one of my Grandpa’s favourite spices, from Goulash to meatloaf, if he thought it would go, he’d put it in. Any food with smoked chilli in gets my vote. So when chorizo became trendy and after we all watched Jamie peel his spicy sausage, off I went to find some. For a friend's birthday we went for tapas at a place in Halifax that no longer exists. I tried this lovely, soft, red wine braised, spicy sausage.
My first attempts with chorizo did not work well, as I’d no knowledge of the difference between the cured and cooking chorizo and kept getting dry hard lumps of spicy sausage in stuff. Now I know to use the cooking version in casseroles etc. This particular recipe came about when I wanted something to put in the stove to bubble away through the day as I went walking. Something quick, warming and filling to eat after 14 miles of Ilkley Moor. It was just that when we got back...
Ingredients
For two people
2 chicken thighs (skin and bone ones make tastier, but without makes easier - you choose).
1 medium cooking chorizo
1 tin of tomatoes
1 roast red pepper (I use the jarred type)
2 anchovy fillets
1 large garlic clove
1 heaped tsp of smoked paprika
1 heaped dsp of onion granules
1 glass red wine
1 tin of butter beans (any tinned bean will do, but these are my favourites - chickpeas would be my next choice).
I have substituted the chicken for pork shoulder, or sausages before.
Method
In the blender ( I use my nutribullet) put the tinned toms, roast pepper, anchovies, garlic, paprika, onion granules and red wine. Blitz until smooth.
Put the thighs in the casserole dish (or slow cooker), chop the chorizo up into 1cm cubes and drop in, drain the beans, pour in the sauce and pop in the oven at 140°C for a minimum of 3 hours at this temperature, if you have less time, increase the temperature. This should be cooked until the meat falls apart and if you have used skin and with bone thighs, you should be able to easily pick them out of the mix.
Top tips
The longer you leave it in the oven, the more liquid it will need. I rinse out the blender cup with about half a pint of water and put this in if I’m leaving it for about 5 hours. It will still come out the oven pretty dry, but a splash of water will bring it back to a nice saucy consistency.