Recipe Spanish Chicken Stew

Ken Natton

Ken Natton

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Right, apropos of nothing whatever, I have decided to throw this recipe up. And this one does not come from a TV chef. Some time ago now, I had a day when I was pondering what to do for tea and had a strong feeling of rebelling against doing any of the standard things I had done dozens of time before. So, I had a little hunt on the internet, and I stumbled on this recipe. It has become a regular in our household and is popular with all over the age of 10. It has also been served to guests on more than one occasion with universal success. It is very easy, doesn’t take very long and is great re-heated. Left overs of this dish have, on more than one occasion, served as a great alternative to sandwiches for lunch, reheated in the microwave oven at work.


Ingredients: (More than enough for six people)

Chicken - I use mixed breast and boneless thighs – 1 tray of four breasts and 1 tray of six thighs - Edit: Chopped and mixed

1 x Chorizo sausage – get the spicy one called ‘Picante’ in some places

2 x medium red onions

2 x red peppers

1 x tin of cannellini beans

2 x tin of chopped tomatoes

Chicken stock (I use a mix of chicken and vegetable stock) – make a pint you may not need it all

Tub of black olives

Fresh parsley


Method:

1. Brown the chicken in a little oil in the pot you will make the stew in. Remove and set aside. If there is a lot of water from the chicken (there often is with supermarket chicken) pour it off but keep it, you can put it back later

2. Now fry the chopped onions in the same pot and add the sliced chorizo sausage after a minute or two. The sausage will sweat and colour the sauce. Fry for a few minutes.

3. Add the chopped red pepper, fry for a couple more minutes.

4. Now you can put the chicken back in.

5. Drain the cannellini beans and add them, then add the chopped tomatoes.

6. Put the water you drained off earlier back and then make up the fluid to the right level with your stock. You want it a little too wet at the moment so that it can reduce back to the right level.

7. Add the olives and season.

8. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened to the right consistency.

9. About 5 minutes before the end add some chopped fresh parsley.


Should be served with crusty fresh bread but works with rice.
 
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I like to deskin chicken thighs and render their fat in a frying pan until they are crisp (delicious!) You get tasty fat to fry with and the bonus of a tasty chicken crisp to eat!

I start them off in a cold pan, inner sides down and flatten them with the spatula at the curling up stage - on a medium heat - until crisp.
 
This looks like something my family would really enjoy. My wife will love the fact that it's skinless chicken.

I think I might sub green olives (probably castelvetrano) since we aren't big fans of black olives.

Thanks, Ken. :chef:
 
I like the simplicity of this recipe but I don't like chorizo. I know everyone loves chorizo (accept vegetarians and vegans) but I find it dominates the taste of any dish it is added to. I make a Spanish-style chicken dish a bit similar to this but instead of chorizo it has oranges and chilli added to it.
 
buckytom said:
This looks like something my family would really enjoy. My wife will love the fact that it's skinless chicken.

I think I might sub green olives (probably castelvetrano) since we aren't big fans of black olives.

Thanks, Ken. :chef:
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Of course. But I will take the opportunity you provide to make a good point - for those who don't like olives you could, of course, leave them out - but I would suggest to you that you should maybe try it with the olives - my feeling is that the famous sour taste of olive is just not there in this dish - I confess I don't know if it is because they are cooked. In any case, it seems clear to me that the primary thing the olives give to this dish is texture rather than flavour. And I suppose at that level, the choice of black rather than green is more about the look than anything else. Anyway, I don't think substituting green for black will make a deal of difference to the result. Eaten just as olives I hugely prefer green to black, but I've only ever used black in this recipe and it works for me.
 
morning glory said:
I like the simplicity of this recipe but I don't like chorizo. I know everyone loves chorizo (accept vegetarians and vegans) but I find it dominates the taste of any dish it is added to. I make a Spanish-style chicken dish a bit similar to this but instead of chorizo it has oranges and chilli added to it.
Click to expand...

The chorizo sausage I would perceive as a bit more fundamental to the dish. It's funny, I recall the first time I made this dish for guests jokingly saying to them that I thought the presence of the chorizo sausage was the sole justification for calling it Spanish. But subsequently, I have gained an impression that there is more than just the chorizo sausage that makes this dish Spanish. Basically I saw a tapas dish that was a bit more soupy than stewy but was nonetheless recognisably very similar to this dish. In any case,using the picante chorizo sausage does give the dish a distinct spiciness, but it is not blow your head of spicy - which is the way I like it. I add no extra spicing to the dish, the chorizo sausage itself is enough to make the sauce spicy.

And, I'm not exactly sure, but I have a strong idea that it was Greg Wallace who said something to the effect that there is almost no savoury dish that couldn't be improved by the addition of chorizo sausage. That seems a little bit sweeping, but Asda do a cod and chorizo fishcake that I like a lot. I know, hang my head in shame, I should be making the fish cake, but you know sometimes...
 
Ken Natton said:
And, I'm not exactly sure, but I have a strong idea that it was Greg Wallace who said something to the effect that there is almost no savoury dish that couldn't be improved by the addition of chorizo sausage.
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In a way he is right - take a bland dish and add chorizo and everyone loves it - except me! Its not the spiciness which I mind. I love chilli and can eat a Phal any day! Its that smoky taste which pervades the whole dish. In a way I think that is the issue - and please don't take this personallyl - for me its too easy to add chorizo and create a crowd pleaser. Mix it with scrambled egg, add some to a pizza, add some to paella (please NO!), add it to a tomato pasta sauce, add it chopped into a burger mix etc.

Rant over... :laugh:
 
morning glory said:
In a way he is right - take a bland dish and add chorizo and everyone loves it - except me! Its not the spiciness which I mind. I love chilli and can eat a Phal any day! Its that smoky taste which pervades the whole dish. In a way I think that is the issue - and please don't take this personallyl - for me its too easy to add chorizo and create a crowd pleaser. Mix it with scrambled egg, add some to a pizza, add some to paella (please NO!), add it to a tomato pasta sauce, add it chopped into a burger mix etc.

Rant over... :laugh:
Click to expand...

Actually, I think that was exactly the subtext to Mr Wallace's comment to the Masterchef competitor - that it was not the most subtle way - or the method most reflective of cookery skill and a fine pallette - to improve a dish. There was a kind of pointed look and half smile that accompanied the comment. However, in the case of this dish, part of its appeal is just how easy it is to make a, as you called it, crowd pleaser.
 
I'm guessing that we're talking about the cured Spanish style vs. fresh Mexican chorizo.

Ken, would you recomment the softer, semi-cured Spanish chorizo for this, or hard cured chorizo?
 
Thanks. It looks like it's the soft cured since it requires refrigeration after opening. I prefer that one. The fully cured can be very strong tasting.
 
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