Chicken and Chorizo in Rioja

Note: Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 8 chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
  • 1 large onion, halved and cut into slim slices
  • 2 red peppers, halved, deseeded and cut into strips
  • 300g (10½ oz) chorizo sausage (papery skin removed), cut into 5mm (¼in) thick rounds
  • 1½ tbsp plain flour
  • 200ml (7 fl.oz) red Rioja or other red wine
  • 200ml (7 fl.oz) chicken stock
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a broad shallow casserole in which the chicken can lie in a single layer. Season the chicken and quickly colour it on both sides.
  2. Remove the chicken and set aside.
  3. Add the celery, onion, peppers and chorizo to the pan in which you browned the chicken and, over a medium heat, cook until the vegetables have softened, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the flour and stir it in over a low heat for about 1½ minutes, then pour on the wine. Let this bubble away for a few minutes, then add the stock.
  5. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and put the chicken back into the pan, skin-side up. Season, going easy on the salt as both the wine and the chorizo add their own saltiness. Tuck in the thyme and bay leaf. Cook in an oven preheated to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Leave the lid off the whole time—this will help the liquid reduce and further brown the chicken skin—but baste the top of the chicken with the juices every so often.
  6. Sprinkle with flat-leaf parsley and serve in the casserole in which it was cooked.

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