This is one of my go-to what-can-I-cook-with-chicken suppers. I would always choose thigh rather than breast for stewy dishes like this because the flesh is less likely to dry out. I’m rarely without a whole chorizo in my fridge ready to fry into crisps to serve with a simple pureed soup or add chunkier slices to scrambled egg or to liven up all manner of stews but have recently discovered cooking chorizo. Plump little sausages come in a four-pack that freezes perfectly and ends up softer than slices from a dried sausage. Chorizo always goes well with chicken and here the stew gets its juicy gravy from halved cherry tomatoes and a small amount of chicken stock. I happened to have a handful of spinach from my garden and shredded that to add too. I also added cannellini beans from a can to make more of the dish and piled everything over garlicky bruschetta. We loved this carby, succulent, spicy and sweet pile up and I can promise that your kitchen will fill with incredibly tempting cooking smells. It’s a dish that suits whatever the weather has to throw at us; as I write it’s rain but it’s a good al fresco dish too. To make this for more people, just increase all the ingredients in proportion.
Serves 2
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 35 min
1 large red onion
3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
4 chorizo cooking sausages
2 chicken thigh fillets
16 cherry tomatoes
150ml chicken stock
400g can cannellini beans
1 small lemon
handful of spinach, optional
2 thick slices sourdough
1 large garlic clove
Halve, peel and slice the onion down rather than across the halves into thin wedges. Heat 1 tbsp olive in a spacious, lidded frying/sauté pan over a medium heat and stir in the onion. Toss regularly for 5 minutes, reduce the heat and add the garlic, which you’ve peeled and chopped. Continue cooking gently, stirring often, while you cut the sausages into 4 or 5 chunky pieces and slice the chicken into short, thick ribbons. Halve the tomatoes across their middles. Tip the beans into a sieve to drain. Shred the spinach. Increase the heat slightly and add the chorizo to the sloppy onion, stirring as it plumps and firms. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the pieces have changed colour. Add the tomatoes and stock, bring to simmer, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Microplane the lemon zest over the beans and add both to the stew. Reheat, season to taste with salt and pepper and fold in the spinach and once wilted it’s ready to go. Toast the bread, rub one side vigorously with peeled garlic, dribble with remaining olive oil, cut in half and place in the middle of two shallow bowls. Top with chicken and eat with spoon and fork.