Chicken Chorizo Chickpea Stew Food

EASY CHICKEN, CHORIZO AND CHICKPEA STEW

Steps:

• Place the oil, onion and pepper in a wide and fairly deep saucepan. Fry over a low heat, with the lid on, for 3-5 minutes, until the onions and peppers have softened. Stir occasionally.
• Add the chorizo and cook for 1 more minute with the lid off. Stir occasionally.
• Add the garlic, chilli flakes and smoked paprika. Cook for 1 more minute with the lid off. Stir occasionally.
• Tip in the tomatoes and chickpeas. Then add the diced chicken, stock cube and black pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn down low and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid off, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Stir occasionally.
• Serve with brown rice, greens and a glass of Rioja... or whatever accompaniments you prefer!

CHICKEN AND CHORIZO CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Heat half of the vegetable oil in a large pan. Add the chicken thighs and fry, turning frequently, until lightly browned all over. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
• Add a little more oil to the pan, then add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and chilli and cook for five minutes. Add a splash of red wine and simmer until reduced by half.
• In another pan, heat the remaining oil and fry the chorizo for 2-3 minutes. Add the sherry and cook until the chorizo is crisp. Set aside.
• Add the can of chopped tomatoes to the pan with the vegetables and bring to the boil. Cook for five minutes, then add the stock and bring back to the boil.
• Add the browned chicken, the chickpeas and crisp chorizo and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with crusty bread.

CHORIZO & CHICKPEA STEW

Steps:

• In a frying pan, fry the chorizo, onion and garlic for 5 mins or until the chorizo is browning on the outside. Drain the excess oil, then stir in the spices.
• Pour in the tomatoes, lemon juice, chickpeas and seasoning. Bubble for 5 mins more to thicken slightly, then sprinkle over the parsley. Serve with toasted sourdough.

CHORIZO AND CHICKPEA STEW

Steps:

• If ever there were justification for cupboard love, this would be it: a full-on feast thrown together to enormous effect, simply with ingredients that you can more or less keep on permanent standby. And, like so many of these recipes, it's pretty well instant. After all, if you haven't got time to shop, it's hardly likely you'll be able to spend many hours at the stove.
• I am, anyway, a huge fan of bulgar wheat - think couscous, only more robust - but cooked like this, with some strands of pasta tossed in hot oil first, it really has something extra. I was taught to do this, just chatting stoveside, by an Egyptian friend when I was in my twenties, and I've never seen any reason to change the drill. He, actually, didn't use torn-up spaghettini but, rather, lokshen, which are the short lengths of vermicelli customarily found in echt chicken soup.
• This is a tradition about as far away from the chorizo-cooking culture as you could get, but the chickpea-studded, tomatoey and paprika-hot stew goes extremely well with the nubbly grain. I keep a stock of cherry tomatoes in sauce in the cupboard, but regular canned tomatoes could be substituted easily enough.
• Warm the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat.
• Fry the pasta bits in the oil for a minute, stirring, until they look like slightly scorched straws. Then add the bulgar wheat and stir for another minute or two.
• Stir in the cinnamon and the salt, and then pour the water into the pan. Add the bay leaves, and bring to a boil, then turn down to the lowest heat, add a lid, and leave for 15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed.
• Put another thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat, add the chorizo pieces and fry until the orange oil runs out. Then add the sherry and let it bubble away. Add the apricots (if using), along with the chickpeas (or beans) and canned tomatoes, and 3/4 fill each empty tomato can with water and swish it out into the pan. Put on a high heat to bubble for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve with the bulgar wheat and, if there's any to hand, some chopped cilantro.