This week has been an odd one in our household. Good and bad news. Good and bad weather. But always good food. I needed to test some Unearthed Cooking Chorizo for work and raiding my fridge decided to cook one of my all-time favourite recipes – baked chicken and chorizo.
Like most of my recipes, it has been cooked in various guises over the years. Sometimes with a whole portioned chicken, many times with chicken thighs. Sometimes with new potatoes, many times with bog-standard bakers. But that is the beauty of cooking, isn’t it. Experimentation, interpretation and adaptation! (See below for recipe).
On Saturday morning we also got the first glimpse of the sun in a long while. We certainly made the most of it and completely transformed the garden over the weekend. Andy’s lobster-red arms will certainly testify to that! We got rid of all the long grass growing beneath our border bushes – during which we found 1000s of woodlice, 100s of earwigs, 10s of millipedes, 2 toads and 1 caterpillar – laid some bark, and mowed the lawn. I also revved up the Rowe kitchen garden. I’ve now got tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, six different types of chillies, 4 varieties of strawberries, peaches, parsley, chives, mixed leaves, wild rocket, mustard leaves, petit pois and broad beans. I’ll keep you posted with the results as they start to fruit (along with recipes on how to use up the glut) but here’s what it looks like now.
Baked chicken and chorizo
2 chicken quarters (skin on, bone in)
250g cooking chorizo
2 baking potatoes, sliced into 5mm slices
1 white onion, cut into rough chunks
1 large glass prosecco
2 tbsps olive oil
Season the chicken quarters with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the oil to a heavy-bottomed pan and seal the chicken quarters over a high heat. Remove from the pan and add the potato slices, onion chunks and chorizo. Pour over the glass of prosecco (or a glass of sherry would work just as well) and position the sealed chicken quarters on top. Place in the oven at a medium-high heat and roast until the chicken is cooked through and the potato slices are tender. Serve with a fresh green salad.
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