Chicken and Chorizo Hotpot

I made this dish a couple of nights ago, and it is great for winter - it has some warm spices, and chilli pepper in it too, as well as the paprika in the chorizo. It's good served with kale and rice (together) which may sound strange, but it is really nice!

You will need:

190g cooking chorizo, sliced

2 x 750g packs skin-on chicken thighs

2 red onions, finely sliced

2 red peppers, sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tsp cumin seeds

2tsp dried oregano/3 tsp fresh oregano

150ml red wine

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

400g can butter beans

400g rice

160g curly kale, sliced

Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped

1.     Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°C.

2.     Fry the sliced chorizo in a casserole dish for 2-3 mins (without oil - the chorizo has lots of fat in it, some of it will melt and act like oil, frying the chorizo). Remove it with a slotted spoon, then add in the chicken thighs, in batches (skin side down). Fry the chicken for 10 minutes, or until it is golden. Fry the chicken briefly on the other side (non-skin) and then remove the chicken and put it onto a plate. Don't worry - it's not meant to be cooked yet!

3.     Now put the onion and the pepper in the dish and cook them for about 8-10 minutes. Now mix in the chilli, cumin seeds, garlic and oregano, and cook it for another 2 minutes.

4.     Raise the heat and add the wine. Bubble for another 2 minutes, then stir in the chopped tomatoes and 400ml water. 

5.     Bring it to the boil, then put the chicken back in the pan, along with the chorizo and the butterbeans. Put the lid on the casserole dish and bake it for 1 hour.

6.     When the casserole has been cooking for 40 minutes, measure out the rice and cook it according to the pack instructions. For the last 2 minutes, add in the kale, a handful at a time. Wait for it to wilt a little before you add in the next handful.

7.     Get the casserole out of the oven and serve it with the rice!

So, your delicious hotpot is finished! It is good for Autumn and Winter, as it has got spicy chilli pepper in, which makes it a good dish to warm you up, but it's not too spicy. It fills you up lots - when we had this, no-one wanted any second helpings 😮, which is very surprising in my family!