Chicken and Chorizo Rice

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

One pot, oven, 50 min, 180°C, serves 4

Ingredients

chicken thighs   8, bone in skin on
chorizo          200g, sliced
long grain rice  300g
onion            1, chopped
garlic           4 cloves, sliced
red pepper       1, sliced
smoked paprika   2 tsp
tomato puree     2 tbsp
chicken stock    700ml, hot
olive oil        2 tbsp

Everything goes in raw except the stock, which needs to be hot or the rice cooks unevenly.

Recipe

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Everything except the chicken into the Dutch oven. Stir once:

[chorizo 200g sliced, long grain rice 300g, onion 1 chopped, garlic 4 cloves sliced, red pepper 1 sliced, smoked paprika 2 tsp, tomato puree 2 tbsp, chicken stock 700ml hot, olive oil 2 tbsp]

3. Sit the chicken on top, skin side up, and salt the skin well.

Measure the stock, don’t eyeball it. The rice needs the full 700ml to cook through, so this is a ratio, not a top up.
Then check the skin sits proud of the liquid before it goes in the oven. Submerged skin stews and stays pale.
If the stock comes up over the skin, your pot is too narrow. Move to a wider one rather than pouring any out.

4. Lid on, 25 minutes.

5. Lid off, 20 minutes more, until the skin is dark and the rice has drunk the stock.

Lid off is what crisps the skin and dries the rice out.

6. Rest 5 minutes before serving.

Doesn’t freeze well. Reheated rice goes chalky.