Chicken with chorizo and almonds

 

An insight into the life of a blogger (or this blogger at least):  I started this post on 30 March this year, some six months ago.  At the time, I'd lost my little-black-book and so used a draft post as my notes.  The recipe I'd cooked was OK, but I knew it needed refining, and so about three weeks ago, I got round to making it again with the refinements.  And now I can finally blog about it... 

 

It's another Spanish-influenced recipe - I think I am drawn to this kind of cooking; robust, rustic, tasty and relatively simple. 
I've mentioned before that I don't often blog about chicken - it isn't that I don't eat it, it's just that I find it's often not that memorable and worth blogging about.  When I do cook with chicken, I like to use something other than the breast; thighs being a particular favourite.  They are cheaper than the breasts and have much more flavour (and as far as I'm concerned, a better texture too).

This particular recipe has gone through a few transformations.  The original version didn't contain the lemon, the almonds or the paprika.  While it was OK, it wasn't that remarkable.  I think this is a much better dish.  It's best to use a cooking chorizo - these are the ones with a softer texture and work better than the slicing kind.  I tend to buy mine in batches from Brindisa and freeze them individually - they freeze pretty well. 

All this dish needs with it is something green - a salad or perhaps some green beans and maybe a little brown rice. 

Chicken stuffed with chorizo and almonds

1 small finely diced cooking chorizo
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 small handfull chopped almonds
1 heaped tablespoon ground almonds
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Grated zest of half a lemon

4 chicken thighs

Olive oil for frying
Splash dry sherry
1/4 pint chicken or vegetable stock

Mix all the stuffing ingredients thoroughly.  Add a little stock if it looks like a dry mix. 
Bone the chicken thighs out and fill the space with a heaped teaspoon or so of the stuffing.  Roll the edges of the thighs over and secure with a skewer or a couple of cocktail sticks.

You can cook them now, or leave them for a few hours for the flavours to leach into the chicken.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chicken to brown all over.  Be careful when turning!  When the chicken is nicely browned, add any remaining stuffing and the sherry.  Allow to bubble for a moment or two, add the stock, cover and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

 

If you happen to have a thigh left over, it can be sliced cross-ways into three or four pieces and quickly heated in a hot frying pan for a couple of minutes and served with salad the next day... 

tags: poultry  spain  

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