The Easter celebrations are over, and how lucky we were that the sun was shining, and it was a great opportunity to get family and friends together, celebrate and entertain.  Although, now that leaves us feeling a little exhausted, and the idea of cooking another big meal is not quite as much fun as it usually is this week.  Well, try this easy and simple recipe for Tapas Tuesday…

I absolutely love this Spanish chicken recipe, mainly because it is made using my very favourite food – Chicken. Especially roasted chicken.

This dish is inspired by various different versions of the traditional Chicken and Chorizo mixture that you will find all over Spain.  In all honesty I wouldn’t have thought of adding the orange zest in to this recipe, but when having dinner in a very, very traditional Spanish restaurant in Torre Pacheco in Murcia, I tried a similar dish and the taste of orange really made a difference and brought all the flavours together.

Each time I make this dish, I usually find something else to add in, a sprinkle of this or a drizzle of that, but I have tried to stick to my best version of it here for you. This is quite a popular dish that I have seen adapted many times, so you may have come across this yourself on your travels.  I find that this one works best for me though, so give it a try, and the best part is that it is all made in the one roasting tin (a large one will be needed) but there is minimal effort here….

To Serve 4 People –

Ingredients –

8 Chicken Thighs / 1 Chorizo Sausage / Olive Oil / Salt and Pepper / 1 clove of Garlic / 1 Teaspoon of Dried Oregano / 1 Orange (for the zest) / 2 tablespoons of White wine

• Pre-Heat your oven to 180 oC.
• Take your 8 chicken thighs, drizzle with Olive Oil, and season with salt and pepper, it is good to get stuck in and rub everything together with your hands here.
• If you like the flavour of garlic, then this is really good to add here.  Crush a clove of garlic and add it to the mix.
• Lay the chicken thighs in the roasting tin
• Slice the chorizo sausage into around 1.5cm chunks,  I think Chorizo in the oven is delicious, it goes crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside
• Put the chorizo in the tin, position it around the chicken pieces.
• Drizzle just a little more olive oil over everything, and sprinkle around a teaspoon or two (depending on how much you like the taste) of Dried Oregano (I love fresh herbs, but for some recipes dried does work better, and this is one of them)
• Then grate the zest of the Orange over the top too.  I like to pour over just a little white wine here too, about 2 tablespoons, but that is optional.
• Mix everything together, so that all the meat has a good coating of the seasoning. Pop in the oven for around 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, bring the tray out of the oven and shake everything up, make sure all is cooking as you want it too.  Then pop it back in for another 30 minutes.
• When it is cooked, I always like to transfer everything out of the roasting tin, into another dish or pot that has been warming in the oven.
• Once it is all in there then you can go ahead and serve it to your guests.

I like to serve this dish with my home-made patatas bravas, a little salad with olives, and some grilled peppers always go well with this.

A lovely glass of Rioja will always match this meal too…in my opinion…

Enjoy!

Joanne, Your Place in Spain