Name: Chicken & Chorizo Paella
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: small pinch of saffron; 1 tsp olive oil; 1 bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh (around 90g / 3oz); 50g (1.7oz) dry-cured spanish chorizo, skin peeled off and thinly sliced; 1 clove garlic, finely chopped; 1/4 red bell pepper, diced; 150g (5 oz) spanish paella rice; 200ml (3/4 cup) chicken stock; 100g (3.5oz) tinned chopped tomatoes; 1/4 lemon, juiced and then sliced into wedges; 50g (1/4 cup) frozen peas; 1/4 tsp smoked paprika; few sprigs of parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Question 1

How do you make it?

Accepted Answer

This is a pretty easy dish to make. You can't rush it too much as you need to give the rice time to soak up all the lovely stock, but it only requires one pan. Perfect for reducing washing up! 

To prepare, simply brown the chicken on all sides and then remove from the pan. Add the chorizo and cook for a few minutes, until softened, before adding the pepper and garlic and cooking for a further two minutes. Add the paella rice to the pan for a couple of minutes, so it is coated in all the lovely juices before adding the tomatoes, paprika, saffron and stock and placing the chicken back in. 

Simmer for around 15 minutes before adding in the peas and then cook for a further 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Serve with sliced lemon for drizzling over to taste and a scattering of parsley. Yum!

Question 2

Is it healthy?

Accepted Answer

I make this with skin on, bone-in, chicken thighs. While not the healthiest,  thigh meat is so tender and the skin helps to keep the meat super juicy. Chicken thighs don't have the best 'rep. They have DOUBLE the fat content of chicken breast (whaaat!). But, you will be relieved to know that they don't have that much more saturated fat than breast meat. So it's not actually as bad as you may believe. I say once in a while it's ok to treat yourself. You could make this with chicken breast if you are trying to watch calorie and fat intake, but it would be a lot drier. Although let's face it, if you are making a dish with a healthy serving of chorizo, it's probably not the chicken that you should be worrying about.

Question 3

Can you freeze it?

Accepted Answer

You can make a few portions of this and keep in the fridge for a couple of days to reheat - which is what I tend to do. You can also freeze portions, so it is a good dish to make in bulk. If you do freeze it then just make sure that you get it in the freezer as soon as possible after cooling. (I wouldn't recommend keeping it in the fridge for a couple of days then freezing).

Chicken & Chorizo Paella

Description

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition