Chicken and chorizo hot pot

Name: Chicken and chorizo hot pot
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces*; 1 fresh chorizo or spicy Italian sausage, cut in 1cm pieces; 1 garlic clove, crushed; ½ onion, thinly sliced; 1 red and 1 yellow capsicum, cut in thick slices; 450g can Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped; ¼ cup white wine; Salt and pepper; 3-4 fresh bay leaves; Small handful black olives (optional); 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Brigitte Hafner

October 19, 2011

Chicken hot pot with chorizo sausage.Marina Oliphant

Time:1-2 hoursServes:4

This dish has many variations: try mushrooms instead of capsicum, or add a sprig of fresh rosemary or thyme, or cinnamon and cloves. It also tastes better the next day and any leftovers make a great pilaf; in fact, it ends up tasting a little like a paella. It's worth using extra virgin olive oil for this recipe as it really makes a difference to the flavour of the sauce.

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces*
1 fresh chorizo or spicy Italian sausage, cut in 1cm pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ onion, thinly sliced
1 red and 1 yellow capsicum, cut in thick slices
450g can Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped
¼ cup white wine
Salt and pepper
3-4 fresh bay leaves
Small handful black olives (optional)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.
Use a baking dish that will comfortably hold all the ingredients. Add chicken pieces, sausage, garlic, onion, capsicum, tomato and white wine, season with salt and pepper, toss to mix but arrange chicken pieces skin side up. Add the bay leaves and olives and drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil. Cook in the oven for 1½ hours.
Serve with crusty bread (or even polenta if you're happy to use another pot).
*To cut the chicken into pieces, first pull the thighs away from the sides and cut through the skin then down through the joint and remove. Cut along the breast bone and then between the rib cage and breast fillet until you can remove the breast with winglet attached through the joint and repeat on the other side. You should now have four pieces. Cut the thigh and drumstick in half through the joint and the breast piece in half so that you end up with eight roughly equal-sized pieces. Your butcher can do this.