Recipe: Chicken with Chorizo, Butter Beans & Kale in a Cider Sauce

Chicken is a hugely versatile ingredient and it is incredibly popular with my family who are - to put it bluntly - fussy eaters. My children do love spicy food and I tend to cook a lot of chicken curries for them but in an effort to introduce them to other flavours I decided to create this dish using chorizo for an alternative spicy kick.

 

I also included some butter beans, a pulse which I love but I think is often overlooked. I was concerned that my gang would complain about the inclusion of the beans but they loved them. To make life easy, I used canned beans, but you can of course soak and prepare your own beans and then add them to the dish.

 

Serve this dish with crusty bread to mop up the broth-like sauce.

 

INGREDIENTS:

2tblsp vegetable oil

1 chicken jointed or 6 x chicken breast, bone-in and skin-on

200g cooking chorizo, sliced into 5mm discs

1 onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

3 bay leaves

500ml dry cider

250ml chicken or vegetable stock

Large bunch of kale, roughly chopped

1 x 400g tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

 

METHOD:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Season the chicken pieces and fry off in batches until golden brown all over ( about 3 minutes each side). Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl.
2. Add the chorizo to the frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden. Tip into the bowl with the chicken.
3. Add the onion to the frying pan and fry over a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute.
4. Increase the heat and immediately add the cider, scraping the bottom of the frying pan to dislodge any encrusted sediment from the cooking of the chicken and chorizo. Let the mixture bubble away vigorously for five minutes and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Return the chicken and chorizo to the pan.
5. Add the bay leaves and stock. Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes. Remove the lid and add the drained butterbeans. Simmer, uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Add the kale which will immediately start to wilt. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning as necessary.
6. Serve in bowls with lots of crusty bread on the side.

 

Serves 6.