Great Meals make Great Experiences
Baked Chicken with Choizo
By Andrew Morabito
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- 1 package organic skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (8 thighs)
- 1 red bell pepper
- ½ of a medium white onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon unbleached flour
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 oz cooked chorizo, medium spiced
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- sea salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Steps: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pat dry both sides of the chicken and set aside to come to room temperature, about 1 hour. Dice red pepper into ½ inch squares. Cut up onion into ¼ inch slices. Cut up chorizo into ¼ inch rounds. Heat a roaster that has a cover and will hold all the chicken on medium high heat on the stove top. When heated add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, heat to almost smoking. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and add to roaster, skin side down first, making sure you do not crowd the pan or they will not brown properly. Perform this in batches if necessary. Only turn thighs over to brown the other side when they come away from the roaster easily and are browned. Cook non-skin side until lightly browned. Remove chicken from the roaster and set aside on a plate. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings in the roaster and discard the rest. Lower heat to medium, add onion and sauté in the pan drippings until translucent. Add red pepper and sauté until almost soft. Add garlic and stir for about 1 minute until fragrant, do not burn. Add the chicken broth and scrape the bottom of the roaster to loosen any brown bits (fond) from the bottom. In a cup, blend 2 tablespoons of tap hot water and 1 tablespoon flour, mix until flour is incorporated. Add the flour mixture to the roaster and stir until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Add back the chicken, skin side up and arrange chorizo around the chicken. Cover and bake for 2 hours.
Wine Pairing Suggestions: Vivanco, Rioja Crianza 2010 Ermita San Felices, Crianza Rioja 2014