Spanish Chicken & Rice

Clodagh's Weeknight Kitchen by Clodagh McKenna

SERVES 4

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 chicken breasts, skin on

• 1 onion, sliced 

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

• 10cm (4in) piece of cooking chorizo, chopped 

• 300g (10 1/2 oz) paella rice

• 600ml (20fl oz) chicken stock

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika

• 24 black olives, pitted and chopped 

• 6 jarred red piquillo peppers, sliced into strips 

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley  

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

This simple one-pot supper is packed with the delicious flavours of chorizo, paprika, garlic and olives to give your taste buds a fresh sensation. It’s a sort of chicken paella that you can bring straight from the stove to the table for everyone to help themselves. You can swap the chicken for pork or meaty fish such as monkfish, hake or cod. I like to serve it alongside a big bowl of steamed greens like kale or purple sprouting broccoli, sprinkled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, or a green leafy salad with a zesty orange dressing. Just whisk together the zest and juice of 1 orange, 200ml (7fl oz) extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of honey and season with salt and pepper, et voilà!

Place a paella pan or an ovenproof casserole dish over a medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the oil. Once the oil is hot, cook the chicken breasts for 3 minutes on each side until browned, then set aside on a plate. 

Add the remaining oil to the pan, stir in the onion, garlic and chorizo and fry gently for 3 minutes. Pour in the rice, stir for a minute, then add the chicken stock, lemon juice, smoked paprika, olives and peppers, and season with salt and pepper. Stir and return the chicken to the pan on top of the rice. Cover and cook over a low-medium heat for 20–25 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed, the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with the parsley and serve.

Clodagh’s Weeknight Kitchen by Clodagh McKenna, Kyle Books, 2021, Photographs by Dora Kazmierak.