Spain

Seville Chicken

Serves 4

• 1 Orange
• 8 Chicken thighs
• plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
• 45ml olive oil
• 1 large Spanish onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, seeded and sliced
• 115g chorizo sausage, sliced
• 50g flaked almonds
• 225g brown basmati rice
• about 600ml chicken stock
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 175ml white wine
• generous pinch of dried thyme
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• fresh thyme sprigs, to garnish

Pare a thin slice of peel from the orange and set it aside. Peel the orange, then cut it into segments, working over a bowl to collect the juice. Dust the chicken thighs with seasoned flour.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken pieces on both sides until nicely brown. Transfer to a plate. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and fry for 4-5 minutes until the onion begins to brown. Add the red and yellow peppers and fry, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened.

Add the chirozo, stir-fry for a few minutes, and sprinkle over with the almonds and rice. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.

Pour in the chicken stock, tomatoes and wine and add the orange strip and thyme. Season well. Bring to simmering point, stirring, then return the chicken pieces to the pan.

Cover tightly and cook over a very low heat for 1-1¼ hours until the rice and chicken are tender. Just before serving, add the orange segments and allow to cook briefly to heat through. Garnish with fresh thyme and serve.

If the rice seems to be drying too quickly add a little more stock and reduce the heat.

If, after 40 minutes, the rice is still barely cooked, increase the heat a little.

Make sure that the rice is kept below the liquid and stir occasionally if it seems to be cooking unevenly. The chicken can lie on the surface.