My most vivid memory of my brief encounter with Madrid in 2011 is simply that of continually devouring the incredible food on offer, from early morning until late at night. I don’t think I exaggerate when I say that I spent the entire three days eating the most delicious array of dried meats and tapas, with every mouthful a new adventure.

This easy throw-together oven meal adapted from Jo Seagar’s recipe in “It’s Easier Than You Think” is a welcome reminder of the vivid colours and flavours that I experienced during my short time in Spain. If you can get your hands on “real” chorizo, then so much the better. However my local Jumbo supermarket only has these thin round slices in the cold meats fridge section. It still does the trick, however you’d do even better with the real thing chopped into chunks.

You can serve this oven dish with boiled and seasoned potatoes or with rice. But personally I like to serve it with Damper Bread, which is a bread that can be whipped up in minutes (no kneading required) and is baked in the oven at the same time and temperature as the chicken. It’s also perfect to mop up the juices left on your plate or in the pan. (Watch out for my recipe for Damper Bread coming soon!).

Spanish Style Chorizo Chicken

Ingredients

1 cup of chorizo, chopped
8 chicken drumsticks, with skin
1x red capsicum, chopped (rode paprika)
1x yellow capsicum, chopped (gele paprika)
3x red onions, quartered (rode uien)
8x garlic cloves cut in half
1x can of chopped or crushed tomatoes
rocket leaves (ruccola)
black olives, chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Fry the chopped chorizo pieces over a medium heat in a deep frying pan or wide-based pot. You shouldn’t need any oil as the fat from the chorizo should be enough. If possible, use a metal pan (i.e. don’t use non-stick) because you want the meat to brown well on the bottom of the pan. Once the chorizo is lightly browned, transfer to a roasting dish, while leaving the chorizo oil and juices in the pan.
Next pop the chicken drumsticks into the frying pan and brown. A fairly high heat works best for this. Turn the drumsticks every so often so that they are browned on all sides.
While the chicken is browning, chop up the red and yellow capsicums, garlic, and red onions. Add to the roasting pan along with the tinned tomatoes.
When the chicken is properly browned, add it to the other ingredients in the roasting dish. Pour a cup of water into the frying pan and de-glaze the pan (this means cook the water in the pan to loosen up the browning on the bottom – this is where all the flavour is!). Pour this into the roasting dish.
Make sure everything is evenly spread out in the roasting dish. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper, and pop the roasting dish into the oven to roast for 30 minutes.
When ready, pull the roasting dish out of the oven and sprinkle with a handful of rocket leaves and the chopped black olives. Serve straight from the roasting dish.