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Sauteed chicken with chorizo and chickpeasThe spices and harissa give this dish a distinctly Middle-Eastern flavour. If you are feeling brave, you could use another tablespoon of harissa for added bite. You can halve the quantities of the candied lemon zest here, or make a big batch and store the leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for several days, or in the fridge for several weeks. It can be chopped up and added to salads, biscuits or cake mixes, or you could add some chopped zest and syrup to vodka for a delicious cocktail. 
15 minutes prep. 
1 hour, 45 min cooking
Serves 4 |
Ingredients
- ½ cup (100 g) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight then drained
- 1 × 1.6 kg corn-fed free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 25 g butter
- 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 chorizo sausage (about 100 g), thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon harissa
- 300 ml chicken jus (see page 224)
- 1 head cavolo nero (Tuscan kale), trimmed
- coriander leaves, to garnish
- zest of 4 lemons, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler
- 1 cup (220 g) caster sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
- 1 star anise
- 2 cloves garlic, bruised
Method
- To make the candied lemon zest, place the lemon zest into a saucepan of salted water and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to cool in the water. Meanwhile, combine the caster sugar and 1 cup (250 ml) water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the vanilla pod and seeds, star anise and garlic to the syrup, along with the cooled lemon zest, and bring to the boil again. Cover the surface with a piece of baking paper, reduce the heat to very low and cook for 1 hour, then turn off the heat and leave in the pan to cool. Once cooled, reserve a couple of pieces of zest and transfer the remainder to an airtight container for another use
- Place the chickpeas in a small saucepan of cold water, bring to a simmer then cook over low–medium heat for 45 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
- Season the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large heavy-based casserole, add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, for 6–7 minutes or until browned all over. Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate and drain off any excess oil left in the casserole. Return it to the heat, melt the butter then throw in the onion, garlic and chorizo and cook, stirring, for 2–3 minutes or until the onion has softened slightly. Add the cumin, coriander and harissa and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes, before adding back the browned chicken pieces. Pour in the chicken jus, stirring to dislodge any stuck-on bits from the base of the pan, then bring to the boil over high heat. Add the chickpeas, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Meanwhile, cook the cavolo nero in plenty of boiling salted water for 5–6 minutes until tender, then drain well.
- Roughly chop the reserved candied lemon zest and scatter over the chicken with some coriander leaves. Serve the casserole at the table for people to help themselves, with the cavolo nero alongside.
