One Pot Chorizo and Chicken Stew: Hot Mess

This meal was one of the Dragon's concoctions. He likes to call it "Hot Mess" but I prefer to use more descriptive titles most of the time, with the exception of my recent Blood of My Enemies recipe, because, well, it is awesome and who wouldn't want to start their day with it?  This meal was born out of what we had left in the fridge.  Trust me - Hot Mess cooking can become something truly divine.  This meal does not really belong in any particular country's cuisine given that it is such a  hodge-podge of ingredients and of spices.  We will call it Australian since that is where we live.

The Dragon and I cook very differently. I usually create meals based on a mix of research and prior experience of what works well together and what doesn't. The dragon's method is to take what we have in the house, then use his sense of smell to decide on a mix of spices for flavour. Often I vehemently disagree with his choice of which spices to mix, but he says "no - I smelled it and it's perfect, trust me".  I am learning to trust the Dragon's snout. In the end, Hot Mess was absolutely delicious and lasted 3 nights for both of us.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 4 chicken breasts, diced
• 1 large chorizo sausage, sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 1 leek, sliced thinly
• 1 brown onion
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 10 sun dried tomatoes, sliced
• 300g baby spinach
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• 1 400g can of diced Italian tomatoes
• 1 400g can of kidney beans, drained
• Spice mix: 1 tsp each of: smoked paprika, oregano, cumin, thyme, sumac and powdered coriander seed.
• 1 cup brown rice
• (OPTIONAL: finely chopped spring onion and parsley to serve)

Method

1. Brown leek and onion in a large pan with as small an amount of oil as you can get away with. Add garlic in the final minute or so, pan fry until fragrant.
2. Add chicken and chorizo to pan, brown both.
3. Add spice mix, cook until fragrant.
4. Deglaze your pan with the white wine.
5. Add capsicum, sun dried tomatoes, chicken stock, brown rice and water.
6. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a medium simmer.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
7. Stir through the spinach (one handful at a time) until wilted.
8. Serve, topped with parsley and spring onion, if desired.
9. Lick your bowl when you are finished. Trust me, you will want to.

Nutritional Breakdown

Amount per serving

• Calories442.8
• Total Fat13.1 g
• Saturated Fat4.2 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat2.0 g
• Monounsaturated Fat5.4 g
• Cholesterol116.3 mg
• Sodium819.6 mg
• Potassium940.8 mg
• Total Carbohydrate29.7 g
• Dietary Fiber7.2 g
• Sugars4.2 g
• Protein47.8 g