Spanish Chicken w Chorizo & Potatoes

I've never been a big fan of cooking television shows, but since I've had my cooking-obsession recently, I have found watching shows like 'Come Dine With Me UK', 'Nigella Kitchen', and 'The Naked Chef' to be incredibly interesting.  I have picked up a few useful tips, and a couple of recipes to try.  But mostly I roll my eyes because they use some ridiculous ingredients, things where you'd have to buy a whole PACK of something, and you'd probably ever use it for that ONE recipe... so it would kind of be a waste, because you're not likely to make that one dish once a week, every week.  I like recipes that use normal ingredients that you don't have to go out of your way to have! :)


One of the recipes I picked up was a Nigella Lawson recipe, where I saw her make this easy peasy, chuck-it-all-in-a-tray-and-chuck-it-all-in-the-oven Spanish chicken dish, and thought "I could do that!".  Plus, I've never really eaten chorizo before, so it's the perfect excuse to try it!  It is also something I don't mind going out of my way to get, because it all got used up in the one time I did make this dish (unlike spices etc.).  

The amazing thing about this recipe, as Nigella explained on her TV show, while I was avidly eying the roasted potatoes that this dish makes, is that the oils/fats/spices/flavours from the chorizo oozes out and the chicken, potatoes and onions sit in this glorious orange bath of flavouring.  It is the chorizo that flavours the chicken.  Who'd have thunk it?  Delicious. 

Now, this recipe makes A LOT.  I only made about half of the original, and it was plenty for myself and my parents.  I used bone in, skin on chicken drumsticks (because we had those, and no thighs - still good!), but that was the only thing I altered from the original recipe!  I was tempted to leave out the zest as well, because I don't like zest (as you know from lemon poppyseed muffins!), but we happened to have oranges on hand (for once!) so I figured, why the heck not.  At least in this recipe (unlike the muffins) I could scrape the zest off and avoid it if it really offended my tastebuds!

INGREDIENTS

oil (coating the bottom of the tray)
6 chicken drums (bone in, with skin)

350 ish grams chorizo sausages cut into 4cm chunks
skin on, new potatoes, halved (enough to push into all the gaps)

1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano
grated zest 1 orange

METHOD

• Pre-heat oven to 220 deg C (normal bake setting)
• Spread oil over the bottom of a shallow roasting tin
• Rub the skin of the chicken in the oil, then turn the pieces skin side up
• Spread the chorizo sausages around evenly in the pan
• Place potatoes in the remaining gaps (if it looks full, don't panic - it shrinks when it cooks!)
• Sprinkle onion and oregano over the chicken, sausage and potatoes
• Grate the orange zest and sprinkle over the tray
• Cook for 30 minutes, then baste the contents with the orange coloured juices from the bottom of the tray
• Cook for another 30 minutes
• SERVE! :)

We had this just with some steamed vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots and cabbage) and it was delicious.  The chicken wasn't dry at all, and the little potatoes were amazing, while the chorizo was a bit spicy for my taste.  Sadly I don't think I will eat much chorizo in the future, but I liked the chicken!  And the roasted bits of onion... omigosh they were little gems!  (The ones that weren't burned to charcoal, that is!)

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/spanish-chicken-with-chorizo-and-potatoes-5160

Tuna Rosti

Currently, I am stuck at home.  I have been ill, and am not strong enough to work, but I AM strong enough to explore the food world.  Something I struggle with every day is thinking of something to cook for one, for lunch.  You see, I'm not a sandwich person.  Never really have been.  Sandwiches to me are SO boring.  If I'm at home, I won't make a sandwich.  Sandwiches are what you take out for lunch, and even then, it's a stretch for me to do that.  I'm not a big fan of ham, relish and salad (can't think of anything worse to be honest), and if I ever do have sandwiches, it's shredded rotisserie chicken and mayonnaise (and maybe a lettuce leaf if I'm bothered).  

I do like toasted sandwiches though.  When I was working, I'd have cheese and chicken sandwiches, which I'd toast in the grill in the staff room (I was so grateful for that thing!  All staff rooms should have a toasted sandwich maker!) and I'd add BBQ sauce to it (yes, I kept a bottle of BBQ sauce in the fridge at my work haha!).  But I'm getting side tracked.  This post isn't about sandwiches.  It's about lunch dilemmas, which I seem to always have.

I saw this recipe for tuna rosti on television and it said "Perfect for lunches!" which 100% caught my attention.  I like tuna (within reason, I'm not a major fish fan) and I ADORE potato.  Hash browns are one of my favourite things.  So this sounded like a good recipe to try, and it didn't look like it made too much, and the lady on the TV even said "leftovers are delicious cold" too!  WIN!

So here is my variation on the recipe, because I didn't have some of what the original recipe said, and I don't like lemon zest (so I ignored that bit haha).

Makes about 4 rostis!

INGREDIENTS

1 medium potato, peeled and grated (to yield 1 cup)

1 egg, beaten

1 little can (95g) of tuna - any flavour - I used "tomato & basil" for this one

pinch of salt and pepper

METHOD

• Squeeze out as much of the excess liquid from the grated potato (to stop it being too sloppy) using a clean tea towel or paper towel, or just your hands, and place in a mixing bowl.
• Mix in the beaten egg, salt and pepper (to taste) and any dried herbs you might want.  I added extra dried basil, and a bit of oregano.
• Mix in the can of tuna carefully, removing any excess liquid beforehand (because sometimes the tuna can be a bit watery, which you want to avoid).
• Heat a little oil in a frying pan.
• Divide the tuna mixture into 4 and spoon into the pan.
• Cook on medium-low heat for 5 mins each side, or until potato is cooked and golden.

The original recipe says to garnish with a lemon wedge, but I served mine with a bit of mild tomato salsa and sour cream which was delicious.  Tomato relish would also go nicely, or any sauce you have in the fridge!

So this recipe is a success for me, because it's easy, and using stuff we've often got in our pantry, and it's perfect lunch for one, and the leftovers were gladly taken by my dad today!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Tuna-Rosti