Basque Chicken and Chorizo Saute

I hate to admit this, but I'm not crazy about cooking. Really. So much chopping, and searing, and mincing, and reducing. I find it all a little tiresome some days, and if I never had to deglaze another pan as long as I lived, well, I wouldn't be that disappointed.

Mind you, I like eating all that stuff. I just would rather be baking than cooking. But I also don't like to eat pre-packaged, preservative-ized (yes that IS a word. Shut up.) food. So I cook, from scratch, and it's not like it totally stinks, relative to a lot of other things I could be doing, but I get a lot more satisfaction out of making the cornbread to go with the chili than I do out of making the chili itself.

But I decided to try a new dinner recipe, and this recipe for Basque Chicken and Chorizo Saute from Food and Wine seemed like as good an option as any. It was created by Daniel Boulud. How bad could it be?

Not bad at all, as it turns out. Really, really good, in fact. The sauce that gets created is sweet and spicy and deep and complex and red, and the chicken is tender and juicy. And it wasn't hard, though my kitchen was an unholy mess by the time all was said and done. This, however, speaks more to my inability to keep chorizo grease from sloshing out of the pan all over my stovetop than anything inherently involved in the recipe. In other words, I'm a klutz. Don't blame Daniel Boulud for that.

I didn't really change the recipe as such. I lost patience with trying to hunt down dry chorizo at the grocery store, so I just bought (not-dry? regular?) chorizo instead and crumbled 4 oz. into the pan. I would recommend the dry, though. While the dish had chorizo flavor, the sausage itself got lost in all the other stuff. I used 4 chicken leg quarters because that's all that would fit in my pan. I also dialed back the crushed red pepper based on the preferences of my family. Beyond that, I followed the recipe as written. Make sure you have lots of crusty bread on hand to mop up the sauce!

Basque Chicken and Chorizo Saute
courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine

4 ounces dry chorizo, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 whole chicken legs, split (3 1/2 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
6 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 large thyme sprigs
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup dry sherry
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
One 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and pressed dry
2 tablespoons shredded basil

Heat a really, REALLY big, deep skillet. Add the chorizo and cook over medium heat, stirring, until lightly browned. Remove chorizo from pan and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in the skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook over medium high heat, turning once, until well browned, about 15 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Add the bell peppers, onions, garlic and thyme to the skillet and cook over medium heat until onion starts to reduce, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sherry, paprika and crushed red pepper and cook for 1 minute, scraping up any browned bits from the pan.

Return the chicken and chorizo to the skillet. Cover and simmer over medium low heat, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.

Add artichokes.

Raise the heat to medium and cook uncovered until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a large, deep platter.

Stir the basil into the sauce and continue cooking for about 5 minutes to further reduce sauce. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.