Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Gnocchi (or Potatoes if you wish), a simple traybake

This is originally a Nigella Lawson recipe for Spanish Chicken, which I have adapted for us and for you, and as Nigella does, I enjoy a good tray bake. When cooking, particularly in Winter, I do love to have a large pot of food bubbling away on the stovetop which preferably can be finished off in the oven. However, if I'm a bit frazzled, or even feeling a bit below par, a traybake definitely takes the pressure off, allowing the oven to do the work, and leaving me to just enjoy sitting back, enjoying everyone's company, or just my own, and relaxing until the meal is cooked. Perhaps I would add a Spanish style salad to add to the meal in Summer. So simple.

I used skinless chicken thighs with bone in for this recipe, rather than my preferred choice of chicken thighs with skin on and bone in, which you will probably notice in the photo. That is only because I had them on hand and had already thawed them out for a different meal which didn't eventuate. I had my heart set on cooking this Spanish Chicken recipe for friends even though I was going to use chicken with skin on and bone in for them but hadn't as yet bought the chicken.

 For the last few weeks I've been aware of a sore muscle in my upper left leg niggling away, which had became quite chronic this past week. We were due to host our longstanding group of tennis friends on Friday night for dinner (12 people) but I cancelled after discovering during a doctor's visit, that my leg problem, is due to a muscle strain and is still quite painful. However, I had thawed out this batch of chicken for Mr. HRK and me to cook anyway, and it needed to be used. So it became Spanish chicken, it's delicious and is traybake simple, which is what we needed. However dear friends, after cooking this with the skinless chicken thighs, I would recommend you always use the thighs with the skin on and bone in, for a juicier result. I've always been happy with the outcome when using these. Mine was still ok, but I don't want to recommend anything that I am not 100% happy with. 

Last night following  my visit to the doctor, Mr. HRK made pizza for us which was delicious and very much appreciated. 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 chicken thighs with skin on and bone in 

400 grams good quality chorizo (cut into 5 cm / 2 inch chunks (if whole) or baby ones whole if you can get them.)

1 x 500 g packet fresh potato gnocchi, or 850 grams small new potatoes (halved) if you prefer

2 red onions (peeled and roughly chopped)

2 teaspoons dried oregano and fresh oregano for garnish, or use all fresh if you would prefer

Grated zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes

2 capsicum (optional)

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 220 deg. C/200 deg. C Fan/gas mark 7/425 deg. F.

Pour the  oil into the bottom of 2 shallow roasting tins, 1 tablespoon in each. (If you have a very large one, you might be able to get away with one roasting tin for these quantities.)

Rub the skin of the chicken in the oil, then turn skin-side up, 4 pieces of chicken in each tin or 6 at the most.

Divide the chorizo sausages and the gnocchi or new potatoes between the two tins.  Slice the capsicum into quarters and add 1 capsicum to each tray, if using. Now sprinkle the onion and the oregano of choice over everything.

Grate the orange zest over the contents of the 2 tins.

Grind some fresh black pepper over everything, a slight sprinkle of salt and you are away.

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, and then check if it is cooked.  However, after 30 minutes, it's a good idea to swap the top tray with the bottom tray in the oven and baste the ingredients with the lemon or orange flavoured juices. Add the cherry tomatoes to the trays at this point, scattering them throughout  the dish. The tomatoes will bring a nice flavoursome and juicy contrast to everything else and provide a little beautiful colour as well.

Garnish with chopped chives, fresh oregano, or parsley, and serve with some crusty bread if you wish. 

Can I cook gnocchi in an ovenproof baking dish?

Yes absolutely. Store bought refrigerated Gnocchi is such a great staple to have on hand, and also freezes well. It is serious comfort food when added to so many dishes, and bakes beautifully in the oven with other ingredients, not needing to be boiled first. It crisps up beautifully around the edges, and stays soft and pillowy inside. Even a simple traybake of chicken pieces, gnocchi, tomato or basil pesto, and grated cheese will be a very popular family meal. Add some extra vegetables and you are on a winner. However, the gnocchi should only need the 50 minutes in the oven, whereas the potatoes can stretch to the full hour.

When we were recently in Croatia on our scenic boat cruise along the Dalmatian coast, I was very surprised at how many delicious meals were served with gnocchi as a side dish. There is a very strong Italian influence in Croatia, primarily because of all the invasions the Croatians have endured. The Venetians really had their sights set on the exposed coast of Croatia, it's accessibility and the fertile land, and their invasions were mentioned frequently by our tour guides during our various tours on the islands we visited. Consequently, I became a real fan of gnocchi when I was over in Croatia, and because of the popular fusion of various European foods and flavours, and a specific Italian influence, I didn't think I would be breaking too many rules by using gnocchi in this dish. 

We were travelling in Spain in 2015, and I can't really remember gnocchi being used there very much in their cuisine, as potato is definitely more on point in Spanish food. The starchy texture of the potato absorbs all those delicious Spanish flavours like olive oil, paprika, and garlic and are a budget friendly staple vegetable. However, if you have visited Spain recently and observed the use of gnocchi in their dishes I would love to know. I'm going with it anyway in this dish, more because it is an easy and tasty substitute which I have on hand. 

Cooking notes:

• The ingredients for this recipe can easily be expanded to serve more dinner guests.
• I would also suggest that you use lemon zest rather than orange zest. The orange zest was pretty but I couldn't taste it whereas when I've used lemon zest in previous traybakes I've really enjoyed the remarkable boost of flavour. Nigella's original recipe for this uses orange zest and perhaps it depends on the oranges. 
• Tray bakes work well in shallow roasting tins, however I have cooked many traybakes in normal baking dishes and they have worked quite well. No need to go out and buy a special large shallow roasting tin.
• I've marked the 2 capsicums as optional which it is, but I just love the sweet flavours that baking a capsicum imparts to the dish. It is perfect in this recipe.
• If you would prefer to use tasty pork sausage instead of the chorizo you could, or a sausage of your choice minus garlic, it is possibly more economical, however if you do, just sprinkle some sweet paprika over the top of everything for the true Spanish experience.
• There are enough vegetables in this dish, particularly if you add a side of greens, as I would in Winter, to ensure you don't need a salad as well. For me, that is a Summer addition.
• I'm aware that the edges of the chorizo in the photos look a bit singed, a little like black pudding, ha ha, but it was perfectly edible. To be honest I cooked my dish for 60 minutes, it really only needed 50 minutes in my oven, sometimes distractions happen. So gauge how long you need to bake this depending on your oven, remembering that chorizo needs less cooking time that sausages.

As I mentioned above a Summery Spanish salad would be perfect to serve with this traybake. This is a typical Spanish salad that we ate over there. I really appreciated that we could always count on a fresh salad being available wherever we went.

We found that the Spanish folk love their boiled eggs, iceberg lettuce and tinned fish. Also note the green olives, the grated carrot, tomato, corn and radish. It's just like what we eat at home during the Australian Summer, don't you think or probably also in the Northern Hemisphere summer? However if serving a salad with this traybake, I would omit the tinned fish.

For dessert if keeping with the Spanish them, a Basque Burnt Cheesecake would be perfect. This cheesecake is simple to make and is absolutely delicious, and the burnt surface is meant to be. You can find the link to this cheesecake here.

Warm wishes, 

Pauline