Spanish Beer Chicken

08.05.2020 Jackie Dodd-Mallory (Senior Editor) 3 Comments

Spanish Beer Chicken

What are you doing to feel normal? To forget that we use phrases like "the virus" and "pre-pandemic" and "social distancing" more often than ever thought possible? For some people, it’s routine that brings comfort, and for others, it’s the lack of it. I have never been a schedule keeper, so that was never really an option for me. Cooking makes me feel normal, it just makes everything feel ok. 

One-pot meals feel like normalcy, it makes me feel like I have better things to do than the dishes, even if I don’t. Because really, I don’t. This particular one-pot meal reminds me of traveling, of Spain and even of Brazil for some reason. It reminds me to trust that I will someday get on a plane again, and that the world is out there waiting for us to visit once it’s safe. 

For now, this is as close as I can get to leaving town. It’s as close as I can get to travel, and it will just have to do for now. For now, we just sit back and appreciate the healthy people in our lives, and a job if you have one, and know that the rest is out there to enjoy later. For now, it’s one-pot chicken, beer, and Netflix. There are far worse fates. 

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Spanish Beer Chicken

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Ingredients

  

• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 bone-in and skin-on pieces of chicken legs, thighs
• 2 bell peppers chopped
• ½ of one large white onion chopped
• 1 cup (180g) uncooked white rice
• ¾ cups (6oz) low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup (8oz) pale ale beer
• 1 (14oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 (4oz) link Spanish chorizo* chopped
• ¼ cup (45g) chopped Spanish olives
• ¼ cup (6g) chopped parsley

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• In a small bowl combine the paprika, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and salt.
• Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with the spice mixture, reserve any remaining spice mixture.
• Add the chicken, skin side down to a large, shallow pan with a lid (off heat). Add to medium heat, add the lid at a vent or add a splatter guard. Cook until the chicken skin has browned and a significant amount of fat has rendered (cooking chicken at a lower temperature for a longer time helps to render more fat and crisp the skin much more effectively than searing in a hot pan).
• Once the chicken skin has crisped, remove from pan (the chicken does not need to be cooked through). Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat. 
• Add the chorizo, bell peppers and onion to the pan over medium-high heat
• Once the vegetables have softened and started to brown, add the beer, stirring and scraping to deglaze the pan.
• Add the broth, and tomatoes bring to a low simmer, stir in the rice.
• Add the chicken back into the pot in an even layer.
• Cover and add to the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the rice is softened and cooked and the chicken is cooked through.
• Top with Spanish olives and parsley. Serve warm.

Notes

*Spanish chorizo is very different from Mexican chorizo. If you can’t find Spanish chorizo, a good substitute is linguica, or Andouille sausage.