Dinner in a flash…

Ideally, I like to plan dishes in advance, mulling over possible candidates and ingredients in my head. Sometimes though (and I am sure lots of other people can relate), a mealtime just kinda creeps up on your busy schedule with no meal prepared. This happened the other night so I had to scrounge around for random ingredients to throw together and here’s what happpend…

Kinda Spanish Chicken ChichaJo

– 4 pieces chicken (this was all I had, 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs, but you can use breasts if you are so inclined)
– Bacon, chopped into 1 inch slices (I probably used 1/4 – 1/3 cup)
– 1/4 – 1/3 cup chorizo (any kind will do, but preferrably one of Spanish ancestry…I just used what was lying around…this was a throw-together dish after all. I chopped it up into tiny pieces so that it incorporated itself into the sauce)
– 1 Tablespoon honey (you can adjust the amount to your own taste)
– 1/3 cup red wine, I may have used more (I used a bottle of merlot that was sitting around more than half empty. Hmmm…seem to have a number of opened bottles of booze laying about)
– 1 can tomato sauce (mine was around 300++ grams, I am sure this will be even better with canned whole tomatoes or maybe even fresh)
– Garlic (about 4 cloves)
– 1 medium onion, sliced
– Some green and black olives, sliced in half
– a little over 1/2 teaspoon Pimenton Dulce (smoked paprika from Spain, I get mine at Terry’s Selection)
– Dried chili flakes (depends on your heat-tolerance)
– Salt & Pepper to taste (I actually ended up not using any salt as the saltiness from the olives was enough)
– Olive oil

Here’s what you do…

– Brown the chicken in some olive oil and then set aside.
– In the same pan sautee the garlic and onions.
– Add your bacon and chorizo and sautee until just cooked through.
– Toss in the olives, pimenton, and dried chili flakes.
– Toss in the chicken and toss around until everything is nicely mixed and chicken is coated with all the good stuff in the pan.
– Pour in the wine and let the alco evaporate.
– Add the tomato sauce and honey, mix and let simmer.
– Add salt and pepper to taste (I just added pepper).
– Simmer until chicken is done and tender.

That’s it. My brother and I loved it! The reason I dubbed it as “kinda Spanish” is because of the Spanish elements (like the chorizo and pimenton) and because it has a similar tone as a lot of Spanish chicken recipes I have…hmmm, my mad grab for ingredients may not have been so random after all.