Pure warming, hearty, comfort food – perfect for this time of year as the nights begin to draw in. Frying the chicken before roasting it helps to give it a nice crispy skin, and then cooking it in the sauce adds loads of lovely spicy, punchy flavour to the meat. I like to eat this with some simply cooked white rice and lots of crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce. Easy to cook, nutritious, healthy, easy on the wallet and amazingly tasty – whats not to like!

Music I Cooked to:

Ingredients

2 red onions
2 medium sized carrots
2 cloves of garlic
3 Chicken thighs (bone in)
3 Chicken legs
Tin butter beans
200g smoked ham (cubed or chopped) – ideally for authenticity use Panceta Adobado (Spanish pancetta). You could use normal pancetta… if you do, it would be good to marinade it in red wine vinegar, smoked paprika and garlic for a couple of hours beforehand. Link to Spanish Panceta HERE. Waitrose do an easy version HERE.
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp Sun Dried Tomato paste
2 tbsp chilli powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
Handful chopped parsley
Handful peas (fresh or frozen)
salt and pepper to taste
100ml Chicken stock
100ml Balsamic vinegar
250ml red wine (spanish for extra authenticity)
Splash of red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar or honey

Preparation Method:

Finely dice and chop the onions, chilli, and garlic.
Very finely slice the carrots
Heat a frying pan with a tbsp of vegetable oil. At the same time pre-heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
Fry the chicken pieces until they are nicely browned all over.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper – cover with foil and set aside
In the same pan fry the onion over a medium-high heat until they begin to brown.
Add the carrots and fry for another 8 mins until the carrot begins to soften. Add a splash of red wine vinegar.
Add the garlic and chilli and continue to fry for a further 5 mins.
Add the red wine, balsamic vinegar and chicken stock. Turn down to a medium heat and cook for 5 mins
Add the tomato puree, sun dried tomato paste, smoked paprika, chilli powder and stir in. Continue to reduce. You should end up with a thick sauce like consistency.
Drain the butter beans and add to the sauce
Add the chicken pieces to the sauce.
Add the sugar. Simmer the whole mixture for a further 5 mins.
Take the base mixture off the hob, cover with foil and place in the oven for around 30mins.
After 25mins quickly fry the smoked ham in some oil for around 2mins
After 30mins remove from the oven, take off the foil. Baste the chicken with the sauce, add the smoked ham to the pan and place back in the oven for another 10-15 mins until the chicken skin is nicely browned and crispy.
For the last few minutes of cooking time place the peas into the pan
Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the parsley
To serve prepare some white rice, spoon the rice into a bowl and then place a piece of chicken meat with a generous helping of the rich, delicious sauce on top.

So there is a brief bit of history behind this recipe’s origination. Basically about 2 years ago a certain well known Piri Piri chicken chain changed their loyalty cards and refused to accept the two I had diligently been collecting stamps for – despite the fact they were completed and I was eagerly anticipating two, whole, juicy, spicy and most importantly FREE chickens. Thanks to this crappy customer service, in a fit of (pathetic) rage I decided to boycott said restaurant chain and invent my own Piri Piri chicken recipe to get me over my frequent cravings.

Thus began many hours of sad, sad research into Piri Piri preparation. And not just Piri recipes – I looked at all sorts of spicy chicken recipes from american bbq to indian curried, in my quest to invent what I believe to be the ultimate in Piri Piri chicken. This isn’t a purists Piri chicken – I’ve added a few elements and steps that you wouldn’t find a your average, bog standard Piri recipe – But it is better! This is, what I hope, a Piri Piri recipe would look like if it evolved towards self awareness.

I’ll admit that this recipe does require a smidgeon more effort than popping down to your local high street food chain… BUT it is so worth it. The extra effort is minimal – all thats required is a small amount of pre-planning and effort in order to prepare the dry rub salt cure for the chicken and cook some rice about a day before hand. This dry rub may seem like a lot of needless prep, but the extra juicy, moistness and booming flavour it adds to the meat is astounding. Dry rubs essentially work by using the salt/sugar to draw out the water in the meat, allowing it to mingle with the flavours in the cure, before, through a process of osmosis, all the surrounding moisture is drawn back into the meat. And just like that – BOOM – your meat becomes juicy flavour central. Then with an extra short marinade for good measure this recipe packs a hot, spicy, sweet, sticky wallop of Piri Piri awesomeness.

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken dry cure rub

salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 chopped and crushed garlic cloves
2 tbsp. fresh rosemary leaves
2 tbsp. fresh oregano leaves
2 tbsp smoked paprika
4 tsp. rock salt
1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
10 sprigs lemon thyme
2 tsp. light brown sugar

For the chicken

2kg/4½lb whole free range/organic chicken
salt and freshly ground black pepper
150ml/5fl chicken stock
250 ml/5fl red wine
250ml/5fl Cider
3 red onions

For the peri peri sauce

4 garlic cloves
5 red chillies
2 Birds Eye Chilli
2 tbsp of tomato puree
2cm/1in piece of ginger, grated
50ml/2fl oz vegetable oil
25ml/1 fl oz white or red wine vinegar
250ml/5fl Cider
3 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp hot Tabasco
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp chilli powder
3 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped lemon thyme
1 tsp caster sugar
1 lime, zest and juice

For the spicy rice

300g of cooked rice
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 brown onion
3 sticks celery
½ bunch spring onions
a large handful of sugar snap peas
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 garlic glove

Preparation method:

Rub chicken with garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt, sugar, lemon zest, and pepper. Place in a resealable plastic bag. Add thyme, seal bag, and chill at least 12 hours and up to a full day.
To make the piri-piri sauce, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Place the chillies on a roasting tray and roast them for 10 minutes.
Cool and finely chop the chillies. Heat some oil in a large pan. Place the rest of the ingredients for the sauce in the saucepan, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Allow the mixture to COOL. Very important – unless you’re a fan of E.coli and salmonella bacteria
You can use a large mortar and pestle or a blender to turn the mixture into a more paste like consistency, though its not vital. I didn’t.
Spatchcock the chicken – remove the chicken’s backbone, then break the breast, whilst flattening out the chicken. Spatchcocking the chicken allows it to roast quicker in the oven, at a high temp, and crisp up the skin better. If you’re unsure how to spatchcock a chicken, just use one of the many tutorials available on the web. Add half the piri-piri sauce, spreading it evenly over the chicken. Seal with cling film and marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F/Gas 6, AND preheat a large griddle or sauce pan on the hob.
Season the marinated chicken, and cook it on the pan for 2-3 minutes on each side, until the skin is golden brown.
Transfer the browned chicken to a roasting tray with a rack. Pour the cider and red wine into the bottom of the roasting tray. Peel and quarter the red onions, then scatter in the roasting tray. Cover in foil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
After twenty minutes remove foil, scatter a tbsp of caster sugar over the top of the chicken and increase temp to 250 for around 10 minutes to crisp up the skin, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thigh registers 165°F / 72C° and the juices run clear.
For the rice – heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Fry the onions until browned. Cook the peppers, celery and white parts of the spring onions for 5 mins. Finely slice and chop the garlic and ginger then add to the pan.
Tip in the purée and paprika, stir, then add the cooked rice, breaking up with a wooden spoon so all the grains are coated well. Use a high heat and scrape any that sticks off the bottom so you get some soft and some crispy parts. Heat until piping hot. At the last moment add the sugar snap peas and cook everything, stirring regularly, for around 3 minutes.
Scatter the green parts of the spring onion on top and set aside briefly.
Back to the chicken – Once cooked, carefully lift the chicken from the roasting tin onto a plate and cover it loosely with foil so it can rest and become juicier.
Now to make some more Piri Piri sauce to serve with the chicken. Carefully pour the oil out from the roasting tin, leaving the juice and sticky bits behind. Put it on a medium heat and add the onions, the rest of the prepared sauce mixture, some chopped tomatoes and the cider, stock and red wine. Allow to simmer and reduce for a some minutes, scraping up all the sticky bits from the bottom.
Returning to the chicken, pour any juices on the plate into the sauce before carving the meat. Arrange on serving plates with the roasted Piri Piri sauce and a helping of the spicy rice.