Chicken, chickpea and chorizo - as Bowie sang, Ch... ch... ch... stew

Chicken, chickpea and chorizo stew

I know that makes it sound as if the great David B is sneezing, and I'm sure he does occasionally when he feels a tickle about the nostrils.  Enough already, and back to the stew.

Occasionally I do more than roast a chicken, especially when I have someone else to cook for.  Sometimes I do something with the chicken which I have not consumed - a curry, a stew.  This is one of my favourites.  It was originally known to me as 'Spanish-Hungarian Surprise' and is based on recipe given to me by a Hound of God or, to give them their less formal appellation, a Dominican friar.  The friar in question was a Father Gilbert Markùs who is half-Glaswegian and half-Hungarian, a great mixture.  His stew comprised: chopped onions; canned chopped tomatoes; vegetables (to hand, I think he might have included some carrots); sliced chorizo (the Spanish bit); Hungarian paprika (from relatives); and canned kidney beans.  It happily fed his fellow friars and my adaptation of Gilbert's recipe appeared to do much the same for Dalston and the gorgeously blooming Mary, with eyes of cornflower blue (like her father's) and roses in her cheeks.  So here it is, with thanks to Gilbert.

3 onions chopped in a small dice fried in olive oil
1 Chorizo skinned and sliced, I like piccante but please use dulce if you prefer
1 large or 2 small aubergines in a medium dice
Generous amounts of Hungarian paprika (I didn't measure this, it was probably a couple of tablespoons)
1 large (250ml) glass of good red wine (that is one you would drink) I used a Sangiovese di Romagna (50% off!)
Leftover roast chicken. 
2 tins of chickpeas (drained)

A word about the chicken.  All the chicken I cook is free range as an absolute minimum.  I also very rarely order chicken when in a restaurant for two reasons (a) I can cook anything with chicken at home and, as I eat quite a bit of chicken anyway I almost always fancy a change; and (b) there is no way I can guarantee that the chicken is at least free range.  The chicken used here was organic and free range (thanks to an M&S offer of 30% off).  I tend to cook chicken on the bone and I prefer to use thighs.  I always skin the chicken before cooking in a stew/liquid (I do this whether cooking raw chicken or, as in this case, chicken which has already been cooked).

The stew was served with rice (Basmati steamed with turmeric); salad (with a delicious dressing made by Dalston), and followed by Frangipane (plum).  It was Mary's first Frangipane moment and she seemed to enjoy it.

Hearty, filling and nutritious.  A delight by itself, and deliciously filling served with rice.  Just right as the nights start to draw in, the cold begins to nibble and Christmas gets ever closer.