The great thing about this recipe is you get crispy skin and you get this crazy delicious sauce. Bits of chorizo floating around. Roasted red peppers. Cherry tomatoes. And the secret weapon. Calabrian chilies.
Calabrian chilies are a secret you need to know
Don’t know about Calabrian chilies? Time to find out. Any decent Italian deli will have them. And they keep forever in the fridge. Don’t just get them just for this recipe though. Great on pizza. Spiced oil. Pasta. Little salty flavour bombs. If you can’t get them, you can substitute crushed red chili. But you will be missing out. So try to get them if you can.
Keep the chicken above the liquid for crispy skin
This is sort of a braise. But it isn’t quite. The thing with braises is either you remove the skin like in Indian cooking. Or you put up with that soft mushy skin you get from simmering. Personally, I’m OK with the mushy skin but not everybody loves it. Some might even go as far as to say they don’t even like it. Or that it sucks. Easy way around it. Not rocket science. Keep the skin above the surface of the liquid the whole time. It can be simmering but the skin needs to stay dry. That keeps it crisp. Crispy skin. Delicious, braise like sauce. It just comes together sometimes. Easy.
Calabrian chicken and chorizo
I’m going to call this dish Italian. Calabria is in Italy. But it’s really a mix. Spanish paprika. Portuguese chorizo. French technique. Calabrian chicken and chorizo could be from anywhere in that part of Europe really. But it’s my recipe so I get to choose. No matter where you think it’s from, Calabrian chicken and chorizo is just tasty. Try it sometime. If you like chicken. If you like chorizo. And if you like a bit of spice, this will work for you.
