June 11, 2021

Chicken & Chorizo in Red Wine

“What’s for dinner mom?” my children, aged 12 and 13.

My eldest daughter turns 14 next week. We started weaning her at 6 months so if my calculations are correct and if I factor in all the take-out, vacation dinners and meals cooked by friends, then I’ve made her more than 4300 dinners.

Frequently my days run away with me and I’m still in my workout gear at 3pm hunched over my computer on long distance calls when I find myself scrambling for dinner ideas. The reality is that some weeks we’re very organized with a menu plan, and others we are not. At the same time as the dinner conundrum is playing in the back of my mind I’m also thinking of crafting recipes for Zen. What ingredients do I have in the fridge? Could I record a recipe reel for Instagram? Can I squeeze in making a “How To” TikTok before I head out on the school run and return to start my next series of phone calls?

So when the familiar chime of “What’s for dinner mom?” comes, I try to be prepared. Sometimes it’s fancy, other times it’s eggs on toast, and occasionally someone else takes up the culinary reins. Most often it’s on me and I am very demanding of my cooking. At the end of a long day I don’t want be disappointed when I sit down to taste my food and relax.

Sometimes finding my way to dinner can be easier with a single ingredient as the foundation. Earlier this month to mildly offset the sadness of postponing our upcoming vacation to the Basque country I picked up a fine chorizo in the market to bring a little Spain into our kitchen. Chorizo is a guaranteed way to add richness, flavor, and texture to a dish.

Armed with the chorizo, defrosted chicken breasts and a half bottle of decent red wine my husband left on the counter this dish came together with our Provençale herb blend in the Instant Pot. There’s little prep other than to dice the onion, chorizo and chicken (all of which you can purchase ready prepared), and then it all goes into the pot together for 6 minutes. The chicken remains moist and the breast cooks best when it is chunked. I was not disappointed with this dinner and everyone went in for second helpings.

So what does dinner look like for my vegetarian daughter if we have meat in the mix? I can usually manufacture a veggie version of the meat dish but I can’t do this chicken and chorizo recipe justice in vegetarian form because it’s all about the meats, bathed in luscious red wine gravy. She shared the roasted baby potatoes topped with a fried egg, the French bean salad and a dash of hot sauce.

Check out our hundreds of recipes here on the website and here on the blog, for more ideas on “What’s for dinner?”

Next week we’re featuring a new recipe for Smoky BBQ grilled salmon, easy to prepare for a Father’s Day feast with Dad. Buy one Smoky BBQ and get one free here with discount code Dad2021. Gift one to another Dad you love!

Print Recipe

Chicken & Chorizo in Red Wine

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup (1 small) red onion diced, small 1/4"
4 oz chorizo diced, small 1/4"
2 lbs chicken breast chunks, large 1" pieces
1 cup wine red or broth
1 Provençale blend
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup water

Instructions

Pressure Cook

Heat oil on sauté function medium; add onion & chorizo and soften for 2 minutes
Add the chicken; turn off sauté function
Stir in the red wine while the pot is still hot, sprinkle in the Provencale blend, stir in the tomato paste & water
Secure the cooker lid, seal pressure valve; cook on Manual/Pressure for 6 minutes.
Quick Pressure Release and allow to sit for a couple of minutes
Serve with crusty bread & green salad, or roasted baby potatoes & French beans in vinaigrette

Slow Cook

Heat oil on in a skillet over medium heat; add onion & chorizo and soften for 2 minutes; transfer to slow cooker
Add the red wine to the skillet to "deglaze" the pan; transfer liquid to slow cooker
Stir the chicken into the onion mixture in the slow cooker, sprinkle in the Provencale blend, stir in the tomato paste & water
Stir, cover and cook on LOW: 4-5 hours or HIGH: 2 hours

Notes

To keep this to a one-pot dish add a can of drained garbanzo beans or your favorite white beans into the chicken and chorizo mix.

“Deglazing is simply the act of adding liquid to a hot pan, which allows all of the caramelized bits stuck to the bottom to release.” – Bon Appétit

It also helps to burn off a little of the alcohol in the red wine.

While most of the alcohol will cook out during the cooking process, if you are nervous about serving a dish with wine then substitute for the chicken broth instead.

Zen Moment