Baked rice with chicken, peppers and chorizo

Inspired by oven-cook risottos, this paella-style rice dish involves no stirring, just beautifully cooked saffron rice, rich with chorizo, chicken and garlic.

SERVES FOUR INGREDIENTS

1 red onion, roughly chopped 2 red peppers, thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves, grated 6 free-range skinless, boneless chicken thighs

150g firm chorizo, thickly sliced into 1cm coins

2 tbsp olive oil

4 generous pinches of good saffron (I like Belazu)

250g paella rice 600ml hot chicken stock Juice of 1 lemon

To serve

Chopped flat-leaf parsley 1 lemon, cut into wedges

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. Tip the onion, peppers, garlic, chicken thighs, chorizo and olive oil into a roasting tin or a flat-lidded casserole fish large enough to hold everything in roughly one layer (it’s OK if there’s a bit of overlap). Transfer to the oven and roast for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, pop the saffron strands into a mug with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water and set aside.

Once the chicken and peppers have had 25 minutes, remove the tin from the oven and stir through the paella rice, hot chicken stock, and steeped saffron along with the saffron water. Cover tightly with foil or the lid (this is important so the rice cooks), then return to the oven at 180C/160C/Gas 4 for a further hour, until the rice is cooked through.

Once the paella is cooked, add a dash more chicken stock or boiling water to adjust the texture as you wish, squeeze over the lemon juice, taste and adjust the salt as needed, then serve hot, scattered with parsley and with lemon wedges alongside.