This means “chicken in the pan” in Spanish, but there is nothing remotely Spanish about the recipe other than a number of ingredients typical of Spanish cuisine.  It is, however, an incredibly easy and satisfying one-tin dinner, a distant cousin of ratatouille, and perfect for anyone wanting to cook a delicious meal with minimal effort.

In this case it was served with home-baked bread and my pan-steamed cabbage recipe, but you could easily serve with any variety of spuds, rice, pasta or couscous.

A friend rightly suggests that chunks of chorizo would go down a storm in this dish, and so they would.  Please add your own variations!

Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs, boneless – c2 per person
• 1-2 red onions, quartered
• 1-2 red/yellow peppers, cored and roughly chopped
• Several ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• Button mushrooms – a good handful
• Butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• Several cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
• Other veg as desired, chopped (eg. courgette, aubergine, carrot)
• Olive oil
• Maldon sea salt & fresh-ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
• Dried or fresh thyme

Take a well-seasoned roasting tin and add the veg in layers.  Space out the chicken thighs on top.  Cover generously with salt flakes, pepper, thyme, paprika and olive oil.

Cook in a moderate oven for 30-40 minutes, then stir well.  Cook for another 45 minutes, then serve.  There should be a generous gravy within the pan.