Spicy Calabrese Chicken

A little while ago I saw a Spicy Calabrese Chicken recipe on Saturday Morning Breakfast by Francesco Mazzei, then of L’Anima. A few days ago, after months of hunting around, I finally got hold of some n’duja and so had to have a go – with a little twist: it was finished on the Big Joe.

So, having got hold of some n’duja from a great new company called Larder Fair, I gathered up a few traditional Italian ingredients, brought the Big Joe up to temperature for an indirect cook with ceramic plates in and got cooking.

Thanks to my wife Lizzie for the photography.

INGREDIENTS

spicy calabrese chicken: serves 3

6 chicken thighs
100g n’duja
4 peppers (2 x red, 2 x green)
300ml chicken stock
100ml tomato passata
½ onion
fresh chilli
chives
parsley
splash of extra virgin olive oil
flour
salt and pepper

For the olive oil mashed potato:

700g potatoes
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

METHOD

Light your bbq and get it ready to cook at 180C. I prefer to put the ceramic plates in quite early and bring the temperature up slowly from there.

Get all your ingredients ready:

Roughly chop the peppers and onion

Finely chop the chilli, chives and parsley

Lightly flour the chicken thighs

Peel and chop your potatoes to an even size

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat, and brown the chicken thighs well on all sides.

In a separate oven/bbq proof pan sweat the onion and n’duja for a few minutes. One of the best things I have bought over the last few years was a set of Tefal Ingenio pans which allow you to easily transfer pots and pans between your hob and oven/bbq.

Add the chopped peppers, passata and 200ml of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Then add the chicken, chilli and chopped herbs.

Season to taste before transferring to the bbq.

I laid a sheet of tin foil down under the pan to protect it a little from the grill.

Bbq for approximately 20 mins adding a little of the remaining stock throughout.

For the mash, place the potatoes into a large saucepan and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes or so until ready. Drain and return to the pan to dry off a little. Mash well, gradually adding the olive oil before seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Test the chicken with a thermometer to confirm it’s cooked, it should read at least 75C. I love my thermapen, first thing I would suggest anyone who likes roasting meat should get.