"Spanish Chicken Stew"

I put the name of this post in quotes because I don't necessarily trust that the recipe is, in fact, Spanish, from Spain. Sure they might eat olives and chicken and paprika in Spain, but I'm still not convinced enough to call it Spanish without the quotes. And I know I don't usually cook meat or post about meaty recipes on Ripe, but ever since my friend and I cooked a confit chicken thang I've been really into doing the chicken confit thing a lot. It's so easy and kind of awesome - what you do is buy chicken pieces with skin on, turn a pan on low, and throw the chicken in there, skin-side down. The fat literally melts off the skin, and also browns it, making it super crispy for later. You then remove the chicken from the pan, set aside, and drain most (all but 1 T) drippings from pan. Then you cook your veggies in the chicken fat. Cool, huh? And when ready, add the chicken back, cover with a lid or braise in liquid of your choice until done and Voila! You're done.

So this is a recipe based on one in a Williams Sonoma cookbook. So weird, because I wasn't in a Williams Sonoma and I usually think their cookbooks are horribly uncreative and generic, but this one was good! (Anyone want to buy it for me??) Anyway, really, it was in the coop and I read it while browsing on the hunt for something to bring to a pot luck this weekend (more to come on that later). And I'm glad it was there because I found something to make this weekend and for dinner tonight, too!

Spanish Chicken Stew
2 chicken legs with thighs attached, skin on, patted dry and salt and pepper sprinkled on each side
2 bell peppers of any color, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 t smoked paprika
1 head cauliflower cut into florets
1/4 c chopped, pitted green olives
3/4 c cooked or canned chickpeas

Cook the chicken as described above over low heat. Remove from pan. Pour off all fat from pan except 1 Tablespoon. On medium heat, saute peppers and onion, about 5 min. Add garlic, and then tomatoes, paprika and cauliflower. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, another 5 min. Add chicken back to pan and cover. Cook on low heat with mixture simmering about 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add olives and chickpeas and cook until heated through, about 10 minutes. Serve with rice or potatoes.