Recipe- Baked Rice with Chicken and Chorizo

I often buy skinless and boneless chicken thighs in my weekly shop, and then usually turn them into a curry or some kind of traybake, but when it came to the end of the week and thicken thighs were staring mournfully at me because I'd left them till last I felt like something different. A bit of a google about and I came across a Jamie Oliver recipe that I'd normally just skim past because he is notorious for using gallons of olive oil, mountains of cheese, being a bit poncy and is far too cheerful about it all. Also, chorizo is by no means syn free and I generally keep my meals as low syn as possible. But on closer inspection I thought I could give it a Slimming World twist - the recipe only called for 50g of chorizo which isn't too bad and the only olive oil in the recipe could easily be replaced by your favourite spray oil. So here it is, my slimmed-down version of Baked Rice with Chicken and Chorizo at 1 1/2 syns per serving. Jamie, eat your heart out!

To make Baked Rice with Chicken and Chorizo for four you will need:

• 250g wholemeal rice
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 red or yellow pepper, chopped
• 50g chorizo (6 syns - so 1.5 syns per portion)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 500g pack skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 500ml passata
• 300ml chicken stock
• 1 lemon
• frylight, or spray oil of choice

Spray a heatproof casserole dish with frylight and add the onion, garlic, pepper, chorizo and paprika, stirring until they start to soften. Add the rice and stir to coat in all the chorizo oil. Add the passata and stock, and zest and juice of the lemon. Put the chicken thighs in, and make sure they're submerged in the sauce before bringing to the boil. Pop the lid on your casserole dish and stick in the oven at 180/gas 4 for around 45 minutes to an hour - you want the rice to be "tender" according to Jamie, and the chicken cooked. If the sauce thickens too much, add a splash of boiling water. Serve with salad or steamed veg of your choice to get your 1/3 speed food in and enjoy.

I took out some of the poncy bits (sorry Jamie) but this really is a one-pot wonder. The kids ate it (although I did have to say the chorizo was pepperami), Mr MGAMT ate it and there was only one pot to wash after. Chicken thighs, done.

Hx