A new 'favourite'....

I've waited a long time to try out this dish. I spotted it in Mediterranean Escapes by Rick Stein when I first bought it years ago and wanted to try it as my hubby adores butterbeans and I knew he would love it. Unfortunately the key ingredient, a mallorcan sausage called sobrasada wasn't available to buy in the U.K at the time so when I saw it as a new addition to the range carried by The Tapas Lunch Company last week I was quick to order some to try. So quick in fact they also sent some free :)

So on to the dish in question. It's a wonderful one pot (well two if you count the tomato sauce pan)wonder, which I always like, less moaning by the dishwashers about the mess I have created! And the recipe is as follows..

• 100g/3½oz dried butter beans (ideally judión), soaked overnight, or 225g/8¾oz butter beans from a jar, drained and rinsed
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 free-range chicken breasts, skin on
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• a good pinch of peperoncino, or crushed dried chillies
• 75g/2½oz sobrassada, thinly sliced.
• 350g/12¼oz courgettes, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into slices
• 300ml/10½fl oz tomato sauce (see below)
• a small handful of flatleaf parsley leaves, chopped

                 For the tomato sauce

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 500g/1lb 2oz well-flavoured tomatoes, skinned or 1 x 400g/14oz can plum tomatoes
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

If using soaked dried beans, drain them, tip them into a pan and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20-25 minutes until almost tender. Add ½ teaspoon salt and continue to cook until tender - another five minutes. Drain and set aside. I prefer just to open a can, less chance of forgetting to soak the beans!

 

For the tomato sauce, put the three tablespoons olive oil and garlic into a medium-sized pan and as soon as the garlic starts to sizzle, add the tomatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as they cook, until the sauce has reduced and thickened.Season with one teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Set to one side.

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the two tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan, add the chicken breasts, skin-side down, and cook for five minutes over a medium heat until golden-brown. Turn over and cook for a further five minutes.

Move the chicken breasts to one side of the pan and add the peperoncino or chilli flakes and sobrassada, and allow the sobrassada to melt into the oil. Turn the chicken breasts over in the now spicy oil until well coated then lower the heat, scatter over the courgettes, cover and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Uncover the pan, add the cooked or jarred butter beans and tomato sauce, re-cover and simmer for a further five minutes until the beans are heated through. Scatter with the chopped parsley and serve with either steamed rice or cooked pasta. Or simply with some bread, we found that was enough with it.