This is heavy on red vegetables; red onion, Romano red pepper, tomatoes, carrot and a couple of red bird’s eye chillies cooked into a juicy slop moistened by chicken stock. The stew is finished with spinach and leftover roast chicken to make a deliciously vibrant mess. I served it with jacket potatoes but there is so much going, they were more about a different texture than the need for more vegetables. A chunk of crusty bread and butter would be a good alternative. If I’d had some sweetcorn, I would have added that too.
Serves 3-4
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 35 min
1 large red onion
1 Romano red pepper
2 red bird’s eye chillies
125g carrots
4 vine tomatoes
400g, approx, roast chicken
2 tbsp olive oil
150g chicken stock
150g baby spinach
Keeping separate piles, halve, peel and finely chop the onion. Split the pepper lengthways, discard the stalk and cut out the seeds and white filament. Slice into strips and then into small dice. Split the chillies, scrape away the seeds, slice into skinny batons and then into tiny dice. Scrape the carrots, cut into small pieces. Place the tomatoes in a bowl, cover with boiling water (from the kettle), leave for 40 seconds, drain, quarter lengthways and peel away the skin. Chop the pieces. Tear or cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Heat the oil in a lidded sauté/large frying pan over a medium heat and stir in the onion. Cook, stirring often for 10 minutes then add chilli and red pepper. Continue as before for a further 10 minutes. Add the carrots and ½ tsp salt. Add the tomatoes and their juices and 150ml stock. Bring to a steady not fierce simmer, cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes until the carrot is just tender. Stir in the spinach and when wilted – a couple of minutes – add the chicken. Heat through and serve now or later.