Chicken-chorizo stew

This was my friend Ken-ichi's dish for last week's installment of my iSchool supper club. It was delicious (and beautiful, but I don't have a digital camera). I would've liked more chorizo, and I recommend letting some of the orzo crust up on the bottom of the pot.

Ingredients

• 6-8 chicken thighs (enough to cover the bottom of a large saucepan)
• 7 grams Spanish chorizo, sliced (the hard, smoke-cured kind)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 large red bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 24 oz chicken stock or water
• 6 oz green beans
• 2.5 oz black olives
• 1 lb orzo

1. Skin the chicken and trim the fat. Heat a few tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of a large saucepan, and brown the chicken (watch out for spatter). They don't need to cook all the way through, just long enough so they're nice and golden and have left nice golden chickeny bits sticking to the pot.

2. Remove the chicken and remove all but a few tbsp of the remaining fat and oil (or leave it; fat == deliciosity). Add the chopped onions and saute until soft. Add the garlic, bell pepper, paprika, and chorizo and cook a little while until you start smelling that chorizo. Add the stock (or water) and simmer, covered, for 30 mins.

3. Add the green beans, olives, and orzo, and simmer uncovered until the orzo is cooked and has absorbed most of the liquid, about 15-20 mins.

NOTE: You can use other hard, smoked sausages, and even things like brats in place of the chorizo here and it'll still taste good (if not the same), but I don't recommend fresh sausages or Mexican chorizo. I tried the latter once and was unpleasantly surprised.