Chicken & Chorizo Tray Bake

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 300 g baby new potatoes, halved
• 1 red pepper, chunked
• salt and pepper
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100 g chorizo, sliced into coins
• 1 lemon, halved
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C fan. While it comes up, pat the chicken thighs dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no bronzing.
2. Tip the halved potatoes, red pepper chunks, onion wedges and chorizo coins onto a large baking tray. Drizzle with the olive oil, scatter over the smoked paprika, and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat — the paprika needs the oil to bloom and wake up in the heat of the oven; raw paprika tastes dusty, bloomed paprika tastes of itself. Spread everything in a single layer with room around each piece. Crowd the tray and you'll steam the lot instead of roasting.
3. Season the chicken thighs hard on both sides with salt and pepper, then nestle them skin-side up on top of the vegetables so they sit proud and the chorizo oil can render down through the potatoes.
4. Roast for 22–25 minutes, until the chicken reads 74°C at the thickest part and the tops are lightly bronzed, the potatoes are golden and slip off the point of a knife, and the chorizo coins have curled at the edges with their rust-orange oil pooling into the tray.
5. Pull the tray out and taste a potato — adjust salt now, not at the table. Squeeze the lemon halves generously over everything; the acid cuts straight through the chorizo fat and lifts the paprika.
6. Bring the tray to the table, scatter over the chopped parsley, and serve with the spent lemon halves alongside for anyone who wants another squeeze.