It calls for 6 cups of Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (another recipe in the book) but instead I bought a ready to eat rotisserie chicken. Saved lots of time and it was still delicious. I also cut the recipe in half since I was just feeding myself. But leftovers are great!

The cookbook suggests serving this with rustic, crusty bread and a green salad tossed with vinaigrette and Basque smoked sheep’s milk cheese called Idiazabal. I bought a sheep’s milk cheese that is similar to manchego and it was quite good. Also, suggested to have this with chilled hard cider (it’s gooood). Instead of crusty bread, I served this with rice.

Basque Chicken Ragout with Sausages & Sweet Peppers

serves 8

total time: about 35-40 minutes

1/4 cup fruity, good-quality Spanish olive oil

1 pound cooked spicy sausage, such as Spanish chorizo or andouille (cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch slices or if ground, simply left ground)

1 medium-large yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, chopped

2 1/2 pounds (6 to 8 ) large sweet peppers, mix of red and yellow, stemmed, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips

1 cup dry white wine (or substitute chicken broth)

1 (28-oz) can plum tomatoes with their juices

Kosher salt

2 t hot Spanish pimenton or Hungarian paprika

1 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 t sugar

6 cups Jimtown All-Purpose Shredded Roast Chicken (or 1 ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken)

2 T finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Directions

1. In a large deep skillet, over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausage and cook, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove and reserve. Do not discard the oil or clean the skillet. While the sausage browns, cut up the onions, garlic and peppers.

2. Set the skillet over low heat. Add the oinon and garlic and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and are beginning to brown, about 10 minutes – make sure to watch them so they don’t burn (if your heat is too high, they will start to burn).

3. Add the peppers, raise the heat to high, and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the peppers begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Start shredding the chicken as the onions, garlic and peppers cook. Just pull off the bone and pull it apart with your fingers.

4. Stir in the wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the browned deposits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the tomatoes and their juice, thoroughly breaking the tomatoes up with the side of a metal spoon. Stir in 2 t salt, the pimenton, black pepper, and sugar, then the chicken and chorizo, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Adjust the seasoning.

*The ragout can be prepared up to one day ahead. Cool, cover, and refridgerate, rewarming it over low heat until steaming.