23.09.08: Pollo alla Cacciatora and rocket salad

He put together this fast-becoming-weekly staple stew of chicken, pancetta, crushed tomatoes, cannellini bnz and white wine reduction. As an added treat he cut up some chorizo and added it to the pot and then served it all over brown rice. A rocket salad with radishes, tomatoes, avo and physalis looked on eagerly.

HE SAYS: The inclusion of the chorizo really upped the taste stakes, a very nice addition, creating another note of spice and paprika within the sauciness of the dish. I added a touch more wine to keep the liquid ratio high and a little more chopped rosemary then the recipe called for in order to add more of an intense rustic herby flava. The chicken thighs really tasted fantastic, are a cheap cut, and helped season the broth (unlike breast meat, which although tasty doesn't release any flava and doesn't tend to infuse anything). The rocket salad was more savoury then we have had recently, the crunchy radishes making their peppery presence felt and finding only small resistance in the tiny shweetness of the physalis.

SHE SAYS: Agree the chorizo was a splendid indulgence, though this dish already packs quite an intensely savoury flavour punch. I think this version achieved the perfect ratio of brothy to saucy, and again totally agree with His observations on the infuse-ability of dark vs white meat. The tang of the physalis worked my tastebuds more strongly than His, it seems, or maybe it just gets more of my happy attention - I found the radishes more of a crunch supplier than a tastemaker.