1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound dried chorizo, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips about 1-inch wide
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon saffron
1 bottle (12 ounces) dark beer, such as Negro Modelo or Newcastle Brown Ale
1 can (28 ounces) no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 package (9 ounces) frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and gently squeezed to remove excess moisture
1 cup green peas (no need to thaw if frozen)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1½ cups wild rice
1. Since you’ll be making this in a large Dutch oven, preferably one with a very heavy, tight-fitting lid, you’ll need to figure out how it’ll fit in your oven. Position the rack so that the covered pot sits as close to the center of the oven as possible with a couple of inches of air space above the lid. Preheat the oven to 350°F—without the pot in there!
2. Set the pot over medium heat on the stovetop and get it warmed up. Pour in the oil, then add the chorizo pieces. Brown them well on all sides, maybe 4 or 5 minutes, turning often. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the chicken strips and brown them, taking care to stir occasionally so they don’t stick, about 4 minutes as well. Transfer to the plate with the sausage pieces.
4. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pot, then add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened somewhat, about 4 minutes.
5. Stir in the thyme, oregano, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, and saffron until very aromatic, maybe 30 seconds. Pour in the beer; as the foaming subsides, stir to scrape up any browned bits in the pot.
6. Stir in the canned tomatoes and their juice, the artichoke hearts, peas, and vinegar. Jack up the heat and bring the mixture to a full simmer.
7. Stir in the wild rice, then nestle the sausage and chicken strips into the pot. Once the sauce is back at a simmer, cover the pot and slide it into the oven. Bake until the rice is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, between 40 and 50 minutes, depending on the moisture content of the wild rice. Set outside the oven, covered, for 10 minutes to steam and meld the flavors before serving.
SERVES 4
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
CHEF IT UP!
TESTERS’ NOTES
Here’s a collection of warm dishes that sets out to reimagine standard recipes with whole grains in the mix. In other words, these dishes have been tweaked to include whole grains—like Stir-Fried Buckwheat, a way to bring one of the most ancient grains of China up into a modern technique; or Louisiana-Inspired Red Beans and Kamut, a twist on the classic Creole dish with the chewy, substantial, but still sweet, whole grain standing in for the blander white rice.
When we set out to develop these recipes, we imagined they’d be among the easiest in the book: recipes that we knew well from years in the food business, that we’d made many a time both at home and for work, now with a whole grain.
How wrong we were! Take the Lamb and Triticale Tagine, a glorious twist on a North African classic. We knew we wanted to put the more aggressive, slightly sweet/sour flavors of triticale berries into the highly flavored, aromatic stew. However, we soon discovered that the whole grain required more adjustments than we’d first thought. We had to “rearrange” the spice blend several times, settling on a fuller palette of “warm” spices like cinnamon, cloves, and cumin to balance the grain’s flavors. We discovered that the grain’s sweetness meant we needed far less honey than we’d been putting in tagines for years. And we played around with the fat quite a bit before landing on the slightly nutty, silky finish of almond oil.
All that’s par for the course when developing recipes, of course, but we were still surprised when it came to these classics. And it was the same story time and again. The baked beans with barley required a more commanding mix of molasses and vinegar; our well-stocked couscous required a good punch of cayenne and cilantro to balance the barley, probably the original grain used to create this North African classic.
All of which has led us to believe that some of these standard recipes have dialed down their flavors over the years to compensate for their dependence on refined grains. With white rice or refined-wheat couscous, a dish’s essential flavors have dulled to a vague sweetness—and the other enhancements have been toned down to harmonize better. You can’t toss a nice handful of cilantro into a bowl of white rice. The refined grain’s going to come out the loser in that fight!
Which is too bad. We are hard-wired to relish big tastes. Bland dishes lead to mindless eating. Instead, we should demand the bolder flavors that bring more satisfaction in every bite. And we should savor them more slowly—which is what a whole grain allows. We chew, we slow down, we enjoy. That’s the essence of a great meal.