Chicken and seafood pilaf

Serve with Chorizo sausage, tomatoes, green beans and almonds

Serves 4

Mussels are a delicious added ingredient, but as I am allergic to these mollusks (and so are many people), I cook them separately by adding the raw mussels to some garlic fried in butter and white wine, then I add them to the individual plates of the other guests.

The  chicken:
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 free-range chicken thighs, deboned, meat cut in bite-size pieces (reserve the bones)
1 cup brut  champagne
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup chicken stock
10 tarragon leaves

The mushrooms:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 rashers of bacon, finely diced
½ onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

The stock:
30 g/1 oz butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
12 medium prawns, shelled, keep shells and reserve prawns for later use
1 cup fish stock, heated

The rest of the ingredients:
375 g/13 oz fine green beans, topped, and cut into 6 cm pieces
2 cups Basmati rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
the peeled and reserved prawns, deveined
4 Chorizo sausages, sliced 5 mm/¼ in thick

The garnish:
6 spring onions, cut into 3 cm pieces
½ cup slithered almonds, roasted
1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, and diced in small pieces
½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
¼ cup chives, finely chopped

• In a cast-iron pan, heat the oil then add the chicken meat and bones and fry until golden brown all over. 
• Add the champagne, seasoning and half the tarragon and cook until all the alcohol has evaporated. 
• Add half the stock, cover the pan and simmer gently for another 30 minutes. Discard the bones.
• Meanwhile, heat some oil in a frying pan and add the bacon, onion and garlic and cook until translucent, then add the mushrooms and cook gently until tender.
• Remove from the pan and set aside in a warm place.
• Wipe the frying pan and heat the butter, add the garlic and the reserved prawn shells and cook until the shells are pink and aromatic.
• Add the rest of the chicken stock and cook for 10 minutes.  Strain the stock and discard the solids.
• Blanch the beans in boiling salted water, refresh in iced water, drain again and set aside in a warm place.
• Cover the rice with cold water, add salt and bring to the boil.  Cook until all the water has evaporated and the rice is tender.  Keep warm.
• Heat a large frying pan, wok or paella pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and fry the peeled prawns for about 2 minutes.  Season well then remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.  In the same pan, lightly fry the Chorizo sausages, and set aside.

Assemble the dish:

• Heat the same pan and add a little oil, add a third of the rice and spread over the bottom of the pan, then scatter over a third of the cooked and reserved ingredients.
• Scatter over half the Parmesan cheese and chopped chives.
• Then with two forks, lightly stir the mixture. Repeat the whole exercise. Lastly sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan cheese and chopped chives over and serve.