Spicy Chicken Stew to celebrate 20 Years of Freedom Food with Sainsbury's

I always try to buy higher welfare meat, especially chicken, and preferably free range chicken at that.  The meat always tastes better and I am able to utilise what we buy in several meals to spread the cost and make it more affordable.  

I was asked by Sainsbury's to develop a recipe to help them celebrate 20 Years of Freedom Food with Sainsbury's and came up with a Spicy Chicken Stew which served 5 generously for dinner, with leftovers making a tasty lunch served with homemade tortilla wraps.

Sainsbury’s sells more Freedom Food labelled products than any other supermarket, and more than 60 per cent of all Freedom Food sold in the UK.  In fact, they stock more than 368 different products, including chicken, eggs, pork, salmon, trout, turkey and veal.  The RSPCA's Freedom Food label gives consumers confidence that the food they're buying has come from an animal that has been cared for to strict RSPCA welfare standards, for the whole of its life.

Spicy Chicken Stew

1 Tblsp oil

8 - 10 chicken portions, bone in and skin on

2 large red onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 chilli, finely diced (or more to taste)

1 tsp ground cumin

6 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

300ml - 500ml chicken stock

3 Tblsp fresh oregano leaves or 3 tsp dried

420g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 peppers, deseeded and diced

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, brown the chicken in batches then set aside.  Add the onions, garlic, chilli and cumin to the pan and cook until the onion starts to soften.  Return the chicken to the pan with the tomatoes, stock and oregano.  Bring to the boil then reduce the heat so the stew simmers.  Cook, covered for 30 minutes.  Add the kidney beans and diced peppers then simmer uncovered for a further 20 minutes.  Serve the stew with rice, quinoa or mashed potato and steamed greens or mixed vegetables.  Sprinkle with a little more fresh oregano if you like.

I was asked to provide a cost breakdown for this meal which served 5 generously for dinner and lunch the next day.

Free range corn fed Freedom Food Chicken (10 pieces) £6

2 cloves garlic 5p

1 chilli 20p

2 red onions 40p

6 tomatoes, free from our allotment or £1 from supermarket

Chicken Stock 10p

Fresh Oregano, free from our back garden

400g tin Kidney Beans 30p

Basics Peppers 50p

Total Cost £8.55 or 85p per portion for 10 portions, not including the cost of accompaniments such as rice, mixed vegetables, tortilla wraps, etc.

5 portions rice 25p

5 portions mixed vegetables 60p

Mixed greens, free from our allotment

10 homemade tortillas 50p

Total cost of both meals with accompaniments £9.90 or 99p per serving for 10 servings.

** Disclosure: I was compensated for my time, expertise and ingredients used when developing this recipe **