I am a big fan of serrano ham, it’s right up there with chorizo (chorizo being the clear winner as you may have gathered from previous recipes). In particular I love serrano ham with very garlicky mushrooms (recipe here). So this Chicken, Serrano Ham, Mushroom Stew was bound to happen sooner or later.

I own an electric pressure cooker (which also slow cooks, etc.), mine is an Instant Pot and I love it for the convenience of being able to walk away from it, it means I can programme it and walk away from it without having to hang around for it to hiss and then set a timer (so, if you’re making this in a stove-top pressure cooker, all you need to do is hang around and programme the time, which should be the same). All my Instant Pot and pressure cooking recipes are right here.

If you’re making it the conventional way or on a slow cooker, just follow the first sauteing/frying steps and let it run for a few hours in your slow cooker.

Serve this with mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash, vegetables, whatever takes your fancy but don’t forget a good slice of crusty bread to dip in that lovely sauce.

Don’t forget to join my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas group over on Facebook.

Ready?

Chicken Stew with Serrano Ham and Mushrooms – Instant Pot or conventional cooking

– 75 g serrano ham, diced (you could use a gammon joint/ham cooked in your Instant Pot of course, here‘s a recipe)
– 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

– 750 g chicken thigh fillets, diced

– 1 medium onion, chopped
– 5 garlic cloves, chopped
– 175 g mushrooms, sliced

– 100 ml dry white wine

– 1 teaspoon chicken stock paste or half a chicken stock cube (or of course you could use my Vegetable Stock Paste which is full of flavour)

– A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes

– Salt and pepper

Instant Pot method:

1. Press the Sauté button, add the oil and, when it starts feeling a bit hot, add the diced serrano ham and fry it for a few minutes until it starts getting a bit golden, stir a few times.

2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the inner pot to brown, stirring regularly and making sure it doesn’t catch at the bottom. If it does catch easily, you can turn the Sauté heat back down by pressing Keep Warm / Cancel followed by the Sauté button and then, immediately, the Adjust button twice to set the IP to Less (if you have v3 of the DUO / you received your DUO from June 2018, just keep pressing Sauté until the light under less is lit up).

3. Add the chopped onion and garlic (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms, stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock. Scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pot, make sure you get rid of any caramelised bits. Let it bubble a minute or so with the lid off for the wine to reduce a bit and not taste so strong later. Add the tomatoes, no need to stir. Lock the lid in, steam release handle pointing to Sealing, press Poultry and use the – and + buttons to programme 5 minutes, natural release.

At the end you can reduce the sauce using the Sauté setting of your Instant Pot, with the lid off. Add flour, arrowroot or gravy granules if you prefer to thicken the sauce but I don’t.

Conventional cooking (on the hob) 

1. Heat oil in a heavy and wide-bottomed pot/cast iron casserole, slow cooker, whatever you have to hand. Fry the diced serrano ham over a medium-high heat until it starts getting a bit goldeny, stir a few times.

2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the pot and stir well. Let it brown all over.

3.
Turn the heat down a notch and add
the chopped garlic and onion (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and
stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms,
stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock and let it bubble for a few minutes, then add the
tomatoes and let it cook on a low-medium heat until the chicken is not only cooked through but also tender.