Recipe: Ixta Belfrage’s Chicken, Pineapple and ’Nduja Bake Is a One-Pan Party

There are two types of people: sweet tooths and savoury hounds. Sitting right in the middle is Ixta Belfrage , the chef and bestselling author of 2022’s Mezcla and her new cookbook Fusão (pronounced “foo-zow”). “I love the combination of sweet and savoury,” she writes about this recipe in Mezcla. “And there is no greater union than that of pork and pineapple.”

It might sound like an odd pairing, but Belfrage – a long-time Ottolenghi collaborator and queen of fusion cooking – makes it sing in this crowd-pleasing chicken tray bake. The pork element comes via ’nduja (a spicy Calabrian sausage) that brings both heat and depth. Add pineapple, chipotle and tangerine juice, and you’ve got what Belfrage calls “a party” in the pan.

The best part? It’s almost effortless. Marinate the chicken in the punchy paste (up to two days ahead), then let the oven do the heavy lifting. A swirl of cream and scatter of coriander at the end makes for a dinner that’s vibrant, rich and deeply satisfying.

Ixta Belfrage’s chicken, pineapple and ’nduja bake

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, at room temperature
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with the side of a knife
1 medium onion, halved and very thinly sliced on a mandolin
½ large extra-ripe pineapple, peeled (300g)
4 sweet tangerines (or 2 oranges), squeezed to get 100g juice (see notes)
100g chicken bone broth, stock or water
2 tbsp double cream
5g fresh coriander
1 lime, cut into wedges

’Nduja and chipotle paste
50g ’nduja paste/spread
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp tomato puree/paste
½ tsp chipotle flakes
½ tsp paprika
¾ tsp fine salt
20 twists freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C).

Put all the ingredients for the paste into a large bowl and mix together. Add the chicken, garlic and three-quarters of the sliced onion and mix well so everything is coated evenly. Tip the onions and garlic into a 28cm ovenproof cast-iron skillet or similar-sized baking dish and spread out. Place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up and spaced apart.

Cut the pineapple into 4 rounds, then cut each round into quarters, removing the hard core (you should have about 300g). Add the pineapple to the bowl with the remnants of the paste, mix to coat with whatever’s left there, then arrange the pineapple around the chicken.

Pour the tangerine juice around the chicken (don’t get the skin wet), then bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour the stock or water into the pan around the chicken (again, don’t get the skin wet). Return to the oven for another 20–25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is browned and crispy. If you have a blowtorch, use it to char the pineapple a little.

Drizzle the cream into the sauce. Toss the coriander and the remaining sliced onions together with a tiny bit of oil and salt and arrange on top. Serve from the pan, with the lime wedges alongside.

Note

Marinate the chicken in the ’nduja and chipotle paste up to 2 days ahead, but don’t mix in the onion and garlic until you’re ready to bake.

I use tangerines over oranges as they have a more complex, floral flavour, but feel free to use oranges if that’s easier (use fresh fruit, though, not juice from a bottle or carton). If your tangerines/oranges aren’t particularly sweet, you may want to add some maple syrup or honey – do this when you add the stock or water.

This is an edited extract from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. Photography by Yuki Sugiura. Published by Ebury Press in 2022.

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