Chorizo & Chickpea Stew (to put it simply)

Yawn yawn yawn. How many times have you seen a recipe like this? It's in every cookbook entitled something like '100 quick and easy meals'. It's so simple and store-cupboardy and BORING, but I had a load of chorizo and chick peas and decided I'd make something with them. What a revelation, it was so bloody delicious I couldn't believe I hadn't bothered in the past! With chorizo, a little goes a long way and how cheap are chick peas? Um very. It's super quick, easy and simple. AND it's a one pot wonder. So all in all a winner.

Feeds 4. Take the skin off a medium sized ring of chorizo and slice to roughly the thickness of a £1 coin. Get  a casserole dish on the hob and when hot, throw in the chorizo (note that no oil is needed). Keep it moving and cook until it starts getting crispy and releases all it's lovely orangey paprika-ry oil. Add one big finely sliced onion, some chilli flakes, three chopped cloves of garlic and a couple of finely chopped celery sticks. Cook for about 10 minutes, a little more gently until softened. Add two tins of tomatoes, a tsp of sugar and two tins of drained chickpeas (or the equivilent of dried ones that have already been cooked, even cheaper). Season well and let it bubble away for about 10 minutes until thickened. Check for seasoning and serve with a bit of chopped flat leaf parsley artistically scattered over the top.

For some girls (I'm including myself here at the moment as I'm trying to reduce my general intake of er, everything) this is enough on its own (I actually plonked the stew on top of a bowl of wilted baby leaf greens), but to man it up a bit some cous cous adds some bulk. This was so tasty I didn't even add any Tabasco. That's saying something.

Chorizo & Cod Stew - a kind of Surf & Turf if you like

And the food stylist award 2011 goes to...

It might look a bit of a mess from the photo, sorry, no food stylist of the year awards here! However, the combination of paprika spiked chorizo, with soft flakey cod, all wrapped up in a tomatoey stew is warming and comforting beyond belief, and a favourite of mine. There is nearly always a supply of chorizo in my fridge and a lonely fillet of cod was languishing in the freezer, so what to cook wasn't a hard decision.

Feeds two. Fry a finely chopped onion and clove of garlic in a splash of olive oil in a deep frying pan/normal saucepan. When softened add a handful of chopped chorizo and continue frying until you get the paprika oozing out and the chorizo crisps a little bit. Throw in a tin of chopped tomatoes, a couple of potatoes cut into small chunks, 150ml water, stir well and season, and simmer until the spuds are nearly cooked, about 10 minutes. Add two fillets of any white fish, chopped into bite size chunks, stir well and let it simmer for no longer than 10 minutes until the fish is cooked. Scatter with chopped parsley at the last minute and serve either on it's own or with some nice crusty bread. 

Get a napkin ready, because when you lick the plate the red sauce goes everywhere. What??!

Slow Cooked Pork, Stavros Style

Not sure how chorizo is in a
'Greek' dish but there you go.

Pork, lemon, chorizo, sherry vinegar and fennel, what's not to like here? This is one of those get home from work, throw it together, and leave it to simmer away dishes, leaving you free to not do all those chores you simply don't have time for, rather watch Come Dine With Me or a re-run of the Inbetweeners. It's cheap and store cupboardy so a big thumbs up from me, which was upgraded to a very enthusiastic thumbs up from the Boyfriend when he was finally fed.

Feeds 6. Pre-heat the oven to 150C. Brown a kilo of cubed pork shoulder in a big casserole in some olive oil and set aside. Then fry a sliced onion and a few chopped garlic cloves until softened. Add 3tbsp sherry vinegar, bubble for two minutes and throw in a handful of chopped chorizo, cook until it oozes with its lovely paprika spiked oil. Bash up a tsp fennel seeds and throw them in, and return the pork and any juices to the casserole. Finally stir in a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of tomato puree and about a litre of water so it all looks a bit splashy and wet. The sauce will reduce right down in the oven, so give it a good stir and season, bring to a simmer, then pop the lid on and cook in the oven for a couple of hours, take the lid off for another 15/30 mins depending how thick its all got. Serve with a zingy gremolata made by combing chopped lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Ooh next time I might use half onion, half chopped fennel for extra crunch.

This is lovely in the summer with some green beans and rice, and comforting mashed potatoes in the winter. Hmmm looking outside right now its more like December than August, so mash it is.

Rioja Roast Chook

Before...

So when is this miserable weather going to brighten up and give us the summer we've been waiting for?? I know we need the rain, and it's great not having to water the garden (or the new window boxes at work which would definitely be dead by now had it not rained everyday) but is it too much to ask for a bit of sun IN JULY???

Rant over. On Sunday I actually turned the heating on I was so chilly, warming comfort food was in order, and not much soothes the soul with more success than Rioja Roast Chicken. I love red wine with roast chicken, there's something deeply savoury, grown-up and delicious about it, so to sit my chook on a nest of red wine (doesn't have to be Rioja) and chorizo as it steams itself to juicy heaven makes a lot of sense to me. Any left over sauce is awesome with pasta another day.

...and after

You will need a nice big casserole dish for this, one that the chicken can sit comfortably in (heaven forbid the dead bird is uncomfortable) with the lid on. Pre-heat the oven to 180. Fry a chopped onion and lots of garlic in olive oil until softened then add a big hand-full of chopped chorizo. This time I used raw chorizo sausages I normally put on the barbie, sliced up after browning them, but you can use the little weeny raw chorizo sausages, or normal cooked chorizo chopped up (I find cooking with the latter tricky, as it normally ends up gobbled before I get to use it). Fry until all that gorgeous paprika spiked orange oil oozes out, add a bay leaf, a tin of chopped tomatoes, some chopped dried or fresh chillis, a heaped tsp of paprika, a large glass of red wine, and one for the chef. Give it all a good stir and season, place the chicken on top, lid on, and into the oven with him. After an hour baste him with olive oil and return to the oven, minus the lid, so the skin browns and crisps, for about another hour. Carve up like a normal roast (the meat is so juicy and tender it might fall apart a bit, not a problem) and serve with the sauce plopped (yes, I do have a way with words) on top. Laaaarvely.

I would recommend that you allow someone else to do the washing up as your casserole with be seriously messed up...

Chicken Paprika - Check you actually have paprika first...

Don't forget the paprika. Or the chicken. 

You know when you have your mind set on a certain dish to cook for supper, and nothing else will do? Well all the way home on the train yesterday I was thinking about this dish, all content as I had all the ingredients and wouldn't have to rely on trusty M&S (the only shop open on a Sunday night when all the other shops have shut). There was a small problem, the chicken thighs were still in the freezer, so I did have to swing by M&S which was very stressful with my big weekend bag and narrow aisles but somehow I coped. Finally got home, and discovered  I had run out of paprika. I used a bit of smoked paprika, its sweet and smokey cousin, instead for a nice extra smokey flavour and it all worked out.

This feeds two. Pre-heat oven to 180. Brown seasoned chicken thighs (two small ones per person or one big one) in olive oil and set aside. Fry a chopped onion and a few chopped garlic cloves in the same oil and add a couple of chopped raw chorizo sausages (normal cooked could be used) and fry until all the lovely red oil comes out of the chorizo and the onions are softened. Add a chopped chilli, a few bay leaves, a teaspoon of smoked paprika (or normal), a tin of chopped tomatoes, a big splash of red wine, season and stir well. Pop the chicken back in the pan, add a chopped green pepper and put the whole lot in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes. By now the skin on the chicken will be all extra cripsy and golden. Serve with a blob of sour cream/creme fraiche and rice. 

The Rioja was open, Lady Gaga was on the telly and all was ok. Until the Boyfriend came home after a day on the lash at the Rubgy 7s and sprayed me with the hose through the kitchen window. Twice.