Category: chorizo

chorizo pasta bake

I was passing through Waitrose in need of a lemon Fanta after a great nine holes, when one of their recipe cards caught my eye. And this is me having a bash. There’s lots of disparate parts here. but I’m a sucker for a pasta bake, and one of my favourite meats chorizo has a look in too.

The results were nice, but could’ve been a lot better. The elements were tugging at each other, rather than coming together harmoniously. If I did it again, I’d get the chorizo sweating early in with the tomato sauce, to get a more developed flavour out of it. I’d also be adding a little stock to thin the sauce out, encouraging everything to blend and get a bit more moisture to the whole dish. Finally I’d be slicing the aubergine and pepper before griddling, getting more smoky flavours throughout. Can’t really see what good the basil leaves are doing that early on either. A good first draft though, see you next time. Below is the method on this effort.

Chorizo pasta bake:

1 aubergine, halved

1 red pepper, halved

200g rigatoni

1 tin tomatoes

Handful of basil leaves, torn

1 ball mozzarella, torn

200g chorizo, diced

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

Griddle the aubergine and pepper until charred on both sides.

Meanwhile, heat the tomatoes and add the basil leaves.

Dice the veg and pour the tomatoes, pasta, chorizo and veg into a baking dish.

Tear over the mozzarella and bake for 15 mins.

chorizo food peas peppers rice

paella

Yes, again. A very simple and rustic one this. I also went against my usual and used the ready-sliced chorizo, which I quickly fried either side to crisp and start to render down. Then in with butter and a red onion with some diced red pepper, and after softening the rice goes in for a minute to toast. Then some white wine for sweetness, then a little paprika and turmeric for colour and flavour. Then veg stock goes over and I leave it alone in my non-stick pan for 20 mins or so. The liquid is almost all gone, so I check for seasoning and add a handful or frozen peas and the chorizo and once the peas are warmed through, it’s done. Munchy, tasty stuff as the soft rice gives way to the mellow paprika.

carrots chorizo courgettes food peppers rice

paella

…Or it might be jambalaya. I’m not sure what the criteria is. It’s rice ‘n’ stuff in one pan, anyway.

My old chum chorizo makes a special guest appearance, but it’s the vegetables that do the work in this one. I fried the chorizo a bit to char the edges and encourage their spicy-sweet juices to leak out, then put them to one side. Then in go the veg: red onion, celery, carrot. After they’ve tenderised a bit, in go a courgette, some garlic and a pepper. After a couple of minutes I added some basmati rice and tossed that around to get up to heat. I wanted an alcoholic flavour so I added some Cinzano of all things at this point – slightly bitter, slightly sweet.

Then the chorizo went back, along with a pint of veg stock, some saffron and some paprika. Lid on, and left it for 20 mins or so. I came back to find a pan full of sticky rice and tender veg. Garnished with a little fresh parsley and shovelled away heaped spoonfuls at a time. Dinners in one pan rock!

chorizo food pasta peas

chorizo hot pot

One of those “Feed Your Family For A Fiver” things from Sainsbury’s. I can’t help but embellish though.

Two onions (two onions? Insanity!) and my old friend, sliced chorizo are fried together til crispy. Then tinned tomatoes, veg stock and some conchiglie are added. This is where I chuck in oregano and paprika, cos it just sounds too bland. Twenty minutes later there’s frozen peas in there, and once they’re done, we’re done.

To my surprise it didn’t need any seasoning at all. Nice one J Sains.