Category: peppers

confit byaldi

confit biyaldi

My presentation’s not quite there, but if you squint you might recognise this as the critic-pleasing dish from the Pixar film Ratatouille. That’s technically what this recipe is, but this is it as reinvented by the chef-genius Thomas Keller, who christened it confit byaldi. Spoilers ahoy, but in a scene that should make Heston applaud, as the grouchy critic chomps down he is transported to his mother’s cooking of his childhood. Evoking such memory and inspiration really makes me smile when it comes to cooking. This is a really classy way of improving a truly peasant dish.

The recipe is lifted wholesale from NYTimes so I won’t reiterate the whole thing here. Suffice to say it’s a bunch o’ veg sweated off and topped with discs of other veg. It’s time consuming but really not difficult, and the results are well worth it. Simultaneously sunny, tasty and wholesome, I heartily recommend it.

Tags thomas keller

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 peppers pork

spanish goulash

I was extremely pleased with this. I knew a cold evening was coming up and that we had guests round, so I wanted something big, hearty and packed with warming flavours. I knew I had to look to tomatoey-based stews to heat the cockles. I also really wanted something paprika-y. Here’s what I came up with.

I griddled some thickly-sliced chorizo first, to get those attractive black bar-marks, as well as to get an interesting charred flavour on them. Then in a big-ass Creuset pan I fried a red and white onion, and a fair whack of garlic. Then some diced pork chop went in, and when browned some lovely sweet paprika. It never fails to amaze me how it’s flavour permeates the whole dish and resonates for such a long time. Then a tin of tomatoes, and my chorizo chums join the party. To this I add a jar of drained peppers and leave to simmer for about two hours. I served it with sour cream and homebaked bread for a true winter warmer.

chicken food peppers

chicken a la king

I’ve never been quite sure what’s kingly about peppers, but it’s tasty so that’ll do me. Yet again using the ever-bounteous frozen chicken, I warm this up with some ham from the deli. Then I add a drained jar of peppers in oil and end up with a very yummy dish that makes me grin all over.