Homemade Chorizo Sausages

I adore chorizo. I even thought about writing a blog dedicated to the joys of eating it. I don’t know what I see in its smoky, spicy, sweet, fatty, salty flavour profile that makes it impossible for me to resist.

My version of chorizo is a very homemade version. I thought long and hard about whether to even call it chorizo given that it is pretty ersatz. Whilst Brindisa shouldn’t be shaking in their boots, it still tastes pretty good!

Mingle your 60/40 pork belly and shoulder mince in a bowl and season heavily with salt. Then in a frying pan sauté a finely diced onion until it softens. Then add 3 cloves of garlic and 2 dessert spoons of the best picante smoked paprika you can get your hands on. The onions and garlic will instantly turn red and the air will transform into a hellish cacophony of chilli fumes with a hint of tapas bar. One the powder has been assimilated into the onions tip it out into the pork mixture. Then pour a small glass of wine into the pan and deglaze. Add this to the pork.

Next, finely chop as many chillies as you’d like and add them to the mixture. I then added a handful of finely chopped Pepperdew peppers, but this is optional. They add a lovely red colour that lingers throughout cooking as well as a sweet note to combat the abrasive spice.

Add a handful of breadcrumbs and then “sausagify” them. Leave to rest overnight.

Then serve for breakfast with spicy scrambled eggs as a take on huevos rancheros. You’ll love the way the spicy red oil mingles with the eggs. It’s one of the best ways to start the day I’ve ever come across.

Alternatively, they would also be great in a classic butter bean, charred pepper, chorizo and passata stew, with some crusty bread and a bottle of Malbec or Rioja as suggested by both Gareth and Fiona. Although maybe not for breakfast!

You can see from our cat’s reaction that these are special sausages!

This is part of a series of posts about experimental sausages and a potential sausage-fest

Haddock with Chorizo, Roasted Veg and Polenta

Thank you Salad Club. If it wasn’t for your Portuguese Eating Eurovision post I would have kept on walking past the Continental Deli in Brixton.

So on a Tuesday evening I popped in and spent quarter of an hour in a state of bliss. I tried cheeses, discussed polenta, sniffed chorizos, squeeze aubergines and nibbled on olives. Bella Cardoso is a star. I walked away with some spicy, semi cured chorizo, some fennel, baby tomatoes, an enormous maroon pepper a bag of polenta, some haddock from the fishmonger next door and plenty of advice to help me!

I kept things simple on the cooking front. I sliced the chorizo into chunks and fried it to crisp the outside and release the paprikay oils. I then fried the seasoned haddock skin side down in the chorizo “juice” and then flipped it over to finish. It was all done in a matter of minutes.

Prior to this I had roasted the red pepper, fennel and tomatoes with a glug of olive oil, ample seasoning and some lemon juice on a high heat with the aim of slightly scorching the veggies to give them a chance of punching their weight against the chorizo. Some steamed spinach made for a savoury burst of greenery.

And for the polenta I didn’t know what I was doing, so simply followed the instructions on the pack, by boiling for 3 minutes. It was fine, but bland, as you’d expect.

The result was a dish I’m very pleased with. I adore chorizo and fish so this was a dish that was always going to make me smile.

As I sat down with a plate of Portuguese cheese from the Continental Deli and a glass of wine, I had a look on Twitter and was amazed at what I saw. Tom Aitkens, no less, had seen me a series of tweets about how to make perfect polenta…

“if you use 3-4 x the amount of stock to the polenta you should not go wring for example 100g polenta 400g white chicken stock

bring the stock to a simmer with a pinch of chopped rosemary, little smoked paprika, salt an pepper, pour in polenta and whisk

it will come together quickly then change for a spoon, add a little butter, 1 tbsp creme fraiche, little lemon juice and Parmesan“

Thank you, Tom Aitkens, very much indeed for your help, (even if it did come too late to put into practice this time). I’m now planning to cook your polenta recipe this week. It’s episodes like this that make me realise just how powerful Twitter can be.

Chorizo, butter bean and pasatta stew

On Sunday we Christened Victoria’s slow cooker with an epic stew. January calls for rich, warming dishes. Oozing with depth and not without a hint of gluttony. If anyone accuses you of over eating just tell them your about to hibernate.

This stew is one of my favourites and is heavily lifted from Nigel Slater. But I’ve done it so many times and adapted it so much I reckon it is now firmly mine.

Here’s what you need to do.

First things first, buy a slow cooker. They are awesome. Once you’ve got one, turn it on. And then flame some red peppers as so…

I adore the smell of them burning over the gas flame almost as much as I love the colours when you photograph them.

Then sweat a shed load of onions until they are beginning to colour and then add a good couple of teaspoons of smoked paprika. The one in the red tin is excellent. They sell it in Brindisa. Chuck in some finely chopped garlic and watch the pan turn red and feel your nostrils stand to attention. It’s a captivating smell that I’d dearly miss if I ever stopped cooking.

Pour 3 tins of butter beans (having rinsed them first) and as much pasatta as you can get your hands on into the slow cooker. If you run out of pasatta don’t be afraid of unleashing a few tins of chopped tomatoes. I bought some great tomato “sauce” in Borough Market which was idea. Otherwise just use the stuff from a carton as it is less heavy to cart home from the shops.

Add the parika’d onions to the stew along with the peppers. Pop the lid on and bring up to the heat. Once it has been simmering for a while add your chorizo. Ideally it should be a soft picante version. This will ensure a rich, spicy, oily stew which makes you yearn to be called Juan. If it just the bog standard hard chorizo that is only slightly spicy, you’ll want to add some chili. Our chorizo came from the French market that was held in Balham just before Christmas. It was packed full of flavour which really held its own later.

Replace the lid and allow to burble for 5 or 6 hours. We went for a coffee, played squash and went cycling whilst our stew was cooking. But this is optional. As is the playlist below. But I find Four Tet, A Guy Called Gerald, Mr Scruff and Massive Attack are ideal for cooking to on a Sunday.

Once you’ve returned from your day out you’ll be rewarded with a scarlet stew, burning with flavour and bursting with a heady smell of tomatoes, pork fat and paprika. It’s a sure fire way to make people hungry. It’s quite a good idea to take the lid off the slow cooker for the final half an hour or so to allow some of the water to evaporate. This helps to concentrate the flavour and make the stew a bit thicker. Test the seasoning and add chili and smoked paprika as appropriate.

You’ve now got a few options:

1. Serve as a soup with some crusty bread

2. Boil some rice and treat it as a chili con carne but with out the mince

3. Or do what we did and make some mashed potato, steam some cabbage and poach and egg. I’ve tried it each and every way but can proudly report that the egg and mashed potato option is by far the best way. The egg yolk bursts over the stew and adds an extra layer of flavour, whilst the cabbage adds a welcome burst of green, iron to an otherwise very red plate of food.

Serve with a sprinkling of parsley and be prepared to dish out seconds. It’s such a delicious meal. And better still it matures brilliantly. I’ve had it at work for lunch twice since and it has been even better each time.

If you are as obsessed with chorizo as I am, here are a few other ways of cooking with it:

Chorizo lasagna
Chorizo stew
Chorizo pie

Chorizo Lasagna

With a glut of chorizo ragu and having already belted out one classic new recipe confidence as you can tell was high!

My infatuation with chorizo is getting a little out of control. I started emailing people about it at work, looked it up on wikipedia and also watched Tomasina’s programme about chorizo in Spain a couple of times for good measure.

Now I know chorizo isn’t Italian and it’s not exactly the kind of thing a purist would do… but I decided that the next step on from a simple chorizo stew and pie was to use my leftover chorizo ragu to make a good old fashioned lasagna.

It’s easy. And more importantly show stoppingly delicious.

Pour in a good glub of ragu into the bottom of your mother’s old cast iron lasagna dish.

Arrange a layer of lasagna sheets on top of this. Then create a layer of roasted peppers and roasted aubergine topped with garlic and a good lashing of smoked paprika. I cheated and used some Greek jarred stuff which worked brilliantly.

Then top this with another layer of pasta before topping this with some more ragu. Then more pasta. Then loads of good mozerella. Then a layer of mushrooms sauteed in butter with a sprinkling of salt. And then pour on a layer of bechamel. I wasn’t sure whether to use bechamel or not. At first it didn’t seem right. But it landed up tasting amazing. And that’s what matters!

It was sensationally delicious. I’d love to include a layer of spinach next time. In the absence of spinach we accompanied our lasagna with a peppery rocket and watercress salad with some roasted tomatoes. Stunning.

For more chorizo recipes click here.

Chorizo Pie

I’ve been trying to find a word for the Spanish equivalent to a pig shepherd… if anyone knows the word please let me know and we can chirsten this recipe properly. For the time being it’s called “Chorizo Pie” which doesn’t come close to doing it justice!

What you do is make the chorizo, butter bean and smokey red pepper ragu a la Nigel Slater. Then lob in a load more smoked paprika. Cook it in the slow cooker for ages and then leave the lid off for a few hours at the end to reduce it down. It’ll turn into a deep red sludge that tastes like Hades (in a good way)!

Pour a good load of ragu into a large baking dish and then top this with some sauted garlicy spinach and a good twist or two of salt and pepper. Then lightly char some sliced chorizo and layer this on top of the spinach before topping with riced potato. Spinkle a seriously unhealthy amount of Mexicana cheese on top and then cook in the oven until you’ve got a sinfully crispy golden top and the pie is cooked through.

Then open a robust bottle of red wine – preferably Rioja – and settle in for one of the most satisfying meals you could imagine. This has quickly become one of my all time favourites.

Comforting Chorizo Stew

Whenever I’ve been to Spain I’ve loved gorging myself on chorizo and morcilla. I think it’s probably the naughtiness of it all. I land up with a huge red grin and a insatiable desire to drink up all the “juice” which is just spicy fat!

Some time last year Nigel Slater wrote an article in the Observer Magazine explaining the roles and cooking methods for the various types of chorizo you increasingly find at markets and delis. I found myself some boiling chorizo in Waitrose and recreated his chorizo and chickpea stew which transforms wintry Sunday evenings into an experience you never want to end. Since that moment I have been busy trying to perfect my own version of the chorizo stew which has a few variations from Mr Slater’s.

Sweat a couple of onions in oil and butter. Add some salt to speed things up. Then lob in a few cloves of chopped garlic and some sliced mushrooms. Once this has all turned into a beautiful brown slick open up your designer smoked paprika tin and stir in 3 tea spoons of the firey red powder.

Breathe in deeply and feel your nostrils transport you to a tapas restaurant in Barcelona and watch as the oniony goo does a bit of an Enoch Powell and turns blood red.

Be careful not to let the mixture burn and add a good squirt of tomato puree and then some plum tomoatoes who’s juice you’ve discaded and flesh you’ve chopped a bit. Then pour in a carton of passatta and some tinned butter beans. Make sure there is space in the pan to accommodate your boiling chorizo and pop them in. Cook on a low flame for as long as you can manage. If you’re like me it won’t be long before you’ve started boling your rice, flaming your red pepper and have got an egg ready to poach!

Garnish with a bit of parsley and charred red pepper. Then spend an inordinate amount of time getting the lighting right for your money shot photograph. Then savour with a glass or two of bold red wine with the opening session of the test match in the background. Bliss.