Chicken and Chorizo Stew

This recipe is from my buddy Eleanor Walsh, a tour de force in the Irish food industry and all round fantastic person. Taken from her Eden book from a few years ago.

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Ingredients:
6 chicken legs, skin on
2 white onions, sliced
12 cloves of garlic, skin on
100g chorizo, sliced thinly, diagonally
100g plain flour
1 tbsp sweet paprika
250ml white wine
250ml chicken stock
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
400g can of chopped tomatoes
400g can of cooked chickpeas

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the white flour and paprika in a bowl. Dust the chicken legs thoroughly in the flour and shake off the excess. Fry these in a little sunflower/whatever oil till browned all over. Set aside.

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Heat an ovenproof casserole on the hob and add the chorizo. Keep it on the move with a wooden spatula, you don’t need to add oil because soon enough the fat will run. Then add in the sliced onions and whole cloves of garlic, cook them off for a while. Chuck in the rosemary and browned chicken legs, the wine and the stock, then bring it up to a slow simmer. Put on the lid and put it in the oven for an hour. After the hour has passed, remove the casserole from the oven and stir in the tomatoes and chick peas. The original recipe tells you also to add some Kalamata Olives, but I passed on these since the kids don’t like them. Stick the lid back on and cook for another half hour or so. I served this with steamed white basmati since the stew is kinda gloopy.

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Baked chicken with chorizo, lemon zest & garlic

Ingredients
5 chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, very finely sliced
level dessert spoon of very finely sliced lemon zest
a piece of chorizo I found at the back of the fridge (about the length of my middle finger, again very finely sliced (diagonally)
a splash of red wine vinegar

Method:
Stick the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish. Arrange the sliced garlic and lemon zest evenly on top. Arrange the chorizo on top of garlic and lemon. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle on a little red wine vinegar and maybe a small splash of oil. Bake in a moderate oven for 35-40 mins.

Delish.

adventures in Berbere

I arrived back from Ethiopia, last Saturday Dec 7th after a long and tiring journey from the South, but sadly my luggage didn’t make it back with me. It got lost in the bowels of Heathrow somewhere – I had landed in London in the midst of an ATC nightmare, where pretty much all of the south of England was at a standstill. After an exasperating few days trying to get through to British Airways lost luggage department in Heathrow and their conterparts in Dublin Serviseair, it transpired that the luggage had been forwarded to Dublin alright, but the paperwork had been mixed up with another set of luggage, and the people in either office didn’t seem to have the gumption to check the clearly labelled tag with my name, address and phone number printed on it in an attempt to reunite me with my possessions. Anyhow, last night it arrived, nearly six days later with everything intact. Thanks be.

One of the things in my luggage was a half kg of Berebere, the red chilli spice which is an essential part of Ethiopian cuisine. In an attempt to remember Ethiopia through my tastebuds, I’m going to try to recreate a sauce I had many times with injera, the sourdough flatbread which is both eating utensil and tablecloth. I’m going to leave the injera for another time/experiment because it’s made from a grain called teff which isn’t available here (I think).

So, 1st attempt:

1 medium onion chopped
1 large clove garlic minced
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 level tbsp berbers
1 cup red lentils washed
3 cups water
2 tbsp tomato puree

Result:

Yeah, not that exciting, spice is good, needs a bit of salt. A bit bland, it would be inedible if it weren’t for the Berbere. Must try harder.

2nd attempt:
as above except chop in some chorizo.

Result:

Much better, the smoky tones of the chorizo really come alive in the lentil stew.

Caught on the hob

My sister-in-law Ann mentioned chorizo soup yesterday and listed off a few ingredients. Here’s a stab at it without tasting. Proportions may need adjusting:

Ingredients:
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 level tsp each of coriander and fennel seed
1 level tsp chilli flakes
shredded zest of 1/4 small orange
1.5 chorizo sausages
2 cans tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans rinsed
3 cans (1.2l) stock

Just cook like you’d expect to.

OK, I’ve tasted it now …

The Verdict:

Tastes pretty good, nice and smokey/chorizoey. It could do with upping the bean proportion, so 2 cans of cannellinis. I used one can of cherry tomatoes and one of crushed, forget about the cherry toms and go straight for 2 of crushed. You’ll taste the fennel coming thorough and the occasional coriander seed which complements the orange zest nicely. Overall pretty good as a winter soup. Might be nice chilled for the summer, but we’ll just have to wait to see …

spicy chorizo and cannellini bean soup

My sister-in-law Ann mentioned chorizo soup yesterday and listed off a few ingredients. Here’s a stab at it without tasting. Proportions may need adjusting:

Ingredients:
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 level tsp each of coriander and fennel seed
1 level tsp chilli flakes
shredded zest of 1/4 small orange
1.5 chorizo sausages
2 cans tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans rinsed
3 cans (1.2l) stock

Just cook like you’d expect to.

OK, I’ve tasted it now …

The Verdict:

Tastes pretty good, nice and smokey/chorizoey. It could do with upping the bean proportion, so 2 cans of cannellinis. I used one can of cherry tomatoes and one of crushed, forget about the cherry toms and go straight for 2 of crushed. You’ll taste the fennel coming thorough and the occasional coriander seed which complements the orange zest nicely. Overall pretty good as a winter soup. Might be nice chilled for the summer, but we’ll just have to wait to see …