Chistorra Rehash

This wonderfully vibrant dish is a rehash of an old recipe of mine that has become a firm family favourite, and taken to another level with some wonderful ingredients, such as the curly Chistorra Chorizo from Unearthed. This will be perfect for cooking on a BBQ so expect to see it in a few more recipes of mine. I also teamed it up with an oozy yolked bantam egg from my own chickens.

Gently fry off in a little good olive oil, a chopped shallot and red pepper, a finely chopped garlic clove, and a handful of cubed chorizo until the chorizo starts to crisp a little. Add enough cubed preboiled potato and turn up the heat, allow the potato to saute and crisp on the edges and season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Meanwhile add a handful of steamed and squeezed ruby chard, kale or spinach would also work well and allow the flavours to mingle for a minute or two. Fry or BBQ the chistorra until browned on both sides and cooked through, and fry an egg in a little olive oil until crisp on the underside and the yolk still soft.

Plate up, crowning the hash with the chistorra and the fried egg. Pierce the egg and allow to ooze.

I served mine up with a crisp romaine lettuce salad, some cubes of bread fried in the russet oils at the bottom of the pan dressed with a little Caesar dressing.

 

Patatas with chorizo and padron

 

I have always enjoyed the tapas way of eating, a little bit of this..a little bit of that, and there are some wonderful flavour combinations that can be found in Spain, this is my own little mix up of a few good things a la Hugh F-W.

One of my crops that has performed pleasingly well have been my 2 Pimientos de Padron chilli plants, I have lovingly nurtured these since spring, and they have struggled through the cold wet winter and are finally flourishing. I have had a few handfuls of these wonderful chillies, they had a great flavour, were a good size, and were quite cheeky in their chilli kick.

I made a lovely simple tapas dish by frying some cubed parboiled potatoes in extra virgin olive oil until nearly crispy on a high heat, tossing in some cubed chorizo, then the padron chillies with a little sea salt and pepper, cook until the padrons are starting to blister and brown and the chorizo releases it’s rich oils to flavour the potato. Finish with a little finely chopped flat leaf parsley.

Perfect enjoyed with a glass of Spanish Tempranillo.

 

Arroz con Pollo Recipe.

Using the leg and wing portions from a jointed chicken(see previous post), heat a large casserole or a large frying pan with a lid, brown off the chicken portions in a little olive oil. When these are a lovely golden brown, add a finely chopped onion and a couple of sliced garlic cloves, some finely chopped celery, red pepper and carrot, allow to fry until soft and add some slices of chorizo which should start giving off their delicious red oil and smokey taste. You can also add frozen peas or  chopped tomato to bulk out at this stage.

Add 70g paella rice per person and allow to cook for a few minutes, before adding enough chicken stock to cover, then half a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a few strands of saffron and season with salt and pepper. Cover and allow to simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed, then pop a quartered lemon on the top and turn the heat down and cook for another few minutes, hopefully the rice will start to form a slight crust on the bottom (which is my favourite bit), the rice will be cooked perfectly, garnish with some chopped flat leaf parsley.

Delicious with a glass of white Rioja.