Tag: chorizo

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Another Spanish inspired rice dish

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

Spanish inspired rice dish

I diced an onion, some red pepper, and some chestnut mushrooms. I also cut up some green beans.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta. I then added the diced onion, pepper, and mushroom. I also added the green beans.

When this was softened, I added 200g of paella rice. To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

I served it with some prawns and squid.

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Pan-fried Hake

Last year in October I was over in Dublin for a meeting. I was staying at The Mayson Dublin.

The hotel has two restaurants, Ryleigh’s Rooftop Steakhouse. The Elephant & Castle is on the ground floor. Ryleigh’s had a focus on high end steak (as you might guess) and a price to match. The Elephant & Castle was (slightly) cheaper. After looking at the menu online, decided I would head to the Elephant and Castle. They were busy, so I waited at the bar for a table. I had a pint of Guinness.

I was a little disappointed to find that the calamari and chicken I was going to choose were not on the menu, though they had been on the online version of the menu.

I went with the pan-fried hake, red atlantic prawns, mussels, tenderstem broccoli, chorizo & baby potato.

I was pleased with the plate of food, it looked great and it was delicious. The fish was cooked well and was tasty. I liked the potato and chorizo as well. The sauce brought it all together. Overall one lovely plate of food.

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Pan Roasted Chicken

We went to the Landing Light for a celebratory meal. We have been there quite a few times in the past few months.

I did think about the mixed grill, but I have had that before and had a grill recently at The Railway Inn.

As the place was really busy, we had booked a table in the bar area. Still a nice table, but the main difference was that we needed to order out food either via a QR code or from the bar.

I went with one of the specials, pan roasted bacon wrapped chicken with sautéed potatoes, Tenderstem® broccoli. It was served with a mushroom, pepper and chorizo sauce.

It was certainly not how I imagined the dish would be presented. The sautéed potatoes were at the bottom of the dish, on top of these was the Tenderstem® broccoli, and the pan roasted chicken. The sauce covered the heart of the dish.

I would have liked my potatoes to be smaller in size and crispier. The chicken was tender, I suspect it was pre-cooked and then pan-roasted. I have made chicken like this myself, but not for a while. I liked the addition of the broccoli, sometimes dishes like this are missing vegetables. The sauce was tasty, it contained peppers and chunks of mushroom. Even though it was in the menu description, I was initially a little confused and then surprised by the chunks of chorizo in the sauce. For a moment I thought the chunks were sweet potato. However, once I ate a chunk, I remembered it was chorizo. I am not sure it needed the chorizo; I think pancetta would have been a better option. 

I did enjoy the dish. It was nice to have something different, and it was very tasty. My choice was influenced somewhat by my recent experience at The Railway Inn, where I said after having the mixed grill.

Upon reflection and seeing the plate of food that a neighbouring table received, I think I should have gone with one of the specials. The pork special looked really good.

So, when we went to The Landing Light, I made the conscious choice to choose something different, and probably from the specials menu. 

I had a voucher for 30% of mains, which made the meal very reasonable.

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Spanish inspired rice dish

paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

I diced an onion, some red pepper, some green pepper, and some chestnut mushrooms. I also diced up some chorizo sausage as well.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta. I then added the diced onion, pepper, and mushroom. I also added some green beans.

When this was softened, I added 200g of paella rice. To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo and chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Cooked a Paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

I diced an onion and a some red pepper, some yellow pepper, and some chestnut mushrooms.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta. I then added the diced onion, pepper, and mushroom. When this was softened, I added 200g of paella rice.

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken

I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have also stayed at.  The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back. Despite being part of the same chain, they do have different menus. Their version of chicken was different to Drayton Court. So after having had my prawn cocktail starter I had the lemon and thyme roast chicken.

This was lemon and thyme roast chicken served on chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans.

lemon and thyme roast chicken served on chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans

The chicken was really good, full of flavour, moist and tender. You could taste the chicken, and the lemon and thyme enhanced the flavour.

The chicken was served on a bed of chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans. The beans were a little overcooked, but the chorizo was excellent, large chunks of soft spicy chorizo.

Overall I really enjoyed this dish and would certainly order it again.

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Made some paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

paella

I diced an onion and a pointed red pepper.  In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off bacon lardons, and some diced chorizo.  I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice.

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated I added a splash of sherry. I then added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

I added some more water as it cooked.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I decided I would have a go at making them myself.

I used some tinned black beans, I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with guacamole, chorizo, sour cream, grated cheese and a homemade salsa.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good copy of the dish I had in London.

I did a variation before with refried beans and homemade pink pickled onions, which was also a good copy.

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Time for Tapas

Staying in London I did fancy some tapas one evening, we decided to head to La Rueda Tapas Bar in Ealing.

La Rueda Tapas Bar is a one-of-a-kind culinary establishment with a menu inspired by the idea of simple and honest cooking. Starting in 2000, we developed a unique dining experience for all of our guests using fresh and sustainable ingredients—taking you on a culinary journey like no other. From classic recipes to new-age kitchen adventures, each dish reflects our passion for high-quality food presented in a simple yet pleasing manner. 

We were given a nice warm welcome and allowed to choose where we wanted to sit. We could have sat outside, but it’s quite a busy street, so we sat inside. We looked over the menu and chose what to have. In the end we went with five different dishes.

Knowing me, I probably would have chosen the calamari, but this time I decided I wouldn’t choose that dish. I was also tempted by the paella, but in the end we went with the tapas selection.

We started off with some olives marinated in garlic and herbs. These were really nice, just the thing to nibble, whilst waiting for the dishes to arrive.

The first of these was the Patatas Bravas. Tripled fried potatoes served with a spicy Brava sauce and a helping of aioli. The potatoes were nice and crisp, the Brava sauce was quite spicy, but this was offset with the nice aioli that had a good flavour of garlic. I think I would have liked the spiciness to be taken down a notch, but otherwise it was a nice dish.

The next dish to arrive was the Gambas al pil pil. This was prawns with chilli, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. This was an excellent little dish, the prawns were nice and tasty. They hadn’t been peeled, but they were easy to peel.

The dish after this was Pulpo Gallego. Galician style octopus, saffron potato mash, pimenton. 

This was one impressive dish, and one kind of dish I have wanted to try for a while. The dish was a mound of saffron flavoured mashed potato topped with two grilled octopus tentacles. The octopus was very nice, tender and tasty. I think the mash could have been smoother (more butter), but was tasty.

Our final dish was Chorizo al vino, the classic Spanish sausage cooked in red wine sauce.

The chorizo was lovely and tender and I liked the sauce.

Overall the food was beautiful cooked and it was delicious. I do hope to visit La Rueda again.

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Rice with Chorizo

I diced a red onion and a red pepper. 

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta bacon. 

I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added 250g of paella rice. I ensured that this was then coated with the peppers and onions in the pan. I let this cook for a minute or so before adding a jar of paella paste from Waitrose. 

After stirring in the paste I added some chicken stock. Stirred once and left it to cook.

Before serving I added some chopped fresh parsley and some cooked sliced chorizo.