food, reviews and of course coffee
As I have said before when ordering I usually seem to avoid ordering anything that may be too new and go with the familiar, and it was the same with this dish, chargrilled squid and chorizo salad. It was a meal I had in Auckland in New Zealand.
Now unlike many times I have had squid this was made with fresh squid and you certainly could tell the difference.
Took some courgette, onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I added a splash of white wine. I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
A few minutes before serving I added cooked prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.
I made mine quite dry this time, in the past I have added tinned tomatoes which makes for a more “wet” paella.
This is warming dish, usually suited for winter, but also ideal for those cold wet autumn days.
In a large frying pan, saute some diced onions, pepper and pancetta. I added some stock and tomato puree and simmered for about ten minutes before adding the sliced cooking chorizo. This I cooked for a further five minutes.
The next stage was to add the lentils, I usually use tinned green lentils. I finished the dish with some basil, though parsley would have been better. I did in fact (as you can see from the photograph) serve this with some cooked sausages, but this probably isn’t necessary.
Made a paella the other day.
I took a large frying pan and added a splash of olive oil. Take some pancetta and add diced onions, aubergine, courgette and soften them in the large frying pan. I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
I then ensured that the rice was coated and added a splash of white wine. Then I added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella.
I didn’t have any chopped tomatoes so I added a squirt of tomato puree instead.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
I added some sliced chorizo and slices of red pepper.
In a separate pan I pan fried some prawns and squid.
These were then added to the paella and it was served.
I do like this dish which is simply the spicy Spanish sausage, sautéed in red wine.
I have started using Tesco’s Cooking Chorizo which is not as hard (or as chewy) as the traditional dried chorizo which you can buy from most supermarkets.
Just a note you are buying the whole sausage and not the thinly salami style sliced version.
My method is to cut the chorizo into slices about quarter of an inch thick. Fry in a large frying pan until sealed on both sides and just starting to go a little crispy. At this point I add the red wine (Spanish red wine is best, but I am sure you can use any good red wine).
Cook the chorizo for a few more minutes.
Serve as part of a tapas or with salad. The red wine with the chorizo makes a wonderfully spicy sauce which you can dunk warm soft bread into.
Made a homemade paella the other day.
Took some onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.
Add some diced raw chicken.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I would have added a splash of white wine, but alas there was no wine in the house.
So I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella. I also added half a tin of chopped tomatoes. In case you wonder what to do with the other half, I made a spicy tomato sauce for patatas brava.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
A few minutes before serving add raw prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.
A few weeks back I mentioned how Tesco had started to sell cooking chorizo again. Well I have noticed that Marks and Spencer are now selling it as well.
For dishes such as Chorizo Frito al Vino and Paella it works much better than the dried version. It is easy to slice and cooks really easily.
Made a homemade paella the other day.
Took some onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them in a large heavy pan.
I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.
Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I added a splash of white wine. Then add the saffron and chicken stock.
Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.
I had already cooked the chicken and the prawns, I was also using cooking chorizo which was cooked separately.
The dish was the put together and served.
I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns. I would have probably also cooked the chicken in the rice, but that was done separately on this occasion.
In October last year I blogged about how Tesco were going to stop selling their cooking chorizo.
Only a couple of days ago I mentioned cooking Chorizo Frito al Vino using Tesco’s Cooking Chorizo.
You can imagine my disappointment that my local Tesco is discontinuing to sell the cooking chorizo.
I’ll have to start using the dried version.
Well imagine my delight when they started to sell it again.
For dishes such as Chorizo Frito al Vino and Paella it works much better than the dried version. It is easy to slice and cooks really easily.
The other day I made some Chorizo Frito al Vino and I used some Chorizo that I had bought from Morrisons. It had cost £1.99.
I was therefore surprised to see in Sainsburys when I wanted to buy a very similar Chorizo sausage that they were charging £2.99. It was even more expensive from the deli counter where it was £3.49.
I don’t know it if it will be a better Chorizo sausage, but if it is similar then a 50% markup is terrible.
Still missing the (fresh) cooking chorizo from Tesco.
