Chorizo Butterbeans

Chorizo Butter beans

This is a warm and tasty dish that is great soul warming food with plenty of flavour.

Ingredients

One Chorizo
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 sticks of celery
one red pepper
6 cherry tomatoes
a small handfull of French beans
sea salt
tin of butter beans
sprig of fresh thyme

Method

Place the olive oil and chopped garlic in a saucepan and gently heat from cold. This should soften the garlic and it is important to start adding the celery before the garlic starts to fry, do so in a manner that keeps the pan from getting too hot.

After a minute or so add the chorizo, roughly chopped into one pound coin size bits. The better the chorizo the better the dish - I have used the cheapest in the supermarket and found it to be sadly lacking in flavour or good texture.

Let the paprika and fat leach out of the chorizo before adding the thyme, tomatoes (halved) and red pepper (roughly chopped). After the pan has come back up to the heat add the tin of butter beans (drained and rinsed in cold water.

Make sure everything gets a good coating of oil and heats through. Add the French beans, salt and some more chopped thyme about a minute before serving.

This went brilliantly with the Foccacia that was a wonderful way of mopping up the flavoursome juices.

Clam Paella

This is partially inspired by TV chef Tomasina (bad spelling I expect) who has just started a new Cook's Tour series on Spain.

There is no traditional Spanish element to this as I chose Clams and Pollock because they looked good and fresh when I went out shopping.

Either way not a bad accompaniment to a glass of white wine on Good Friday.

Ingredients

a chopped onion
a red pepper
a green pepper
2 beef tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
12 Clams
a good head end piece of Pollock (Any white fish would substitute well)
Arborio rice (2 ladles worth)
a pinch of saffron
Fish Stock (I made my own)- 4 ladles worth
Parsley

Method

Start by softening the onion in olive oil, move to the outer edge of the pan (Tommi's tip) then add the chopped peppers and garlic. After a couple of minutes move the peppers and garlic to the edge of the pan and add the tomatoes - to prepare the tomatoes chop into large chunks and add a shake of sea salt, this aids bringing out the sweetness (apparently). Again wait a couple of minutes and move the tomatoes to the edge of the pan then add the Pollack (cut into 3cm cubes). When the fish is sealed move to the outer edge of the pan and add the clams (Vongoles if you are French). Add the rice and saffron, then add the stock. Turn the heat down low and cook for 20-25 minutes -another top tip from Tommi is to not stir the paella once the stock has been added! This does make for varied texture in the rice (i.e. some of it doesn't cook right good).

The fish stock is something that I concocted myself. I used the pan from Jerusalem artichoke & carrot soup making and used a standard vegetable stock cube with two tablespoons of home made taramasalata (see tomorrow's blog entry for recipe).
Top off with chopped parsley in olive oil and a finely chopped garlic clove - eat with loved ones

Seafood Paella

Seafood Paella

A loin of cod (skinned)
12 king prawns (cooked)
4 baby octopus
6 asparagus spears
an onion
a clove of smoked garlic
safron (soaked in 200ml boiling water)
6 chestnut mushrooms
12 fresh basil leaves ripped
250ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper
paella rice
glass of white wine
ounce of goats butter

Chop and fry the onion in a big glug of olive oil until clear.

Add the paella rice and stir until the grains are starting to look clear.

Add the glass of white wine until absorbed by the rice

Then add the safron and its stock and the vegetable stock.

boil for 25 mins or until the rice is cooked

add the cod cut into chunks and the vegetables. After 2-3 minutes add the prawns and the squid cut into rings/tentacles (remember to remove the spine).

After 2-3 minutes stir in the butter and basil then serve.

Cod in Lemon and Garlic

In a dish layer slices of lemon and a sliced clove of garlic.

Place a fillet of cod on top and season the flesh of the cod with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the cod with a good glug of olive oil, sprinkle with some chopped parsley and then layer a sliced clove of garlic and some lemon slices.

Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Ideal served with french beans and boiled new potatoes.