This evening’s humble supper started from a loop of Spanish chorizo, and grew into this stew, as I gathered ‘red’ ingredients – red onion, red pepper, red chilli flakes – from the foodhall of M&S. Surprising really, as I find that place distinctly uninspiring, as all fresh produce, aside from maybe the fruit, is overly packaged, rather unnervingly shiny, and overwhelmed by a plethora of processed dinners. This serves four with a nice, peppery green salad dressed in extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar. Or you could add spinach to the stew, just wilted at the end and serve on it’s own, maybe with a hunk of good bread and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil over the top.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 medium red onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 large red romano pepper
- Glass of red wine (a robust Spanish variety)
- About 500g of potatoes
- About 200g good chorizo (I used Navidul, chorizo Iberico from Ocado)
- 1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
- 400g tin of plum tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 400g tin of chickpeas (you could also use butter beans)
- Around 4 tbsp flat leaf parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Slice the onion in half, then into fairly thick slices, and fry in the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan until starting to go translucent. Meanwhile, halve, deseed and roughly chop the pepper. Cut the potatoes and the chorizo into manageable, stew-sized chunks and add to the softened onion along with the pepper, garlic and chilli flakes. Cook until the pepper is softened slightly then chuck in the glassful of wine. Turn the heat up and boil for a couple of minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes, chopped, about half a tin of water, to cover the contents of the pan, and the sugar. Bring back to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the paprika, and salt.
Leave it to simmer with the lid partially off, so a small amount of steam is allowed to escape, for about ten minutes. Then add the chickpeas and simmer, also with the lid partially off, until the potatoes are cooked and the stew has thickened. Season with black pepper. Turn off the heat and stir in the roughly chopped parsley, reserving a little to sprinkle over the top just before serving.
Sounds awful.
Why awful?