Tag Archive for 'chorizo'

Our Thanksgiving Menu & Two Pie Recipes

Published by mel on November 18, 2008 in dessert, entree, recipe and sides & bites.

Carrot Pumpkin Soup
Pie recipes are from last year and I can’t seem to find any photos…will update the post with pie pictures next week!

Thanksgiving is 10 days away. Menus are finalized, grocery shopping is in full force. Thanksgiving recipe testing is complete! And so, here’s the final menu and recipes for Pupmkin Mascarpone Pie with a Gingersnap Crust and a Crunchy Apple Pie.

Carrot Pupmkin Soup with Crushed Hazelnuts
…flavored with smoked paprika, shallots and sherry vinegar.

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Roulade
…filled with caramelized onions and figs, goat cheese, toasted pecans and fresh cranberries. Wrapped in peppered bacon and basted in pear jam.

Corn-bread and Chorizo Stuffing from Gourmet
…Olive oil instead of vegetable oil, fresh tarragon instead of dried oregano, chicken stock instead of broth, and probably some dried fruit (apricots?) soaked in brandy.

Potato Gratin with Roasted Garlic and Manchego from Food & Wine
…Probably remove the rosemary (my mom’s not a fan) and replace half and half with whole milk. Maybe add some caramelized shallots too.

Roasted Butternut Squash stuffed with Wild Mushrooms, Leeks and Chestnuts
…Halved and roasted butternut squash, stuffed with wild mushroom and leeks, sauteed in butter and tossed with chestnuts. Sprinkled with panko breadcrumbs and baked until slightly browned.

Pumpkin Walnut bread, Banana Pecan bread, Lemon Poppy bread

Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie with Gingersnap Crust (Recipe below)

Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie (Recipe below)

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Mom’s Chicken Chorizo Spanish Empanada

Published by mel on November 17, 2008 in entree and recipe.

Mom's Chicken Chorizo Spanish Empanada

Aside from devouring my dinner last night, I really had nothing to do with this recipe. It’s my mom’s famous Spanish-style Empanada that she makes once a year for my dad’s birthday. He has proclaimed his undying love for Spanish-style Empanada and ordered it in every city in Spain when we were visiting. But I digress…

Unlike the more common South American and Latin American Empanadas, Spanish empanadas are baked like a chicken pot pie in a casserole dish and cut into squares for serving. Wikipedia says they’re usually filled with tuna, beef or chicken. My mom’s is made with chicken stewed with piquillo peppers, ham, onions, tomatoes, olives and chorizo. (Can you say yum?)

The thing that makes this Empanada different, is its slightly sweet crust. Instead of a simple tart or pastry shell, my mom makes a sweet, crumbly dough that contrasts nicely with the savory chicken filling. If you like a sweet/savory contrast, this dish is for you. Like a casserole, it’s a perfect make-ahead meal. Just pop it in the oven when your guests arrive and you’ve got an impressive, bubbling Empanada to warm you up on a cool evening.

I’m glad my mom finally wrote out the recipe for me. It’s one of those dishes that gets a rave review every time she makes it, and it’s time to share the love.

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Mussels in Chorizo Polenta Broth

Published by mel on October 8, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.

Mussels in Chorizo Polenta Broth
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez

It’s been 2 months since our big trip out to the Pacific Northwest and I’m still trying to recreate some of the dishes we had out there. One of my favorite meals was at Higgins in Portland. We weren’t really in the mood for a fancy place, so we sat at the bar and ordered from the “bistro” menu. Of course, the Mussels with chorizo and polenta caught our eye right away. So did the house-cured charcuterie plate, the local beers and the shortbread cookie with basil ice cream and nectarine syrup (which reminds me…I have to make this!).

So, back to the mussels. I finally made them over the weekend and they were every bit as magical as I remember them from Portland. The broth was bright and flavorful and spicy from the chorizo, the polenta added a nice heft to the broth, and the mussels were the perfect briny contrast to the chorizo. I ate until I was too full and washed it all down with a cold, bitter beer.

Honestly, this might just be the perfect recipe for mussels. But if mussels aren’t your thing, this “broth” would be perfect for shrimp, lobster or even chunks of fresh fish. In fact, you can even skip the seafood and substitute chicken or omit the extra protein altogether and think of it as a thin chorizo polenta soup. Just delicious!

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chickpea & chorizo casseroles

Published by mel on August 22, 2008 in entree and recipe.

chickpea & chorizo casseroles

I should just rename this site The Chorizo Blog. I know I should stop, but I cannot help myself. Chorizo keeps well and is always there when I’ve run out of groceries, am too lazy to get more, but still want something delicious for dinner. Besides, Tom is obsessed with it and showers me with endless praise whenever I make anything with chorizo in it. Who doesn’t want that?

This week, I simmered a few links of it in some dry, sparkling cider. As the chorizo cooks, it absorbs the liquid and plumps up, losing all of its firm texture and becoming a lot more like the fresh sausage it started its life as. (Ending in a preposition. I know, I know. It’s Friday, so I’m allowed.) The chorizo also absorbs the cider’s sugar, making it savory, sweet and so deliciously addictive.

I added cider-spiked chorizo to some sauteed onions and chickpeas, then tossed everything with some pieces of crusty bread. In keeping with the sweet/salty theme (and because it’s all I had, really) I used a cranberry walnut bread. Everything is bathed in an egg mixture, topped with Gruyere and baked until crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.

This casserole feels homey and indulgent and comes together relatively quickly. The hardest part is waiting for it to come out of the oven.

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chorizo-stuffed calamari

Published by mel on July 11, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.

chorizo-stuffed calamari

Ah yes, chorizo. It’s back. I’ve been pretty good about posting recipes that explore other ingredients, but I always come back to the chorizo. I just can’t help myself.

Last weekend, I had my brother and his wife over for dinner. I had only really cooked for them when I was living in NYC and had about one square foot of counter space to work with. I seriously have no idea how I was even able to make anything halfway decent in that studio. The kitchen was so small that I used to balance my cutting board halfway into the sink and halfway in mid-air. Real safe.

Anyway, I wanted to cook something really nice for them. And really nice means chorizo. I served it as an appetizer, quickly sauteed with breadcrumbs and stuffed into calamari. Seafood and sausage are a perfect way to kick off a meal. The calamari was just the right size - small, but satisfying. I sprinkled some of the stuffing over the plate just before serving, but next time I’ll use toasted breadcrumbs with fresh herbs for a lighter feel. Overall, a total winner that I’ll make at my next dinner party.

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pizza pie! how to make a tasty calzone.

Published by mel on May 16, 2008 in entree and recipe.

Every Friday night is pizza night at my house. I make the dough in the morning and it rises patiently on my counter top while I work. My husband gets home first, so he preheats the oven and the pizza stone and gives the dough a bit of a knead for it’s second rising (um, it’s not as dramatic as it sounds).

Then we eat our pizza in front of the TV with ice-cold I.P.A. in our frosty, fancy monogrammed beer mugs. After dinner, I usually fall asleep on the couch before 10, all the while pretending that I’m still awake while Tom tries to switch the channel to a movie I’d never in a million years watch with him. It’s a nice tradition.

A few months ago, I decided it was time to break tradition and branch out into the world of calzones. I stuffed them with ricotta, Parmesan, basil and toasted pine nuts. Having faced previous disasters with dumplings, raviolis and empanadas, I was very careful not to over-stuff. I waited patiently while the baked. Then I finally took a big bite, expecting a beautiful, creamy filling surrounded by a thin, crisp crust. Wrong. All I got was bread. And the filling? I could barely taste it. So bland.

The moral of the story is this: Fill the crap out of your calzone. And fill it with big, bold flavors. None of this subtle ricotta and toasted pine nuts. So I tried again with Portuguese Chourico (duh), sun-dried tomatoes, onions, arugula and semi-soft sheep’s milk cheese. Now that was a calzone worth posting. Spicy, rich, meaty and you could definitely taste the filling. It’s a calzone mighty enough to break tradition and delicious enough to make again and again.

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portuguese chourico, scallop & radicchio rigatoni

Published by mel on May 2, 2008 in entree and recipe.

portuguese chourico, scallop & radicchio rigatoni

A few weeks ago, I thought to myself “I really must start exploring a world beyond Spanish chorizo.” I didn’t say it out loud of course (my husband would file for divorce), but I had the thought. So, what was on the menu this week? Rigatoni with Portuguese chouico, which I’m pretty sure is the Portuguese version of Spanish chorizo. Just looked on Wikipedia, and yep, that’s what it is.

Here’s what really happened. I knew I had some scallops in the freezer and I knew I wanted use them in a pasta. So, I planned out a nice pancetta & scallop pasta with radicchio. While I’m sure that would have been lovely, my grocery store was out of pancetta. Sure, I could have used bacon, but they only had Oscar Meyer and I’m a snob. Right above that flabby Oscar Meyer bacon was a package of hot Portuguese chourico, so I grabbed that instead.

Since you can’t really go wrong with chorizo of any nationality, the pasta turned out really well. I especially liked the radicchio in this dish. It was browned and added a nice bitter contrast to the sweet tomatoes and scallops. It was also done in under 20 minutes. The only downside was all the dishes (cutting board, bowl, skillet, pot, colander, etc.), but really that’s more of my husband’s concern.

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cuban frita sliders

Published by mel on April 9, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.

cuban frita sliders

So, it’s no secret that I absolutely love Spanish chorizo. I especially love the spicy kind and it somehow finds its way into a lot of my cooking. A little bit goes a long way in terms of flavor and color. It’s also no secret around these parts that my husband loves Cuban food. I mean, loves.

One of his Cuban favorites is the frita — a small, griddled burger flavored with paprika and onions. The ground beef can also be mixed with some ground chorizo for a more intense flavor. This is the route I chose to go with dinner last night. I also made them slider-sized instead of the more traditional jr. cheeseburger size. The beef to chorizo ratio was 2:1, which I thought would be too much, but ended up being just right. I added a thin slice of cucumber to each slider as a cool contrast to the hot chorizo, a tiny squeeze of mayo and housed everything in toasted ciabatta bread.

They were beefy, smoky and really fun to eat. Like a grown-up, ethnic White Castle.

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fideos with shrimp & chickpeas

Published by mel on February 29, 2008 in entree and recipe.

fideos with shrimp

I finally got to cook last night. Not just throw a quick soup or salad together, but really cook. It felt great to make something I was excited about, something I’ve never made before, something pretty darn tasty.

I seem to have a stock-pile of hot, Spanish chorizo in my fridge and it’s been finding its way into so many of my meals recently. I love how it infuses a dish with color and flavor. For this recipe, I sauteed it with chickpeas and added chicken stock and the thin Spanish noodles known as fideos. Something really interesting happened that I hadn’t intended — the broth became super thick and almost creamy and I couldn’t figure out how it had gotten that way without flour or cream. After thinking about it, I concluded that the little bit of water from the chickpeas thickened up as I sauteed them and the fideos released a good amount of starch as they simmered in the stock. The result was a thick orange sauce that I used to poach my shrimp.

I think I’ve found my new favorite meal in this dish. It has a really short prep and cook time and is impressive enough for guests. Oh yeah, and it’s a one-pot meal so the hub likes it too.

cooking

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chorizo & blue corn tortilla soup

Published by mel on February 20, 2008 in entree and recipe.

tortilla soup

I didn’t make it home until late last night, but I was cold and hungry when I got there. I know I live in Miami, but my office and most indoor spaces blast the a/c all day long. Unless I wear pants and a jacket, I shiver all day. Yesterday, fashion took precedence and I wore a dress. By the time I got home, all I wanted was a big bowl of soup. Preferably, one that would be ready in 15 minutes.

soup

I had some hot Spanish chorizo, canned fire-roasted tomatoes, stock, limes and blue corn tortilla chips. A quick sautee and a simmer and we were eating our tortilla soup 20 minutes after I walked in the door. I garnished it with some cheddar cheese, fresh cilantro, sour cream and more tortilla chips. It was spicy and hearty, but still tasted fresh and vibrant from the lime and cilantro. This may just become my go-to recipe when I’m pressed for time because frankly, I’m getting a little sick of omelettes.

Please note how pretty my fancy new lens makes everything look. Thanks to my awesome hub!

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