Chickpea and Chorizo Stew
Plump and juicy chorizo
There's a whole lot of chorizo lovin going on in the blogosphere. Jerry's recent post got me thinking about what I could do with some of these lovely plump beauties. Just to set the record straight, I love all kinds of sausages. From the Greek "loukaniko" often made with pieces of orange peel (from the Southern regions of the Peloponnese) to the German Bratwurst served simply with "sempf" (german mustard) wedged i a crusty roll. And chorizos are another definite favourite. There is a big Spanish and Portugese community here in Sydney, all providing beautiful foods and small goods from their respective regions. I could eat them all the time but you know there's a thing called weight gain as you approach your 40's! Nevertheless, I decided to make a stew with some chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) and some ground spices. It was the perfect meal for the coolish weather (although you wouldn't know it from the current situation...we're back on a mini heat wave!). I used a few Moroccan inspired spices including some of that wonderful pepper paste known as harissa. I served it plain with some crusty bread, hungrily mopping up all the "saucy" goodness. You could serve it with some cous cous or soft polenta but I just wanted to enjoy it on its own with some bread.
Hearty chickpea and chorizo stew
RECIPE FOR CHICKPEA AND CHORIZO STEW
- 1 red onion finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic finely minced
- 1 grated carrot
- olive oil for cooking
- 1 tbsp of Moroccan harissa paste
- *ground spices*- This consisted of 1tsp each of ground coriander, fennel, ginger, turmeric, smoky paprika, cumin and a pinch of cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups of Italian passata (pureed, sieved tomatoes...a pantry staple!)
- 2 cups of chicken stock
- 2 cans of rinsed chickpeas
- 3-4 plump, fresh chorizo sausages
- Place the carrot, garlic and onion in a pot with a good splash of olive oil. Hey I'm Greek, I tend to sometimes get carried away! Cook it off on a medium heat until the mixture becomes translucent.
- Add your chorizo with the skins removed and proceed to squash it down with a wooden spoon breaking it up into smaller bits.
- Add your harissa and ground spices and give it all a good stir ensuring that the kitchen becomes aromatic!
- Add the passata and chicken stock. Season with a LITTLE salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Allow the mixture to come to the boil and then set it on a low heat.
- Let it simmer gently away for at least 2 hours allowing all the flavours to come through.
- About 15 mins before you switch it off place your chickpeas in the mixture. Allow them to cook and heat through (I used canned because I find the fresh ones too fuss to prepare)
- You may also want to add some spinach or chard at this point and fold it through. A bit of green never hurt a recipe!
- Serve with crusty bread and a nice shiraz, merlot etc...
Moroccan Style Spiced Lamb with Lentils and Baba Ghanoush
Prepping the lamb...and the finished dish.
This is my entry for the Royal Foodie Joust. Jenn, who hosts this monthly competition has given us "foodies" a chance to get creative with a monthly challenge. Last months winner who chose this months 3 ingredients, chose cinnamon, lentils and eggplant (aubergine). Great combination! So off to work I went creating a dish based on those ingredients. Here's my creation. Moroccan spiced lamb (using the cinnamon as part of the spice rub), a lentil and pancetta "pilaf" using the lentils of course and baba ghanoush using the eggplant. Here's a visual and written breakdown of this recipe.
PREPARING THE LAMB
I used two organic racks of lamb that I purchased form my very knowledgeable butcher. I made a spice rub using about a teaspoon of each of the following. Ground cinnamon, ground fennel seeds, cumin, turmeric, ground ginger and ground coriander seeds. To this blend of dry spices I added a good splash of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. I created a wonderful aromatic paste that I rubbed all over the lamb and let it marinate in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Once the lamb had come back to room temperature I placed it in a hot oven for about 45 mins at 200 deg C. This ensured I got a lovely pink colour in the middle and the lamb wasn't overcooked or destroyed!
LENTIL AND PANCETTA PILAF
Lentils and pancetta...a great combination here!
I had originally intended to make a warm lentil salad as my base. But I slightly overcooked the lentils and it resembled more of a "pilaf". Oh well! the texture was slightly thicker than I had hoped for but it still tasted great. To make this I used 250 g of lentils. I picked all the slightly "scarred" ones out and I soaked them in some cold water. Once I had re rinsed them after their soaking I boiled them in a combination of one cup of water and one cup of chicken stock. I added a little salt and pepper to taste and one bay leaf. Once they had cooked (or slightly overcooked in my case!) I added some fried pancetta to them. I love pancetta. It's basically the Italian version of bacon but much better. It's a little saltier and spicier and it lends great character to a dish.
BABA GHANOUSH
Preparing the baba ghanoush
I've never made baba ghanoush before. I've never even made that similar Greek classic "melitzanosalata". The principles are similar but the ingredients vary slightly. Baba ghanoush is a dip which originates in the Middle East and it uses eggplant as its base ingredient. It's actually quite simple to make and it has a very addictive taste. I basically baked an eggplant in a very hot oven that I had pierced all over with a fork. This took about one hour. Once the eggplant had been removed and cooled down I peeled the dark skin off it and removed any seeds that were still visible inside the silky cooked flesh. I then placed the cooked eggplant flesh into a food processor and added two finely chopped garlic cloves, one and a half tablespoons of tahini (middle Eastern ground sesame paste), salt and pepper, the juice of half a lemon and whilst the motor was running, I added enough extra virgin olive oil to make a creamy concoction. (The amount of olive oil might vary slightly but just use enough to make it creamy).
The finished dish.
And finally I put all the cooked parts of the dish together. The lentil pilaf was used as the base. The lamb was placed on top of this and the baba ghanoush was scooped on top. A fantastic blend of flavours and combinations. Also a great challenge using those three specified ingredients of cinnamon, lentils and eggplant.