Chorizo and new potatoes

A few weeks ago, I had lunch and laughs with Tanna and her friends Sue and Karen at Books for Cooks in Notting Hill, a brilliant place for food bloggers to meet. The test kitchen at the back of the shop tries out recipes from the books, and sells the results to first-comers for lunch. The day we went the book was 100 Great Tapas by Pippa Cuthbert. It's the closest I've ever been to Spain.

It's taken me too long to get round to cooking anything from this book, which must be a good argument for NO MORE COOKERY BOOKS (as if!). But this is quick and easy, delicious on its own for Saturday lunch, or as part of a spread of little dishes.

Chorizo and new potatoes























You need about twice the weight of potatoes to chorizo, which makes this a good dish for people trying to keep their meat intake down. Potatoes, though, don't really count towards your five-a-day. The recipe specifies cooking chorizo, which I couldn't find; taste-wise, cured chorizo (easy to find near the salami in a supermarket) was fine, but it dries out a little in the cooking, so is not ideal.

new potatoes
chorizo
rosemary
Madeira

Boil some new potatoes whole, and in their skins. When they are just cooked, drain them, then cut them in half lengthwise as soon as they are cool enough for you to handle. Meanwhile, cut your chorizo into chunks (on the slant looks best), and cook them in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. When they've given up their oils, add the potatoes and some finely chopped rosemary. The recipe says to cook them for "two to three minutes .. until golden and crispy", but you'll need to cook them for much longer to get them crisp. When they are, or when you think it looks good, add two tablespoons of Madeira to the pan, and reduce it until sticky which will take two or three minutes. I actually used a litle rioja, which was fine, if less sticky.