JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Tuesday, July 24, 2007

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.

8 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Fantastic how two ingredients rosemary and Madeira change everything in this one!! Now, let me think here joanna, how about we line the serving bowl with some fresh tender baby spinach and pour this juice over and then put the hot potatos and chorizo on top of the whole thing. Put a lid on it for a minute and bingo you've got some something that will go toward your five a day.
Please don't even entertain the idea of no more cookery books.

Celia Hart said...

mmmm! I would just need a large glass of ice cold dry sherry and a seat in the sun to accompany that.
Hope your garden is well away from the River Thames.


Celia

Anonymous said...

Oh Joanna, you can NEVER have too many cook books! I guess chorizo must be a regional thing as we have lots of it available here. Your version looks and sounds ever bit as good as the original recipe and I second Tanna's recommendation with the spinach! And we did have fun that day!!

Joanna said...

What a good idea, Tanna ... next time this is on the lunch menu. And it's okay, there's no chance whatever of no more cookery books, I'm far too addicted!

Celia - I couldn't agree more. And, thank you, we are high up above the Thames here, although close. Several of our friends are threatened by floodwater today and tomorrow, and that's before the next lot of rain that's apparently coming this afternoon. It's a terrible situation, almost unbelievable ..

Katie Zeller said...

Looking at that photo I can actually taste the chorizo... must be time to start dinner...

Figs, Bay, Wine said...

This looks incredible! I am a huge chorizo fan whether it's fresh or dry cured. I really can't wait to try this recipe!

Anonymous said...

chorizo con patatas - delicious though we've rationed ourselves to just 2 oz of chorizo. Also I like the 'dulce' rather than 'picante' in the Revilla brand. I make up for the lack of chorizo by adding a bit more pimenton.
Substitue potatoes for a can of canallini (sp?)beans, add a poached chicken breast and serve with wilted spinach or kale - so satisfying.

Joanna said...

John that sounds REALLY good, particularly with the beans (although I don't think I'd get the rest of the family to eat that version). And I like the idea of reducing the chorizo and replacing with pimento, much healthier, and probably fresher tasting.

Thanks for sharing!