Every year, at about this time, a particularly important deadline comes up and I’ll be working many a late night to meet it. There’s barely time to cook, let alone blog about it. Quick meals, like this one I had last week, now become extremely common in our household. With some good bread on the side, the whole meal is put together in under half an hour.
The ingredients are easy to store and most of it can probably already be found in your pantry or fridge. It’s also a very malleable recipe and things can be substituted here and there. No sherry? Use white wine instead. Prefer a spicy Italian sausage? Feel free to use that instead of chorizo. Beans instead of chickpeas? Why not?! Sure beats takeaway or a frozen pizza (which unfortunately, have also made up too many dinners this past week).
Chorizo, Chickpea and Kale Stew
serves 2-3
100g chorizo, chopped coarsely
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
olive oil
1-2 tins of chickpeas (2 tins if you want it to go further)
a good sized bunch of kale
a splash of dry sherry
half a tin of plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add a good pour of olive oil. Add the chopped onion and saute until golden. Add the chorizo and continue sauteing until the chorizo starts to crisp and all the oil is now orange. Toss in the garlic and let it sizzle for a minute or two. Add a good splash of dry sherry and let that bubble and then reduce. When the sherry has all but bubbled away, add the drained and rinsed chickpeas and the tomatoes and the paprika. Add some water and let it all simmer gently.
In the meantime, clean your kale and strip the leaves from the hard stems. Shred the leaves roughly with a knife. Toss them into the pan, add more water if it looks like it needs it and then cover the pan. The kale will steam thanks to the water in the pan. Every 5 minutes or so, take a peek, give it a stir and add more water and cover and continue steaming if the kale is not done to your liking. You might prefer it with a bit more of a bite or perhaps you’d like it like you’d find vegetables in the Mediterranean – very, very soft. By this time, the chickpeas will also have softened a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with some nice bread.
Thu, 14 Feb, 2008 at 01:28
quick and easy sounds like my kind of cooking 🙂
Thu, 14 Feb, 2008 at 07:39
It sounds a bit like my cassoulet … known to my grandchildren as ‘Firework Stew’ (because we usually have it on Guy Fawkes’ Night) or ‘Thunder Stew’ (for obvious reasons 🙂 )
Anything goes; the only essential ingredients are chickpeas and kidney beans.
Thu, 14 Feb, 2008 at 22:51
Lovely flavors. I had some chorizo for dinner tonight and with each mouthful marveled at what a wonderful thing it is.
Sat, 16 Feb, 2008 at 01:28
[…] This stew has to be one of the easiest and tastiest things I’ve ever tasted – all the more easy because I didn’t have to cook it. However, it was very easy according to my wife, and she is generally unimpressed with overly complicated or time consuming recipes. […]
Sat, 16 Feb, 2008 at 11:45
That’s a favourite of mine, too!
Sat, 16 Feb, 2008 at 21:44
Kat: There are times I like taking my time cooking a meal but now is not the time for that! Quick and easy for me too!
travelrat: Gosh, I looooove a good cassoulet. I’ve never made it though as the recipe is quite long and time consuming and there’s just no space in my kitchen!
Annemarie: Isn’t it great stuff? If you don’t have it already, try to find a tin of Spanish pimenton – it’s got that wonderful savoury aroma.
aforkfulofspaghetti: Glad you like it too! Such an easy dish for weekdays.
Sat, 1 Mar, 2008 at 19:49
Just made this for the second time, and it’s been delicious both times!
Sun, 2 Mar, 2008 at 00:10
Dan: Wow! Glad you liked it!
Sat, 12 Nov, 2011 at 17:04
I cooked this last night; it was absolutely delicious and so easy & quick to make. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Mon, 26 Dec, 2011 at 06:30
This looks great, and has all of my favorite ingredients. I’ll be sure to try this out soon!
Mon, 25 Mar, 2013 at 23:07
This is delicious! I used 1 and a half vine tomatos instead of the canned tomato and it worked perfectly.