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.

Preparation

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

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.