Chickpeas with Chorizo and Silverbeet

This was absolutely spectacular. I entrusted it to my husband, who does everything by the letter when following a recipe, except I hadn't written down anything except a list of ingredients when I first came up with the idea. This is one of those recipes where the flavour comes from very very slowly caramelising the onions with the chorizo and grated zucchini, which in this house is usually accomplished by me forgetting about it for half an hour but in this case was deliberate. Do not skip this step (although stirring it every so often is preferable to the buggering-off-and-reading-the-internet-and-coming-back-when-you-smell-burning technique *cough*).

olive oil

3 chorizo sausages, thinly sliced

3-4 onions, finely sliced

grated zucchini (optional, although not at this time of year in my garden)

garlic

at least 1/2 bottle passata

3 cups cooked chickpeas

½ cup sun dried tomatoes, sliced

herbs, paprika

balsamic vinegar

1 bunch silverbeet, shredded

Halve the onions and slice into half-moons. Thinly slice the chorizos and saute them both, together with the zucchini, if using, over a low heat until the vegetables are deliciously brown and melty. Add garlic, balsamic vinegar and herbs at some point in this step. When everything is caramelised, add the rest of the ingredients except the silverbeet and simmer until the sauce is at the thickness you prefer (ours ended up fairly stiff, which leads me to suspect that Mr Bat only put in half a bottle of passata, but to be honest I can't remember because I am a slack tart and blogging this about two weeks later). The silverbeet only needs to be folded in at the end and simmered until it's just wilting into the sauce. Try not to actually have a public orgasm while eating, it's that good.

Paprikash Pork Sausages and Beans

This was an unexpected success with all the smalls, although perhaps not all that unexpected because sausages and beans is one of those combinations which so far has never gone wrong. Paprikash purists will frown (and they have a point) because I wasn't working from the recipe and used a bottle of passata instead of just a bit of tomato paste for flavour as I had written, but it was still delicious.

• 4 onions
• 1 tray of pork chipolatas (or use better quality butcher sausages if you are less poverty-stricken)
• 2 carrots
• 3 sticks celery
• 1 large zucchini, grated
• 1/4 cabbage, shredded
• 1 tsp thyme
• 4 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika (at least - I just upended the jar and stirred in what fell out)
• 1 can of butter beans, drained
• passata
• loads of sour cream (embarrassingly, I had to buy this, because we forgot to put out some of ours to sour)

Slowly saute the vegetables for at least half an hour, preferably longer, stirring occasionally and tipping in a bit of liquid if it is sticking too badly. When everything is gorgeously caramelised, add the rest of the ingredients except the sour cream. Add a couple of cups of chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer, with the lid off, until the sausages are cooked and the sauce is reduced a bit. In the meantime, steam some potatoes and mash them with plenty of butter and a bit of milk, or prepare your preferred accompaniment. Eat, to the accompaniment of busily champing jaws if it is as popular in your house as it was in ours!

Spanish Fish and Chickpea Stew

Fish stews of various description seem to be a big hit around here. I'm trying to serve fish once a week, but the budget doesn't run to serving a fillet on a plate each. So I've been trying various recipes to stretch out around 500g of fish and half that of prawns between seven people. This one was really, really yummy. I was originally planning to add either chorizo or diced bacon, but I forgot, and it was very nice without it. I also forgot to add the lemon juice and parsley of the original recipe I adapted.

These quantities provided four adult servings, four child servings, and enough for all the kids to get some for lunch tomorrow.

Spanish Fish and Chickpea Stew

olive oil and butter
3 onions, finely diced
1 chorizo sausage, finely diced or a handful of diced bacon
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli spice mix (or to taste)
1 tsp turmeric
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1 green capsicum, diced
250g green beans, sliced
bay leaves
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
500g cooked chickpeas
stock
250g cooked cocktail prawns
500g skinless fish fillets (I used barramundi)
handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

Saute the onion in the oil and butter til translucent. Add garlic, chorizo or bacon (if using) and spices and cook for a minute or two. Stir through the vegetables and let them brown for a little while. Then add tomatoes, bay leaves, chickpeas, and enough stock to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until the carrots are cooked. Lay the fish on top, cover the pan, and simmer for five minutes or so until the fish flakes. Add the prawns for the last minute or two to warm through. If you are less forgetful than me and actually check the recipe at this point, stir through the lemon juice and parsley before serving. Nom!

Hearty Chicken and Bean Casserole

We now have housemates, so I'm adjusting to cooking for seven. Fortunately they have similar carb Isshews, so we're not trying to cater to too many competing eating styles. Although now the Elder Daughter is a confirmed vegetarian it does make for some extra cooking when she is here - of course it is entirely consonant with her nature that she would be determinedly omnivorous for the years I was trying to feed my family vegetarian food and as soon as we go back to being omnivorous she switches to being vegetarian.

Anyway, last night I made this hearty chicken and bean casserole, modifying it a bit. I bought drumsticks instead of thigh fillets, left out the carrots, substituted one can of kidney beans and one of cannelini beans since that was what was in the cupboard, and left out the celery when I discovered that the new bunch I bought that morning turned out to be manky (damned greengrocer's green lights which disguise that yellowy tinge just long enough to fool you when you're in a hurry). So I ended up subbing a couple of red and green capsicums for the celery and carrots, and upping the amount of onion. I was hoping that I would get some leftovers for Mr Bat's work lunches, but nope, it all evaporated very quickly!

oil for sauteing
10 chicken drumsticks, skinned *
2 chorizo sausages, cut into bite-size pieces
4 medium onions diced
2 small red capsicums, diced
1 medium green capsicum, diced
1/4 small cabbage, finely shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 800mL tin diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

Brown the chicken drumsticks in the oil, then lay in two roasting trays and scatter with chorizo slices (I used one small and one large tray, since my original pan wasn't deep enough for all the bean mixture). Saute the onion in the pan drippings for a few minutes, then add capsicum, cabbage, and finally garlic. Turn oven onto about 180C. When veges are starting to brown, add beans and tomatoes and heat through. Pour sauce over the chicken and sausages and put the trays in the oven for about half an hour. Serve with sour cream for those wot likes it, and watch it disappear.

* This was for two adults and four children under 6 - I don't eat drumsticks cuz I'm fussy like that. Adjust for your own family's preferences. Next time I will probably add another sausage and another two or three drumsticks, and then we might have enough for a lunch for Mr Bat!

Red Bean Goulash

Recipe from Janet Horsley's Bean Cuisine, with one or two minor changes. Bean Cuisine probably has the distinction of being my oldest vegetarian cookbook, which my mother gave to me when I was a teenager (I first went vego when I was about 14 but I don't remember exactly when she gave me the book). It's one of those earnest and unintentionally funny British wholefoods vegetarian cookbooks where they are making the first valiant attempts at ethnic outreach to avoid the tedium of veg and three veg, boiled until grey, a la Ye Olde English Vegetarian Cookery. I wasn't tempted by Tangerine Tofu Salad or Wheat Berry Risotto, but I did like the sound of Red Bean Goulash. And it was terribly good :-)


2 onions
1 green pepper
2 sticks of celery
2 potatoes
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (I didn't have any, so used cardamom instead)
2 tsp paprika (next time I'm going to try it with 3 tsp)
4c water + 2tsp stock powder, or just use stock
1/4 small cauliflower
2 400g tins kidney beans, or 1c dry kidney beans, soaked, boiled and drained
2 tbsp tomato puree (I used about a cup of passata)
1/2 c natural yoghurt
2 tsp lemon juice (I omitted this since I didn't have any lemons)

Slice the potatoes, celery, onions and pepper and saute in the oil. Add the seeds and paprika and fry until fragrant. Pour in the water and simmer until potatoes are just tender [I misread the recipe here and used 4c of water, but the original calls for only 1 1/4c. I will go with my quantity next time though, because it made lots of tasty sauce which was awesome with mashed potato!]. Stir in tomato paste/passata, cauliflower and beans and simmer until everything is tender and sauce has reduced a bit. Take off the heat, stir through yoghurt, cover and sit for half an hour or so before serving to let the flavours blend. Serve with mashed potato made with sour cream and lots of pepper and salt. Nom!