Chard and chorizo tart

The chard plants have gone rather mad on the allotment this year - here they are a month or so ago - they're now well over six feet tall.



So we've eaten lots of chard with a dash of lemon juice and olive oil, and it's been cunningly hidden in all sorts of vegetable sauces. But before outright rebellion began, I had the bright idea of combining it with chorizo...

You'll need:

a large bagful of chard leaves (you could also use spinach)
1 onion, finely chopped
lots of chorizo, sliced (I used about 10 slices for three of us)
2 eggs
a dash of milk
shortcrust pastry

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and find a quiche/flan tin or dish (preferably with a removable bottom).

Gently fry the onion in a little olive oil until it's translucent. Wash the chard, drain in a colander, and then tip into the onion pan. It'll gently wilt, and shrink to about a tenth of its former volume over a couple of minutes. Stir it occasionally to stop it sticking.

Line the flan dish with your shortcrust pastry, and then place the whole thing on a baking sheet. Tip the chard/onion mixture on top of the pastry, and then decorate roughly with the chorizo slices. Beat the two eggs together in a mixing jug, and add a splash of milk (or cream if you have it lying around the fridge). Tip into the pastry case, season with some ground black pepper, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and the eggy mixture is set.


It goes very well with a tomato salad. Or more green leaves, if you've got an allotment glut...

Chorizo, chickpea and spinach salad

We spent the afternoon at the swimming pool, and came home completely knackered and starving. Luckily, you can make this in about 10 minutes.

Makes enough for three. You'll need:

chorizo sausage (a couple of hundred grammes should do - depends how chorizo mad you are)
a large avocado, peeled and sliced
half a small bag of spinach
a tin of chickpeas, drained

Slice the chorizo, and sling into a frying pan (you don't need to add any extra oil). Fry for 8-10 minutes or so, until it goes crispy and has released all its oil. Tip in the chickpeas, mix well so they're coated in the chorizo oil, and warm through.

Stick the spinach into a bowl, and scatter the avocado throughout. Tip in the warm chickpeas and chorizo, and gently mix together (the chorizo oil will coat the spinach, so there's no need for any extra dressing).

Season with lots of black pepper, and then decant into some bowls. We ate ours with some crusty bread. It disappeared very rapidly...

Chorizo, prawn and courgette skewers

It's been a ridiculously hot day (unheard of up here in the frozen north), so we spent the afternoon pottering about in the garden, and then had a bbq. For once, we didn't need an umbrella.

These worked really well on the bbq - but you could grill them quite happily as well.

Makes about 7-8 skewers. You'll need:

half a red onion, chopped into large chunks
a large courgette, sliced into chunky rings
a small pack of king prawns (we used ready cooked ones, but crevettes, or langoustines would also be fantastic cooked in their shells)
half a large ring of chorizo (I'd say this was about 15cm of chorizo), in large slices
a little olive oil for brushing

If you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water for half an hour first, or they'll burn to a crisp.

Thread chunks of everything onto the skewer, in whatever pretty pattern you fancy (I did: courgette, chorizo, prawn x2, red onion, courgette, chorizo, prawn x2 etc). Repeat ad nauseam for the other skewers. Brush with a little olive oil, and then sling onto the bbq once the charcoal has turned white and is giving off lots of heat.

Depending on how high you've got them above the heat, how much charcoal you've got, wind speed and other exciting outdoor factors, they take around 5-15 minutes to char nicely and cook through.

We ate them in the sunshine on the balcony, with a green salad and lots of French bread, before retiring to the shade for pudding.

'Whatever's left in the fridge' fried rice

Your Dad made this today, to cheer himself up after a day of hacking and coughing.

You'll need:

an onion, finely chopped (the rest of the ingredients may change, but this is one thing that you really have to have)
a couple of peppers, chopped (different colours are nice)
a couple of carrots, chopped into small pieces
whatever odds and ends of meat-based things you can find - today we had a couple of rashers of bacon, a little bit of yesterday's roast chicken, and a couple of inches of chorizo to play with
rice
soy sauce
black pepper
an egg
hot sauce/mayonnaise to serve

First of all, sort out your rice. Stick it in a pan, with double the amount of cold water, and leave for about 12-15 minutes until all the water's been absorbed. Test it and make sure it's cooked - you may need to add a little extra water and give it another couple of minutes. Drain into a colander, and then run it under the cold tap to stop it cooking any further.

Then put your bacon (chopped up small) and chorizo (ditto) in a frying pan (you shouldn't need any oil with these two), and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the onion, peppers and carrot, and cook until they've softened (this might take a little while for the carrot). Add in your chicken, and swish about until it's heated up. Do the same thing for the rice - at this point, you may need to add a little extra oil if it starts to stick on the bottom of the pan.

Add a tablespoon or so of soy sauce to the mixture, and then crack in an egg. Swish it all about for a couple of minutes until the egg is cooked and distributed evenly throughout the rice.

Season with black pepper (and possibly a little salt). If you're making this in the summer, it'd probably look really nice with a little chopped parsely on the top.

I like mine with peas, but your Dad thinks they're the Devil's work and prefers the mayonnaise/hot sauce combo.

Chorizo with peas and feta

We wrote a letter to Santa today, and you cycled to the postbox at the end of the street to send it on its way. Here's hoping you get a reply...

A robust sort of a tea for a cold, windy and migrainy day was required. Makes enough for two (your Dad was out at a work event, hence the peas).

You'll need:

a large chunk of chorizo, sliced
lots and lots of frozen peas
an onion, finely chopped
any odds and ends of peppers hanging about in the fridge
lots of freshly ground black pepper

Gently fry the chorizo over a low heat until it gives off its spicy oil. Add the onion/peppers and fry until they have softened. Meanwhile, heat the peas in boiling water for 3 minutes, until they have defrosted and cooked. Drain.

Chuck the peas into the chorizo/onion/pepper mixture, and swish about for a couple of minutes until they take on the chorizo oil and flavours.

Serve immediately, with some plain basmati rice. Sprinkle some cubes of feta cheese over the top.

Baked eggs with lentils and chorizo

Otherwise known as the Vaguely Spanish dish. It was great for a freezing cold day that saw the last trip ever in the Triumph Dolomite. You and your Dad went to the appropriately 1970s Get Carter car park for one last look, and then we all piled in to pick up Clare from the station. Goodbye Triumph, it was nice knowing you.

You'll need:

an egg per person (or two, if you're really really greedy)
a couple of handfuls of red lentils per person
a tin of tomatoes
lots of chorizo, chopped into thick chunks
an onion, finely sliced
a clove of garlic
a teaspoon of smoked paprika, a little thyme, salt and black pepper

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C.

Cover the lentils with boiling water, and cook for 10 minutes or so, until they're no longer hard. In the meantime, fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until they're translucent. Add the tin of tomatoes and the herbs/spices to the onions, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Drain the lentils, and chuck into the tomato sauce. Add the chunks of chorizo, and make sure it's mixed up well. If you wanted, you could leave out the chorizo to make a vegetarian version - you could add chickpeas or some haricot beans at this point to make it a little more substantial.

Put everything into an oven-proof dish. Make little dips/wells in the top, and break an egg into each. Shove in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the eggs have cooked. Keep an eye on them, as overdone eggs are revolting.

Fried rice with chorizo and prawns

We got back from Gran and Grandpa's in need of a little something for lunch after a weekend of travelling on steam trains. This seemed to fit the bill.

You'll need:

some leftover cooked rice (from Thursday's tilapia tea)
some chorizo (how much depends on how greedy you are, and how much you like chorizo - so in your case lots...), sliced
an onion, finely chopped
half a red pepper, chopped
a couple of carrots, sliced
a handful of prawns (if frozen, make sure they are defrosted)
a little sunflower oil
black pepper

Chuck the chorizo in a frying pan (you don't need to add any extra oil), and turn up the heat. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the onion, and cook until it's translucent. Add the red pepper and carrots, and cook until they're softened - at this point chuck in the prawns and cook for a minute or two. Add the rice and swish everything about in the pan until the rice is reheated. If it starts to stick, you may need to add a little sunflower oil. Season with some black pepper.

You may also like to add a touch of chilli with some Encona or Tabasco. Your dad likes eating this with a little mayonnaise, and he often adds some soy sauce.

Chorizo and carrot pasta

Your godmother Jane gave us the recipe for this - she cooked it once for lunch at their flat when you, Wulfrun and Eafa were starving.

For one person you'll need:

half an onion
a carrot, very thinly sliced lengthways
spicy chorizo - however much you think you can eat (in your case, probably a lot)
pasta of your choice - twists or bows are always popular

Slice the chorizo thinly, and put in a frying pan to brown. Meanwhile, stick the pasta on. Once the chorizo is browned, take it out of the frying pan, and chuck the onion/carrot in. Cook in the chorizo oil until the onion is translucent and the carrot is softened and sweet.

Drain the pasta after 6-8 minutes once it's al dente. Throw into the pan with the carrot/onion, and the cooked chorizo. Grate a little parmesan cheese over the top, and season with lots of black pepper.

It's nice with a green salad and a sharp, lemony dressing. Tomatoes marinated in a little balsamic vinegar also go well.

Mediterranean vegetables, halloumi and couscous

I made this a while ago when your Gran and Grandpa were here, but then I gave Gran the vegetarian cookery book I filched the recipe from, so I've no idea if this is the same thing or not.

Makes enough for four:

an onion, sliced
a clove of garlic, chopped
two peppers (red/yellow/green/orange - doesn't really matter), sliced into chunks
a courgette, sliced
some mushrooms, quartered

(you could also add aubergine, or whatever else is lying around)

a tin of tomatoes, and a squirt of tomato puree
herbs - some thyme, oregano, mediterranean herbs - whatever you've got really

couscous (about 1/4 of a 500g bag - depends how greedy the people are that you're cooking for, I suppose)
a block of Greek halloumi cheese (couple of hundred grams or so...)

Fry the onions and garlic in some olive oil until they are translucent. Add the peppers, cook for a couple of minutes until they soften, and then bung in the courgette and mushrooms (you might have to add a little more olive oil at this point. Cook for a couple more minutes, then add the tin of tomatoes, tomato puree, a screw of black pepper and a teaspoon of herbs. Simmer for a while - it's probably edible after 20-30 minutes, but it's better when you leave it for an hour.

The halloumi's really nice if you slice it, and put it into a greased griddle pan (brush it with olive oil) on a high heat - you should get some nice stripes if you fry them for 30s-1 minute on each side.

For the couscous: melt a knob of butter in a saucepan, and add the couscous grains, coating thoroughly. Add boiling water - enough to cover the couscous by about a centimetre. Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes until the water has been absorbed, then stir with a fork, to break the grains up. Check how hard it is - you may have to add some more water and give it a little longer.

To serve: take four bowls, dollop some couscous in each. Slosh the mediterranean vegetables on the top, and then place three or four slices of halloumi on each portion.

Me, your gran and your grandpa had this for tea, but you said you didn't like the squeaky halloumi cheese, so yours came with a few slices of chorizo instead.