Filed under: recipe | Tags: chorizo, Cooking, dinner party, food, fritters, recipe, Spanish
Why not try these tasty Chorizo Fritters with chickpeas, perfect for a snack or for a canapé for a dinner party.
A little fact about Chickpeas: they are packed with vitamins, proteins and minerals and contain soluble fibre which can lower your cholesterol levels, so if your health conscious these are perfect. Commonly used in Mediterranean cooking, it is time to try them in something other than houmous!
Ingredients
- 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds (or any other spice, which can add some taste)
- ½ a pack of unearthed cooking chorizo, finely diced
- 500ml milk
- 25g unsalted butter
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 150g gram flour, sifted (made from Chickpeas)
- 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- black pepper
- salt
- sour cream dip (or whatever dip you fancy!!)
Method
1. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Add some cumin seeds - the most popular ancient spice from Latin America to Africa and all over Asia – and if you can’t use these then have a go with another spice from the cupboard! Toss and toast for 1 minute until scented. Then place in pan with milk, butter, chilli and garlic, and bring to the boil.
2. Reduce the heat and slowly add the gram flour (this is flour made from chickpeas)
3. Cook gently for 5-6 minutes until thickened.
4. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying-pan, add the unearthed cooking chorizo and fry until sizzling and lightly golden. Pop the chorizo into the gram flour mixture along with the parsley and mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Line a 1 litre ovenproof dish or roasting dish with non-stick baking paper and pour in the mixture (try to use a plastic spatula so that the mixture can be spread easily). Level the top, cover with clingfilm and chill in the freezer for around 20 minutes until set (ideally overnight)
6. While mixture is in the freezer, preheat wok one-third full with sunflower oil. Heat oil until sizzling (be careful here!). Turn the fritter mixture on to a work surface and peel away the paper. Cut into small squares, and then cut in half again, into triangles. Roll in some gram flour. Deep-fry the fritters in batches for 2-3 minutes until golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm with the soured cream dip. Sweet chilli sauce is also fantastic with these fritters but feel free to experiment.
If you are looking for other appetisers, check out unearthed Mixed Olives and Feta or the new Hot Chilli Olives (WARNING: They are hot!!!).
A spicy Spanish pork sausage with paprika and garlic. GREAT for cooking, these semi-cured sausages were unearthed very close to Barcelona.
We have loads of recipe suggestions and ideas for this product on our recipe pages, including traditional Spanish dishes like paella or something more British with a twist, like chorizo toad in the hole!
Currently available from Waitrose and Ocado
Nutritional information:
Filed under: recipe | Tags: continental, Cooking, English, food, recipe, Spanish, traditional
A delicious continental twist on the classic English dish, Toad in the Hole.
You need
- One pack of unearthed Spanish mini cooking chorizo sausages*
- 290g batter mix
- One medium sized onion
- One egg
- Salt, pepper and cooking oil
Slice the onion finely and fry in a little oil until light brown. Remove from the pan and retain.
Cut the links on the mini chorizo sausages to separate them. Prepare the batter mix as directed on the packet (usually you add an egg and water) and add salt and pepper to taste.
Add a tablespoon of oil to a baking tray (approximately 20cm square) and preheat in the oven at 190C until the oil is hot. Carefully pour in the batter mix, sprinkling the fried onions and evenly placing the mini chorizo sausages on the top.
Return to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until the batter has risen and is crispy and golden brown.
The colour of the chorizo gives a real visual lift to the dish and turns it in to a great (and very simple!) centrepiece for the table. If you want a Spanish-style sauce with your Chorizo in the Hole then here’s a quick extra: gently fry some chopped celery, bell pepper and garlic. Sprinkle in a little flour and blend before adding diced tomatoes, tomato puree and black olives. Cook down, add some light stock and cook down some more before adding basil, thyme, salt and pepper (and chilli if you fancy) to taste. It’ll make a change from gravy!
If you try any of our recipes, let us know how you get on and what adaptations of your own turned out well…
Filed under: recipe | Tags: chorizo, Cooking, food, haddock, recipe, Spanish
Chorizo and Haddock Hash
Ingredients (to serve 2)
- 1/2 pack unearthed Mini Cooking Chorizo
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 4 boiled potatoes (allowed to cool down if possible)
- 1 large tomato, chopped with core removed
- 2 fillets haddock
- Some parsley (flat-leaf ideally)
- Olive oil
Fry the cooking chorizo in a very little oil until cooked through, turning regularly. Remove the chorizo and cook the onion in its juices, stirring regularly - one of my all-time favourite things to be doing in the kitchen but just behind listening to Test Match Special. Dice the potatoes while the onions are turning golden, then add the potato and fry for a few minutes.
Time to throw the tomatoes in and return the chorizo to the pan, stir and then delicately place the fish fillets on top. Lower the heat, pop a lid on and give the fish approx. 3-4mins on each side until it is just cooked through.
Serve and top with something green. The ingredients would suggest parsley.
It is very Spanish to combine meat with fish and I hope you enjoying feeling Spanish with this one. Let me know what you think!
This recipe adapted from a Lindsey Bareham recipe that I think came from The Times. The print-outs that get taken in to my kitchen don’t often survive for accurate referencing!
unearthed Mini Cooking Chorizo is available from Waitrose and Ocado.
Filed under: recipe | Tags: chorizo, Cooking, family, food, paella, prawn, recipe, Spanish
Another quick meal which can be rustled up in under an hour. Also a meal which can be made in large quantities so that it can be frozen and used on those days when time is short.
Serves four, so double up if the family will need feeding later in the week. Prawns can easily be substituted with chicken.
Ingredients
- Half a pack of unearthed mini cooking chorizo
- 300g of prawns
- 1 onions, diced into small pieces
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- ½ tbsp paprika, or ½ teaspoon of saffron (either one that you may prefer)
- 300g paella rice (risotto rice can also be used and works just as well)
- 1 yellow pepper and 1 red pepper with seeds removed and cut into small slices
- 6 cups of water (if using chicken use hot chicken stock)
- 75g of fine green beans, trimmed and blanched
- 3 large, ripe plum tomatoes, cut into chunky pieces (if these can’t be bought tinned tomatoes could also be used)
- 15g of parsley (or any other herb you fancy, we’re not responsible for any flavour clashes)
- A sprinkle of salt
Let’s get cooking
- Heat frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the chorizo, stirring and tossing for 3-4 minutes, until the chorizo has turned golden, and the oil has been released. Once this has been released remove, and set aside.
- Cook the prawns, for 3-4 minutes until the water has been released, again remove this and put aside.
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil and add the onions.
- Fry gently for 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and the paprika or the saffron, and stir these in.
- Add the rice
- Add 5 cups of water
- Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Return the prawns and chorizo to the pan and add the peppers, beans and tomatoes. Stir and cook for around 5 minutes.
- Add another cup of water is necessary
- Season now with parsley (or any other herbs you may have in the cupboard)
- Add a sprinkle of salt
- Continue to cook the paella for 5 minutes or until the rice is just tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, then you are ready to tuck in!
If you are a fan of lemon (who isn’t), squeeze loads over the top. Then squeeze some more.
Unearthed products available from Ocado, Waitrose and Abel & Cole.
