One ingredient you'll see repeated throughout a lot of my recipes is basically one of my favourite ingredients: Chorizo.
And by that I mean chorizo that comes in proper sausages.
Sliced chorizo is great too but less value for money really, don't get me wrong, I love it in bocadillos, sandwiches, filled pitas, toasties, pizzas, tortilla pizzas...
When I was little I would leave my favourite ingredients of any meal, namely chorizo and olives, to one side of my plate in order to savour them properly at the end.
Growing up in Spain, during the week I would go to school from 9:00 to 13:15 and from 16:45 to 18:45 so in between there was time to go home for lunch.
But every Wednesday I would have lunch at my grandparents place and every Wednesday we ate the same two courses in my honour: Macarrones con chorizo and Carne con aceitunas.
Every week my uncle Juan would sit at the table in the chair next to mine and, knowing me well, he would eat the chorizo or olives that I left to one side to make me mad and, boy, would I get mad!
With time my tastebuds developed and I learnt that, if certain ingredients belong in a recipe, there probably is a reason for it and I should make a point of eating them all together.
Once I became a mummy, it became "eat when you can" and always with the certainty that the moment the food hits the plate baby will invariably wake up/whinge/need a nappy change, so it was eat fast or else eat cold.
Throughout the years my search for good chorizo in the UK has progressed quite nicely, it basically went from not finding any and having to fly back from Spain with vacuum-packed chorizo stashed in my suitcase every time I visited the family to finding basic Revilla Chorizo de Puchero (do supermarkets still sell it I wonder) to the great find that is a place in London that stocks the proper stuff.
That shop was in Notting Hill (I'm not sure if it's still there), La Plaza it was called and near it there was one called R García and Sons too.
Everything was fantastic quality, the cold meats were pretty much packed how I would expect them to be wrapped in a charcutería in Spain and the prices were very similar to what we would have paid in any English supermarket, in fact I am convinced that we got more quantity for the same price. I shall report further once I visit it in person.
Most supermarkets now sell chorizo sausages, both ready to eat and cooking chorizo, all good for: sopas de fideos (soups with filini pasta), potajes (potages) or indeed pucheros. As well as, of course, sliced chorizo.
Be brave, buy the full sausages. And always skin them if you can.
Cooking Chorizo
Cooking chorizo does what it says on the tin, it needs cooking, so you can't eat it as is!
Cooking chorizo sausages are perfect for Lentejas, you can use either my Thermomix recipe for Spanish Lentil Stew or my Instant Pot / pressure cooker Lentil Soup recipe. Great in my Red Lentil Soup too!
When you're after a quick bowl of comfort food, lentejas are it!
Read on for lots more recipe ideas using Chorizo.
Some of my faux pas over the years have included buying Waitrose's Chorizo-style sausages (the clue was in the name) and trying to make a lentil stew with them.
Waitrose was also a source of disappointment one Christmas when I got some chorizo and jamón ibérico which tasted mainly of the plastic it was packed in, having worked out the price per slice I was rather outraged.
Don't get the wrong idea, I love Waitrose and have bought plenty of excellent quality ingredients there in the past but it failed us in this department.
La Plaza remained my preferred supplier of chorizo for a while and then I started ordering online from Tapas Lunch Company but their selection has rather diminished over the last few years. Their huge Lomo sausages, though, are great!
Have you discovered any good places to buy good chorizo, either sliced or for cooking? Let us know in the comments.
Recipes with Chorizo
Air fryer recipes with chorizo
Pressure Cooker recipes with chorizo
- Pressure Cooker Chicken and Chorizo Orzo / Risoni Pasta
- Instant Pot Chicken and Chorizo Stew
- Instant Pot Chorizo Frittata
- Chorizo pasta
- Chorizo and red pepper risotto
- Instant Pot Spanish Lentil Soup (Lentejas)
- Pressure Cooker Chorizo and Red Lentil Soup
- Instant Pot Kale and Chorizo Soup (Caldo Gallego)
The Secluded Tea Party says
Yes! Try the Market Square in Saffron Walden on a Saturday Morning...there is a guy there who sells Chorizo...My friend bought some from him last weekend : ) xxxx