Before I went to Madrid, I asked Tom if he wanted me to bring anything back for him – he asked for chorizo. I didn’t fancy putting one in my suitcase (which, considering what happened to the suitcase in question, was probably a good thought to have had!) so I decided to chance it and see if they had some at duty free. Thankfully they did! It was quite a large chorizo, ironically labelled as a ‘mini chorizo’, so they must make some huge ones if they class this as being mini! We decided to look for a new recipe including chorizo and found this on the BBC Good Food website.

Ingredients

100g cooking chorizo, skin removed
3 pork sausages, skins removed
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp lime juice
small bunch coriander, chopped
½ x 400g can mixed beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
1½ tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
2 ciabatta rolls, split and toasted
soured cream, avocado, small handful rocket and chips to serve (optional)

Method

1. In a food processor, pulse the chorizo, sausagemeat, paprika, lime juice and coriander until well combined. Add the beans and some seasoning, and quickly pulse again to mix.

2. Tip into a bowl and mix in just enough egg (about half) to bind. Shape into 2 fat burgers, cover and chill for 15 mins.

3. Meanwhile, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

4. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the burgers for 3 mins on each side. Transfer to a baking sheet and cook in the oven for a further 10 mins until cooked through.

5. Serve the burgers in rolls with soured cream, avocado and rocket, with chips and lime wedges on the side, if you like. Enjoy!

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Tom is making his recipe debut on my blog today – he quite often makes things up when cooking, and this is what he made up for dinner tonight! A yummy cassoulet which was carb-free (great if you’re trying to eat healthily). He left the sausages whole so that there would be leftover veggie stuff – this will go great with a jacket potato or some pasta so we’ll box it up for the freezer.

Ingredients

6 sausages (Tom used some chipotle chilli ones, but you can use whatever you like)
3 peppers
1 chilli
Black pepper
Thyme (dried or fresh)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 small brown onion
1 big garlic clove
1 courgette
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of cannellini beans
1 tbsp tomato puree
Grated nutmeg
Grated parmesan cheese
Dash of soy sauce
Handful of finely chopped mushrooms
A handful of spinach
Juice of half a lemon

Method

1. Put the sausages, peppers, chilli and oil into a baking dish. Add some fresh or dry thyme and season with black pepper. Put in oven to roast for about 45 mins (or until sausages are cooked and peppers have blackened slightly).

2. Then in a large pan, sautee the onion, garlic and courgette. Add a tin of tomatoes and a tin of cannellini beans and stir well. Add the tomato puree and Henderson’s relish, before grating in some nutmeg and parmesan cheese (as much of each as you prefer).

3. After this has simmered for a little while, add the rest of the ingredients and leave to simmer again. When the sausages and peppers are cooked, add them to the pan.

4. Serve with some green veg (we had mange tout) for a perfect carb-free meal!

The post Tom’s Cassoulet appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Another of the new recipes that we have tried out this week is Nigella Lawson’s Chicken with Tomatoes and Peppers. This is a super easy recipe to make and it’s really tasty, and you could cook it on a school night which is always great! I also think that leftovers would make an excellent lunch too, or just pop it in the freezer for another day. We served this with orzo pasta, but it would go well with green veg or some crusty bread.

The original recipe states that you should use chicken thigh fillets – we couldn’t find any but bought thighs with the bones. Tom spent ages (and I mean ages!) removing the meat from the bones before cooking, and he has told me to say ‘Do not do this!’ Either cook the chicken with the bone, or use breast fillets – but trying to remove the meat from the bone is really more hassle than it is worth! We couldn’t find a jar of flame-roasted peppers in our local supermarket, so roasted a couple of red pointed sweet peppers instead.

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

1 x 15ml tablespoon garlic oil
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
500g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bitesize pieces
1 tsp dried oregano
2 x 15ml tablespoons marsala
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes, plus water to rinse out can
1 tsp sea salt flakes, or 1/2 tsp pouring salt
1 x 290g jar (190g drained weight) flame roasted red peppers (or use 2 peppers and roast yourself)

Method

1. If you are roasting peppers, heat the oven and chop the peppers into medium sized pieces. Place on a tray and cover with olive oil before roasting.

2. Pour the garlic oil into a pan and cook the onion until soft, stirring frequently. Add the chicken along with the oregano and turn in the hot pan. Add the marsala and watch it bubble up, before promptly adding the tomatoes and the salt.

3. Half-fill the empty can with water and pour it into the pan, swilling out as much of the tomato as you can.

4. Drain the peppers and snip with scissors into bitesize pieces (or remove your roasted peppers from the over). Add to the pan and then bring to the boil before turning down the heat and leaving to cook at a steady simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

5. As the pan is simmering, cook the orzo pasta. When the pasta is done and the chicken cooked through, serve in bowls or serve straight from the pan at the table. Enjoy!

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