Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew

It’s that time of year again. I’m back at uni and this year is going to be even busier than the last. This is why it has been such a long time since I have written anything. I have barely had time for anything else, including cooking.

Last week, though, I cooked a proper meal for the first time in a while. It was my friend Amy’s birthday so we had her over for dinner. I cooked one of my favourites: chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew.

This is a variation on one of the early recipes on my blog.

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Tapas no.3: Pinchos from Movida Rustica

Updated on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 11:10AM by Vix

I lived in Seville for three months in 2008 and Granada for 3 months in 2002. One of my favourite of the tapas I ate while I was there were the adobos de pollo or "pinchos". Usually made with chicken, these salty, spicy skewers were served all throughout Andalucia with a piece of crusty bread to mop up the juices. I was over the moon when I found the recipe in Movida Rustica.

Now I have to admit that this recipe does not produce results as good as some I have tried in Andalucia, but I think that is because I love the ones I am used to and this is different. If you have ever tried to replicate a favourite dish you will know what I mean. I will try to play around with this recipe next time to get it closer to what I know, but in the meantime this is a very nice, if not quite right, rendition.

The recipe below makes 12 tapas or 6 raciones (larger portions). If you are only cooking for 4-6 people and serving the pinchos as part of a selection of tapas, I would recommend halving the recipe.

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Sex and satay (yes, really)

I have often heard people say that bad sex is worse than no sex at all. I think the same applies to satay.

Hear me out.

It may not apply to blokes but, generally speaking, a girl’s libido diminishes the longer it has been, over time we tend to stop thinking about it so much. But as soon as we are reminded of how good it is, or how good it could be, we find ourselves craving it again.

Well, call me what you will, but I have the same problem with food.

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Stephanie Alexander's Moroccan-inspired chicken

About halfway through making this dish I thought I might have another Dalmatian disaster on my hands. Part of me was thinking what a waste of good ingredients, while the other half of me was eagerly imagining the comic potential of another culinary catastrophe. In the end I was left disappointed on both fronts; I was able to save the dish from disaster but not from the dull and the ordinary, the result being that I still felt I had squandered good ingredients on a dish that turned out to be perfectly pleasant, but rather plain and where is the comic value in that?

So why, you may ask, am I sharing it with you? Faith. And a lack of it. 

Faith: This is the first time I have ever been disappointed with a recipe from Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion. It seems so unlikely that a recipe with so many sumptuous spices could fall flat. Caroline Dewe of the Mostly Undaunted Cook certainly rates it (“Love this dish”) calling her post ‘Thank you Stephanie: Morrocan inspired chicken’.

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Chicken, chorizo and cannellini bean casserole

Here is another of my seasonally inappropriate recipes from the comfort food binge last weekend. The temperature has stayed on the cool side, so I’m guessing it won’t be long before everyone is starting to crave winter warmers.

This recipe was an experiment, so I have only made it once. It worked very well, but I feel the need to highlight that it has not been ‘tried and tested’ in the usual way. The combination and balance of ingredients was just right, so I wouldn’t change anything there, but I would be interested in trying out alternative cooking methods.

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