Chickpeas With Chorizo And Spinach Food

CHORIZO AND CHICKPEA STEW

Steps:

• If ever there were justification for cupboard love, this would be it: a full-on feast thrown together to enormous effect, simply with ingredients that you can more or less keep on permanent standby. And, like so many of these recipes, it's pretty well instant. After all, if you haven't got time to shop, it's hardly likely you'll be able to spend many hours at the stove.
• I am, anyway, a huge fan of bulgar wheat - think couscous, only more robust - but cooked like this, with some strands of pasta tossed in hot oil first, it really has something extra. I was taught to do this, just chatting stoveside, by an Egyptian friend when I was in my twenties, and I've never seen any reason to change the drill. He, actually, didn't use torn-up spaghettini but, rather, lokshen, which are the short lengths of vermicelli customarily found in echt chicken soup.
• This is a tradition about as far away from the chorizo-cooking culture as you could get, but the chickpea-studded, tomatoey and paprika-hot stew goes extremely well with the nubbly grain. I keep a stock of cherry tomatoes in sauce in the cupboard, but regular canned tomatoes could be substituted easily enough.
• Warm the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat.
• Fry the pasta bits in the oil for a minute, stirring, until they look like slightly scorched straws. Then add the bulgar wheat and stir for another minute or two.
• Stir in the cinnamon and the salt, and then pour the water into the pan. Add the bay leaves, and bring to a boil, then turn down to the lowest heat, add a lid, and leave for 15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed.
• Put another thick-bottomed saucepan on a medium heat, add the chorizo pieces and fry until the orange oil runs out. Then add the sherry and let it bubble away. Add the apricots (if using), along with the chickpeas (or beans) and canned tomatoes, and 3/4 fill each empty tomato can with water and swish it out into the pan. Put on a high heat to bubble for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve with the bulgar wheat and, if there's any to hand, some chopped cilantro.

CHORIZO, SPINACH AND CHICKPEA SAUTE

Steps:

• Put 1 tablespoon olive oil in saute pan, add chorizo, breaking apart as it cooks. When cooked through, remove and drain on paper towels. Add drained chickpeas directly to pan and saute until lightly browned, approximately 5 minutes.
• Remove from pan, set aside. In same pan, add another tablespoon olive oil and saute the onions, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts until the onions are translucent. Add garlic, when just starting to gain color, add in spinach and chicken stock. Cover and let wilt on medium-low flame. Add in chorizo and chick peas, season to taste with salt and pepper
• Garnish with Parmesan.

CHICKPEA STEW WITH SPINACH AND CHORIZO

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, cover the chickpeas with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until tender, about 2 hours; add more water as necessary to maintain the level. Drain; reserve 1 cup of the cooking water.
• In a medium enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, onion, rosemary and bay leaf and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened, about 7 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook over moderately high heat until sizzling, about 4 minutes.
• Add the sliced chorizo, the cooked chickpeas and their reserved cup of cooking water and the cup of reserved tomato juices and bring the chickpea to a simmer. Stir in half of the spinach and cook until it is wilted, then stir in the remaining half of the spinach. Simmer the chickpea stew over moderately low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

GARBANZOS (CHICKPEAS) WITH CHORIZO AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot or saucepan over medium heat. Add the chorizo and saute until the meat is lightly browned. Take the meat out and reserve it on a plate.
• Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, paprika, and bay leaves to the pan and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another few minutes, until it evenly coats the onions and garlic.
• Add the potatoes, broth, and water, and simmer the vegetables until the potatoes are just tender. This might take up to 30 minutes, depending on how large your chunks are.
• Add the garbanzos and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
• Just before you're ready to serve, remove the bay leaves, stir in the reserved chorizo and the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.

CHICKPEAS AND CHORIZO

Steps:

• Put garbanzo beans into a large container; add enough cool water to cover by several inches. Soak beans 8 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse before using.
• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Halve both the red bell pepper and green bell pepper from top to bottom. Remove and discard the stem, seeds, and ribs. Arrange pepper halves with cut sides down onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Roast peppers under the preheated broiler until their skins have blackened and blistered, 5 to 8 minutes; transfer to a bowl and tightly seal bowl with plastic wrap to steam the peppers as they cool until the skins are loosened, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard skins. Slice peppers.
• Heat canola oil in a pot over medium heat. Cook and stir potatoes in hot oil until browned, about 10 minutes; add chorizo and continue to cook and stir until chorizo is hot, 3 to 5 minutes more. Stir peppers, onion, garlic cloves, paprika, and salt into the potato mixture; cook, stirring infrequently, until the onion softens, about 10 minutes more.
• Stir soaked garbanzo beans into the mixture. Pour sherry over everything. Bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, place a cover on the pot, and cook at a simmer until the beans are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

FRIED CHICKPEAS WITH CHORIZO AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Heat the broiler.
• Put three tablespoons of the oil in a skillet large enough to hold chickpeas in one layer over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add chickpeas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until chickpeas begin to brown, about 10 minutes, then add chorizo. Continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes or until chickpeas are crisp; use a slotted spoon to remove chickpeas and chorizo from pan and set aside.
• Add the remainder of the 1/4 cup of oil to the pan; when it's hot, add spinach and sherry, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook spinach over medium-low heat until very soft and the liquid has evaporated. Add chickpeas and chorizo back to the pan and toss quickly to combine; top with bread crumbs, drizzle with a bit more oil and run pan under the broiler to lightly brown the top. Serve hot or at room temperature.