Chorizo And Chickpea Stew 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.

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.