Chicken & Chorizo Stew

I made this easy one pot dinner a few weeks ago. Chorizo is one of my favourite ingredients as it does all the hard work for you, the incredible oil it releases adds plenty of flavour to whatever you're cooking without having to use dozens of ingredients. I added a little honey to sweeten the tomatoes and some hot sauce to add a little heat, paprika or chilli powder would also have been a welcome addition.

Serves 3
5-6 free range chicken thighs and/or legs
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, chopped
100g chorizo, skinned & cut into 1cm chunks
Tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp hot sauce
Small bag spinach
Jacket potatoes & creme fraiche to serve

1. Fry the chicken in a little oil, until the skin has browned. The meat does not need to be cooked through at this stage as you will poach the chicken in the sauce later
2. Fry the onions, peppers and garlic over a medium heat in a little oil. Once softened add the chorizo and continue to fry until it releases its delicious oil and starts to colour
3. Add the chicken back to the pan with the tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes until the chicken has cooked through and the sauce has thickened
4. Add the spinach for the final few minutes. Once it has wilted, add the honey and hot sauce to taste along with plenty of seasoning. Serve with jacket potatoes and a big dollop of creme fraiche

Baked Eggs with Chorizo & Gruyere

Last weekend we had a mini Christmas day at the flat. We watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, ate chocolate orange and exchanged our presents. To start the day I made us these delicious baked eggs, they're really simple and utterly delicious, perfect for a special brunch.

Serves 2 people for brunch, or 4 for breakfast
80g chorizo, skinned & cut into 1cm chunks
Half a red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 eggs
50g Gruyere, grated
Plenty of seasoning & buttered toast to serve

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and pop a baking sheet in to warm up
2. Dry fry the chorizo and onion over a medium heat, the sausage will release plenty of delicious oil so there's really no need to add any extra. You want the onion to soften and the chorizo to crisp up, this should take around 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic a few minutes before the onion is cooked
3. Separate the mixture into 4 ramekin dishes, crack an egg over the top and season. Top with the Gruyere then place the ramekins onto the pre-heated baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes for soft egg yolks and 15 minutes for hard

Sticky Sausage, Apple & Sage Bake

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In honour of National Sausage Week Chris made us a super tasty bake for Sunday night dinner. The recipe is from one of the excellent Waitrose recipe cards you can pick up for free in store, you can see the recipe online here. With some greens on the side, it was a speedy and cheap meal with plenty of leftovers.

We used sage rather than thyme as I have some growing on the balcony and we also added another tablespoon of the onion marmalade to make the sausages extra sticky. We bought the sausages from Meat N16; the new butchers & delicatessen on Church St. Alongside the usual pork they have plenty of more interesting options, we went for 3 pork and 3 lamb for a bit of a change. Whilst they were very nice, the lamb sausages didn't go particularily well with the apple and onion marmalade, so next time I'll stick to pork. I'd like to try this recipe with butternut squash, honey and wholegrain mustard or maybe some parsnips, yum!

Spicy Lamb & Feta Burgers

Inspired by a recipe on Good Food, I decided to make lamb and feta burgers for dinner. Sainsbury's on Stoke Newington High St didn't appear to stock harissa, so I swapped it for a tablespoon of tomato puree and two tsp each of paprika, chili powder and cumin. I also added some garlic and ginger and swapped the mint for parsley as I have some growing on my balcony. As Valentine Warner would say, they were 'bloody good' served with plenty of salad, hummus and tzatziki. YUM!

Burgers ready to go in the oven:

Tasty tasty buuuurger:

Al fresco dining, that's how we do in Clapton:

Sausages with Red Onion Gravy

Despite the fact that it's June, we've had some pretty awful weather recently. Sunday before last was more like a dreary winters day than mid-summer, so I decided to make my favourite comfort meal; sausages and mash. There's something about smooth, creamy mash with crispy, meaty sausages which tastes so delicious. We added butter, milk and wholegrain mustard to the mash which was a great addition. I also made a red wine and onion gravy to go with the mash and served it with plenty of vegetables on the side, perfect food for a cold and rainy day!

For the gravy:
1 red onion, sliced
Knob of butter
1 heaped tsp plain flour
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1 large glass of red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
A few sprigs of rosemary

1. Gently fry the red onion in the melted butter until soft. add the flour to the onion and fry for a further minute.
2. Add the red wine and allow to cook down until the alcohol has burnt off. Add the redcurrant jelly, balsamic vinegar and rosemary and leave to gently simmer for 10 minutes
3. If the mixture gets too thick add a little stock or water to loosen it. Serve poured over plenty of mashed potato

 Lots of gravy: