Chickpea and Chorizo Slow Cooker Stew

This is a favourite winter warmer dish of ours that's hearty, wholesome and delicious and very welcome on a cold night. 

You can have as a standalone dish, served over rice or a jacket potato or just with crusty bread to mop up the delicious juices. 

I've used cavelo nero to stir through in the last 10 minutes or cooking but you can use kale, cabbage or spinach if you prefer. 

The below serves x2 adults.

Chickpea and Chorizo Slow Cooker Stew

Here's how:

• 120g chorizo
• 1 white onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red chilli
• Some cubed squash or sweet potato (I used frozen squash here)
• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• Pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 chicken stock cube made up with 250ml water
• 100g cavelo nero (or your choice of green)
• Black pepper
• Parsley

Finely slice the onion, garlic, pepper and chilli and add to the slow cooker. 

Add the drained chickpeas, squash and chopped tomatoes to the slow cooker. 

Cut the chorizo sausage in half and then cut into semi circle discs and add to the slow cooker. 

Make up the chicken stock and add to the dish with the pinch of saffron threads, cinnamon stick, the cayenne pepper, paprika and some black pepper. 

Give it a stir to combine then place onto the lowest heat setting and cook for up to 4 hours, stirring every hour.

Roughly chop the cavelo nero and set aside until the last 10 minutes of cooking, then add to the slow cooker and mix through and return the lid on for ten minutes until dishing up.

Roughly chop some fresh parsley and scatter over the final dish. Enjoy!

Moroccan Fish Stew

As part of my 2019 resolve, I'm trying to step away from the same old meals and recipes that I cook time after time and instead focus on building up a more varied repertoire to stop us from feeling we are stuck in a food rut. 

I cooked this Moroccan inspired Fish Stew as a New Year's Day dinner for the four of us and just had to share. Whilst I leant on my Mum Vicky's Special Seafood Stew for technique in terms of the almonds and brandy which we know work so well together, this is a far more modest dish making the most of cod and flavoured quite heavily with saffron - a favourite for us. It's a really lovely, fragrant but light dish - perfect for January. You could also make with vegetable stock and a few veggies in place of the fish for a vegetarian or vegan meal if you're doing Veganuary. 

I served with toasted pitta, lemony couscous dotted with pomegranate seeds and a little garlic yoghurt dip - simple but tasty.

The below serves a family of 4-5. 

Moroccan Fish Stew

Here's how:

• Four fillets of cod or about 650g in smaller pieces
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 white onion
• 1 green chilli
• 1 large clove garlic
• Thumb sized piece of ginger
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 12-14 Cherry tomatoes, halved
• 600ml fish stock
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 3 tbsp almonds
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 tsp dried cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried coriander
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• Natural yoghurt and fresh coriander to serve

Firstly finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and finely chop or grate the ginger and slice the chilli. Add to an oven-proof and stove-proof dish to gently saute in the olive oil and once softened add the spices (cumin, coriander, paprika) and the tomato puree, stir and allow to cook for a few minutes.

In the meanwhile make up the fish stock or gently heat it then add the saffron to the warm stock and allow to stand.

Now to the pot of onions, garlic, chilli and ginger add the tomatoes, ground almond, brandy, honey, cinnamon stick, orange juice, the cooked chickpeas and finally the stock - give a good stir and allow to gently cook for ten minutes or until the liquid has started to slowly thicken up a little.

Now add the cod fillets in all around the dish, pres down so they are immersed in the stew and cook for three to four minutes. Now very gently turn over each piece of cod, and cook for a further three minutes or until the cod is cooked through. 

Serve at the table with a few blobs of natural yoghurt and handfuls of coriander leaves alongside your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!

Mexican Pepper and Chorizo Stew

This is a delicious, hearty and warming dish for colder nights that takes very little time to prepare and is light on the purse strings too – win, win.

You can make it slightly bulkier with the addition of chickpeas, butter beans or cannellini beans but I love it without.

I serve with some crusty bread, a dollop of homemade guacamole and a side salad but it would work well with rice or a jacket potato too.

It has a lovely smoky, chilli heat from the chipotle and the chorizo and you can dial this up with the addition of a red chilli as I have, or if you prefer something milder just omit this. I cook for about thirty minutes – however the longer you cook the more the flavours will intensify – so adjust according to how much time you have or how hungry you are.

Serves 3-4

Here’s how:

• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• Handful cherry tomatoes
• 75g mushrooms
• 1 pack of cooking chorizo sausages
• 1 tin passata
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp chipotle paste
• Pinch salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Few fresh coriander leaves

Firstly pop the oil into a strong bottomed, non-stick saucepan and place on a low heat.

Next peel and slice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the chilli and add to the pan to flavour the oil.

Slice the peppers and add to the pan once the onion has started to soften. Slice the mushrooms and place to one side.

Chop the chorizo sausages into small chunks and add to the pan to slowly cook. They will exude a gorgeous red oil that’s full of flavour and will continue to coat all of the ingredients in deliciousness.

Once the chorizo has taken on the colour of the oil all over, add the mushrooms and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.

Finally place the passata, salt, pepper, chipotle and paprika into the dish and stir through.

Cook for approximately 30 minutes and this will be ready to serve. Once dished up, add the coriander leaves as a final flourish and additional flavour.

Greek Briam - Glorious Summer Vegetable Stew

Briam is a wonderful Greek vegetable stew that can be adapted according to what's in season - or in the larder. It's a great vegetarian main course that takes very little preparation but tastes fabulous and is economical too.

I've experimented with recipes from several online sources as well as one from The Food and Cooking of Greece - a wonderful book which gives lots of information about ingredients used in Greek cookery and the history and origin of many dishes. With a little trial and error, the below recipe is the one I believe most resembles the delectable dish I associate with my beloved Corfu and glorious hot summer nights. 

This will serve four people with rice and some fresh, crusty bread. 

Here's how:

200g peeled potatoes
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Handful fresh cherry tomatoes
1 courgette
1 onion
1 green pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1 bay leaf
1tbsp dried oregano
1tsp sea salt
Pinch of peppercorns
1/2 glass of red wine 
Couple strands of celery
1/2 pint of vegetable stock

Firstly peel the potatoes and chop into small cubes, rinse then parboil. 

In the meantime slice the onions and garlic and add to a deep casserole dish. Halve the courgette and then halve again and chop into equal discs about the thickness of a pound coin and throw into the dish.

Cut the pepper into similar sized chunks as the courgette and cut the tomatoes in half and add both. 

Peel the carrot and chop into fine oblongs. Chop the celery and add both to the casserole dish.

Add the tin of tomatoes, the drained potatoes (drain when you can pierce the flesh with a fork easily) and the red wine.

Add the bay leaf, seasoning and oregano and pour over the vegetable stock and 2 tbsp olive oil and give a good stir. Place the lid on and pop into the oven for 2.5 hours at around 150-160 degrees. Remove the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking and stir every 40 minutes or so.