Chorizo

Cafe Society
1

I’ll apologize in advance for any of the mis-spellings of names in this post.

In honor of the World Cup final, I bought some things to serve in honor of the two countries competing. We drank the Grolsch beer, ate the Edam and Gouda cheese, loved the Serrano Ham wrapped Shrimp, also the garlic stuffed Spanish Olives… and I served authentic Spanish dried Chorizo. I say served because I think I was the only one who ate any.

So, now I have about 8oz. of Spanish Chorizo and I need to figure out what to do with it. I would consider Paella (sp?) but I’m the only one in the family who eats shell fish (my wife loves it but has developed allergies). Any other ideas… maybe with beans and rice? I don’t want to toss it, but think it would take me quite some time just to eat it a slice at a time.

Of course the fall back is… my dogs think it is absolute nirvana.

2

How about hot chorizo salad? Saute onions mushrooms and peppers, fry a few (preboiled) potatos, mix together with the chorizos and serve over a load of salad leaves with preferred dressing. Yummy.

3

Chorizo and eggs. It’s better with the Mexican version, but chopped chorizo goes easily with anything.

4

Here you go.

5

Do a Paella with chicken and pork instead.

6

for the win

7

Make Jumbalaya with it. If you don’t know how, just get a box of Zatarain’s.

8

My parents found a soup recipe that originally called for Italian sausage, and replaced that with chorizo. The basic structure goes like this (it’s very flexible).

  1. Brown 1 lb chorizo in a large pot. Drain grease.
  2. Add 1 quart beef broth or stock and one can diced or stewed tomatoes.
  3. Add 1-2 cups of any diced / sliced “hard” veggies you want (potatoes, carrots, etc). Dry grains (rice, barley, etc) can also go here, but if you use those you usually need to add some additional liquid, since the grain will soak some up. We generally do an extra cup of broth per cup of grain. Or do 2-to-1 if you like brothier soup.
  4. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes
  5. Add 1-2 cups any “soft” veggies you want (diced onions, bell pepper, zucchini, a can of corn, green beans, etc). A can of navy beans is another good option. For some extra spice, I’ll usually toss one of those little 4oz cans of diced chilies.
  6. Simmer another 15 minutes
  7. Add 1 cup any leafy veggies. We usually toss in baby spinach, but have also done it with chard torn into 1-2" pieces… Tougher greens (kale, mustard greens) should probably be added back in step #5 to give them some more cooking time.
  8. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes to wilt the greens (if used).
  9. Serve.

The chorizo (and chilies) make for a nice spicy flavor, and the veggies can be tailored to whatever you like and/or have on hand. Cut things up into 1" cubes or thin slices and serve with some crusty bread.

9

Yes, you can pretty much sub chorizo in any recipe that calls for andouille and, to a certain extent, Polish sausage/kielbasa, depending on how dry the chorizo is. Generally, I use this type of dry cured sausage in two ways: either on its own as part of a charcuterie plate, or sliced thinly or diced finely and fried with the onions as the basis for any of a number of dishes. The sausage has a lot of fat and smoky flavor that it imparts to any dish where you want that kind of flavor: bean soups, rice casseroles, stews of most any type, etc.

10

Yep. Chop it up, brown it in the pan for 3-4 minutes, then dump a few beaten eggs in.

11

You could not pay me to eat chorizo. Hasn’t anyone read about whats in it in Poundstones Biggest Secrets? No thanks.

12

Spanish chorizo is just a highly spiced sausage. It’s the Mexican stuff that has the salivary glands in it.

So what?

13

Parts is parts.

14

Breakfast burritos!

Fried potatoes, with onions and chorizo, topped with fried eggs!

Pizza topping!

15

And not even all the Mexican stuff has salivary glands, if you’re put off by that sort of thing. You can get plenty of chorizo around here that’s made just from pork shoulder, or it’s quite easy enough to make it yourself.

16

People with allergies to “shellfish” are divided into two groups. If she generally is allergic to bivalves, then she can’t eat oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, and possibly snails, squid, and octopses(sp?).

She isn’t allergic to fish, shrimp, lobster, etc. You can still make a paella.

17

Shrimp, lobster, crab are the biggies… I think it may actually be an iodine sensitivity.

She used to absolutely love these things, but after taking her to a crab feast and having her spend the next several hours begging for mercy on the bathroom floor (I ate the exact same thing, so no food poisoning) and now even a little bit will set her off she is gun shy for pretty much everything. She will still enjoy regular fish, but anything with a shell she won’t touch.

18

Yep, Iodine. My sister has it, my SO has the shellfish allergy. Two diff things. You can still make paella. Just no shrimp/lobster/crab.

Just use fish and any bivalves you want. You should be OK…OF course, she may be so gun shy that it won’t work.

19

I’ve made chorizo - both Mexican and Spanish - and I can assure you, it’s entirely possible to make with plain ol’ Pork Shoulder. No need to use the offal unless you really want to.

20

Offal Helper!