I decided that this week, by golly, I was going to force myself to get my cooking mojo back! Part of my recovery, if you like.
I started out with the very familar, is very simple and very delicious – perfect for post-grocery shopping.
Chorizo with tomato and basil over pasta
A recipe of my own devising (well sort-of, I imagine loads of people cook similar) – with instructions below!!
23.09.10
Cooked by: Carol
Now for the poorly-written and poorly-described instructions. I have an amazing amount of admiration for people who can actually write any sort of coherent recipe:
- couple of splashes of olive oil
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 3 chorizo (sliced – I usually slice about 1.5-2 cm thick, but whatever you’d prefer).
Also, if you have access to csabai, I totally hate you and you could use that instead - jar of passata
passata rustico is superior I think or you could also use a couple of tins of diced tomato instead - a couple of small, hot chillis (chopped, sliced, whole – per your preference)
you can totally leave this bit out if you are not a fan of heat - Half to one cup of water
- couple of hands-ful of fresh basil leaves (torn in half if they are very big, but you can leave them whole)
- Soften the onion in a frying pan in bit of olive oil over a medium-ish heat- try not to use too much oil (the chorizo is way fatty and you’ll end up with a lake o’fat)
- Slightly brown the chorizo on both sides – you just want a bit of colour**
- Add the passata and chillies
- Add some water (maybe half a cup)
- Bring to boil^^ and then reduce heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes, checking occasionally. You want the sauce to reduce and caramelise a bit, but not too much, so add more water if necessary so it stays quite saucy.
- Chuck in your basil and stir through until it is wilted nicely – 5 minutes should do it.
Serve with whatever pasta takes your fancy.
Serve leftover sauce on toast for breakfast!
^^You’d probably want to put your water for the pasta on to boil at this point
The easier (but more expensive) way to do this is cook up to ** and then chuck in a jar of Simon Johnson or Barilla pasta sauce and heat through – which would make everything way quicker and is almost equally as yummy.
Also, you really don’t need fresh basil, you can chuck any combination of dried italian-ish herbs in after the chorizo has browned – it’s fairly flexible.
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