Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew

Tonight was one of those nights where I was tasked with putting together a dinner and there was no chance to shop- it was a ‘use up what’s in the house’ type dinner. Luckily there were some nice bits and piece lying around.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

olive oil

4 chicken breasts (chopped)

150g chorizo

400g tin of chickpeas

2 glugs (technical term) of dry sherry

5 cloves of garlic. Crushed.

2 tins of chopped tomato

1 tablespoon tomato purée

I started off by heating some olive oil in a pot. Peel the chorizo and chop it into whatever size you like, you’re the one who is going to be eating it. I prefer a smaller dice for dishes like this one. Fry it in the oil until it is crisp. Remove the chorizo, keeping as much of the oil in the pot as possible. Throw the chicken in and fry until it is sealed. Set aside the chicken with the chorizo.

Into the pan add the garlic, fry until slightly coloured. Then add the tin of drained chickpeas. When they have started to sizzle- add glug 1 of the dry sherry into the pan. After frying for a short while- add the chicken and chorizo back in. At this stage add the two tins of tomato.

At this stage add glug 2 of the sherry, the tomato purée, and season with salt and pepper. I also added a little pinch of sugar. I gently simmered the whole lot for about half an hour. I also happened to have a few stray green beans in the fridge so they were chopped and thrown in. I served it with some brown rice which soaked up the juices very nicely.

Enjoy.

Sticky Moroccan Mackerel

Mackerel chilling in their marinade

 

Last week I asked for a few suggestions as to what my next recipe would be. Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions! Lizzy suggested something Moroccan or a fish dish- so I combined the two. And so was born my Sticky Moroccan Mackerel.

Yesterday evening I made the short jaunt out to Howth and got my hands on some incredibly fresh whole mackerel, which my obliging fishmonger cleaned for me. I don’t mind cleaning fish, I used to do it for a living, but I appreciate when they offer to do it!

Ingredients:

2 whole gutted mackerel

2 tablespoons of honey

3 tablespoons of ketchup

juice of 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

For this recipe I took the barbecue out of hibernation, and it really added to the flavour of the dish. Fist wash the mackerel and pat dry with some kitchen paper. Take the heads off if you like. Then score the flesh as I have done in the photo- this allows the marinade to permeate into the flesh. This is important because the likelihood is if you barbecue the mackerel, a lot of the marinade will come off with the skin.

Then mix all the ingredients until you get a smooth paste. Place the mackerel in a long dish and spoon the marinade over them. Ensure the marinade gets into the cavity and then scores. Ideally if you can leave them to marinade for a few hours that would be perfect. If not, no worries! I didn’t have that long!

Ensure you have a nice hot grill/ barbecue. The mackerel cooks pretty quickly. As sizes differ, as will the barbecue, the best guide re: timing I can give you would be to look into the scores on the skin and you can see how far the fillets on each side have cooked. If you have a fish grill this is ideal, as it allows you to turn the fish without it disintegrating.

I served the mackerel with some greens and brown rice- on which I poured a little sesame oil and lime juice.