I hadn’t been home to see my parents in far too long, so, knowing they would be out all day, I offered to cook dinner for them. It was an offer that they took me up on, and I instantly regretted. I had to walk home, which takes around an hour on a good day, with all my bags. I’m an awful packer, and usually choose bags for style rather than practicality. This means they dug into my shoulders, hit my thigh in such a way that when I got home there was a purple bruise the size of a fist and, oddly, the shape of a pigs head, and generally made for a hideously uncomfortable hours walk. Except now, I had to stop at the greengrocers, butchers, deli and bakers on my way home, to buy the ingredients for the Spanish feast I had in mind. I had thought to myself how nice it would be to wander round Clifton village, steadily filling up a bag with delicious ingredients. My train, however, didn’t get in until half four. So if I had walked home and back, all the shops would have closed, and we’d be eating cheese and biscuits for dinner.
And so, my already overflowing bags were stuffed further with chicken thighs, three different kinds of chorizo, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots. By the time I got home I ached all over, and was far too hot.
But the best thing about tapas, is they really don’t take long to cook, and all I really needed to do was some chopping, and there’s nothing I like more than some good chopping to calm me down. So I started my chicken, put my stew in the simmering oven, prepped all my dishes, and still had some time to run round the woods with the dogs.
The dinner that followed was eaten slowly while we caught up, before we all collapsed, well fed and relaxed, in front of a bad film.
Chorizo and Tomato Salad
For four
five large tomatoes
four spring onions
oilive oil
sherry vinegar
100g fresh chorizo, chopped into chunks.
Fry chorizo in some olive oil, you can add a tsp of smoked paprika to it if you like it a bit spicier.
Leave chorizo to cool in a bowl with the cooking oil.
Slice tomatoes and arrange in a bowl, or individual bowls.
Chop spring onions and scatter over the tomatoes, followed by the chorizo.
Mix the cooking oil with the sherry vinegar until you have a vinagrette you’re happy with. You might want to add more olive oil.
Dress the salad and serve.
Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Parsley
For four
Eight chicken thighs
Juice of three lemons
Four to five cloves of garlic, finely chopped
A big handful of parsley
Salt
Preheat the oven to 180°c
Salt the chicken thighs before browning them in a hot pan. This is best to do in batches.
Place in an ovenproof dish with the garlic and cook fro 30-40 minutes, till the juice runs clear.
Remove thighs and leave to rest. Drain most of the oil, reserving two or three tablespoons as as much of the garlic as you can
Over a medium heat, warm the oil, add the lemon juice and parsley, warm for a minute, and spoon over the chicken.
Serve.
Lettuce Salad
For four
Two or three lettuce hearts
4 tablespoons of single cream
1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard
pecans, roughly chopped
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt
Marinade the lettuce hearts in the oil and vinegar for up to an hour.
Mix the cream with the mustard.
Pour over the hearts, scatter the pecans, season with salt and serve
Garlic Mushrooms
For four
1kg white mushrooms
three to four garlic cloves, finely chopped
parsley
nine tablespoons olive oil
salt
Preheat the oven to 180°c
Season mushrooms with salt, add garlic and oil
Bake for five minutes
Turn oven up to 220°c and leave for another 5-10 minutes.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Chickpea and Chorizo Stew
For Four
A glass of red or white wine (red is nice in winter, white is good for a warmer day)
400g can of chickpeas, drained
three garlic cloves, finely chopped
one onion, finely chopped
two carrots, chopped
400g chorizo
250g smoked back bacon
five tomatoes
parsley
Preheat the oven to 180°c
Sweat the onion for around five minutes, before adding the garlic and then the carrots. Give it all a good stir and leave to soften.
Add the bacon and chorizo, followed by the glass of wine. Leave to bubble for a bit, before adding the chopped tomatoes, and perhaps a glug of water.
Add the chickpeas and put in the oven for forty-five minutes.
This, as with all stews, is better the day after. You’d think with all the other things we ate, there would be some left over for the next day to test that theory. But greed is a trait that runs in my family, so we managed to polish this particular feast off very well indeed.
