Category Archives: Meat

Hake and Chorizo with White Beans

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cortijoblog fried potato cake

HAKE AND CHORIZO WITH WHITE BEANS

If you are using dried white beans, this recipe can be cooked in a pressure cooker and it will take about 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can use canned beans and cook it on the stove top. This recipe works well with any type of white fish such as hake or cod. You can replace the dried cabbage with fresh, chopped cabbage.

fried potato cake

 Hake and Chorizo with White Beans

This fish dish can be easily and quickly prepared in a pressure cooker.

INGREDIENTS

  • 200g dried white beans, soaked for 24-48 hours
  • 80g spicy Spanish dried chorizo, thinly sliced
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped1 glass red wine
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 hake fillets
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons concentrated tomato sauce
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

METHOD

  1. Put the beans in a pressure cooker, cover with water and cook for 15 minutes.
  2. Quick release the pressure and drain the beans.
  3. Heat some olive oil in the pressure cooker.
  4. Gently fry the onion until soft.
  5. Add the chorizo and fry for another couple of minutes.
  6. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds or so.
  7. Add all the other ingredients and the beans but not the fish to the pan.
  8. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.
  9. Pour over a cup of water and bring to the boil.
  10. Cover the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure.
  11. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
  12. Turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes.
  13. Release the pressure and open the cooker.
  14. Check that the beans are cooked.
  15. Lay the fish on the top.
  16. Put back on a low heat.
  17. Cover and leave for 10-15 minutes.
  18. Serve.

Spicy Black Bean and Chorizo Stew

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cortijoblog black bean and chorizo stew

BLACK BEAN STEW

We tend to eat a lot of pulses and beans in stews over the winter months or “platos de cuchara” as they are know here. This type of dish is very common throughout Spain and each region has its own speciality, whether it is Fabada in Asutria or Cocido in Madrid. I had never cooked with black beans before and this dish was something I discovered during the first COVID lockdown in 2020 and has been a firm favourite ever since. It’s a really simple recipe with only a few ingredients but is simple to make in the pressure cooker and tastes delicious. You’ll need to soak the beans overnight in water and rinse and drain them before using.

cortijoblog black bean stew

Spicy Black Bean and Chorizo Stew

This is a simple but delicious stew that can be prepared in no time at all.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 250g dried black beans, soaked for 24 hours
  • 100g spicy chorizo, sliced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 chilli pepper
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon smoked spicy paprika
  • 1 litre water

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in a pressure cooker.
  2. Gently fry the onion until soft.
  3. Add the sliced chorizo and fry for another couple of minutes.
  4. Stir in the paprika and add the remaining ingredients.
  5. Cover the pressure cooker and bring to pressure.
  6. Turn down the heat and cook for 60 minutes.
  7. Turn off the heat and leave the pressure cooker for 5 minutes before releasing the pressure.
  8. Serve.

NOTES

The cooking time will depend on the bean so if you are using older beans, you should adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Cocido (Spanish pork and chicken stew)

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Cocido is a traditional beef, chicken and chickpea stew from Madrid. It is similar to the French “Pot au feu”, where all the meat and vegetables are cooked together and then eaten separately, with the liquid served as a starter and the meat and vegetables as the second course.

The recipe is based on one by Carlos Arguiñano (see this page for his Spanish version).

Cocido
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 300g chickpeas, soaked for at least 24 hours
  2. 300g pork, cut into chunks
  3. 1 chicken thigh
  4. chorizo
  5. strip pork belly
  6. morcilla de cebolla (Spanish black pudding made with onions)
  7. 1 ham bone
  8. 1 white bone
  9. 1 large onion, chopped
  10. 2 carrots
  11. 3 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
  12. 1/2 white cabbage, shredded
  13. 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  14. salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat some oil in a pressure cooker and gently fry the onion until soft.
  2. Add the garlic and fry for another couple of minutes.
  3. Add the meat and bones (except for the chicken, chorizo or black pudding) and 2.5 litres of water.
  4. Season with salt and bring to the boil.
  5. Add the chickpeas, put on the lid and bring up to pressure.
  6. Cook for 30 minutes.
  7. Run the cooker under a cold tap to reduce the pressure.
  8. Open and transfer some of the cooking liquid to saucepan.
  9. Add the shredded cabbage and the chorizo and morcilla to the pan with cooking liquid and cook for 15 minutes.
  10. Add the potato and carrot tot he pressure cooker.
  11. Bring back up to pressure and cook for 5 minutes.
  12. Serve.
Notes
  1. Cocido Madrileño is traditionally made with beef, chicken, pork belly, black pudding, chorizo and bones, For this non-traditional version, I used pork, chicken, chorizo and meat bones. Mercadona sell a chicken and pork pack for this type of stew that includes the meat and different types of bones that you need.
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Pork stew

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Pork Stew
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 500g pork, chunky pork ribs
  2. 1 onion, coarsely diced
  3. 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  4. 1 large red pepper, coarsely diced
  5. 3 tomatoes, finely chopped
  6. chorizo, sliced
  7. 1 chilli pepper, sliced
  8. green beans, optional (it's just that they're in season at the moment)
  9. 500g butter beans, soaked for at least 48 hours
  10. 3 medium-sized potatoes, cut into pieces
  11. vegetable stock (1.5 litres of water and 2 stock cubes)
  12. salt and pepper
  13. olive oil
Instructions
  1. Heat some olive oil in a pressure cooker.
  2. Gently fry the onion on a medium heat for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the red pepper and fry until soft.
  4. Add the sliced chorizo and fry until the onion and pepper have taken on the red oil released from the chorizo.
  5. Add the chopped garlic and stir well for a minute or so.
  6. Add the chopped tomato,
  7. Tur up the heat and stir until the tomato has reduced.
  8. Add the pork pieces, chilli, butter beans and potato and mix well.
  9. Add a teaspoon of salt and season with ground black pepper.
  10. Pour over the vegetable stock so that there is slightly more liquid than ingredients.
  11. Leave the pot uncovered and bring to the boil.
  12. Add more water if necessary.
  13. Cover and bring the pressure cooker up to the 2nd level of pressure.
  14. When the cooker is at pressure, time for 60 minutes.
  15. Serve with salad and garlic mayonnaise.
Notes
  1. If you prefer a thinner stew, use potato pieces.
  2. If you would like a thicker stew, coarsely grate 2 of the potatoes and cut the third one into pieces.
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Home-made chorizo

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Home-made chorizo

Home-made chorizo

Even though we didn’t have our own pork this year, I decided to make some chorizo. That way I would know exactly what goes into it and how much fat it contains. The recipe basically calls for 80% meat and 20% fat but as the pork belly I bought was very lean, the fat percentage was considerably higher. It is possible to make chorizo completely from scratch, adding your own spices and flavourings to the meat and fat mixture. However, as the climate on the coast is warmer and more humid than in the mountains, and not ideal for drying and curing meats, I wanted to be completely sure that there wouldn’t be a problem and we wouldn’t all be poisoned so used a ready-made chorizo mix call “Chorizol”. I then added more oregano, chilli pepper and chopped garlic.

INGREDIENTS:
4kg shoulder of pork
1kg belly pork, derinded
1 sachet chorizol
2 1/2 teaspoons chilli pepper
8 cloves garlic
handful oregano
hog casings

PROCEDURE:
Mince the meat and fat together. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Leave to mature in the fridge or a cool place for 24 hours.

Put the mixture into the casings. Shape into individual sausages.

Making chorizo sausage

Making chorizo sausage

Hang up to dry in a cool, airy place. The ideal temperature is between 10ºC and 13ºC. Leave to dry for 7 days. If the temperature is cool enough, you can store the chorizo outside the fridge but I decided to freeze it and take out use as needed. I also saved some of the fresh chorizo back and froze it without drying.

chorizo2