This is an amazing and simple lentil stew you can make with or without chorizo.
So I’ve not posted anything in a day or two. It’s not to say I haven’t been eating 😛 it’s more to say I didn’t really think they were worthy of an individual blog post. Monday was meat free Monday (Stir Fry with a frozen asian mix I’d mentioned as an alternative in the previous stir fry I made .. it was quick and easy for lunch … Dinner was a vegetable soup, I’m not sure if it’s worth posting up every soup one makes? Carrots, Onion, Potatoes, Leek and water and herbs … bit of cream afterwards .. lovely but worthy of it’s own blog post? I’m not so sure … after a while with soups you realise you can experiment and get very different flavours with the same ingredients.) Yesterday was a quick frozen surprise for lunch. I made a Beef Tikka in the evening which was lovely however it was my first time making one and I may make it next time without using a paste and changing a few more things around. Lunch today was leftovers as I was fending for myself and generally lack motivation to do anything when it’s just for myself.)
Now that that boring recap of food is over with it’s onto the lentil and chorizo stew. This is probably up there with my Guinness stew in the number of people who go ooooh what’s the recipe for that so lets do the usual thing and get our ingredients together.
If you wanted with this dish you could actually go vegetarian and leave the chorizo out. I’m not sure what you could substitute for the chorizo yet but it’d be nice without it. I’d just add in a good pinch of chilli.
What’s in the picture?
- Chilli Flakes (Completely optional I didn’t add in any as I don’t want to kill the kids)
- Chorizo (The non fresh variety) (I’m opting for a mild doux chorizo here … again if you want more kick there are generally 3 levels on the various chorizo like this I’ve seen)
- 1 large onion (2 medium in my case)
- Carrots (2 large? I’ve a mix here and it bulks things up nicely)
- Lentils … I’m going with a large tin and a normal tin here
- 1 normal tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves (Not in picture in case you think we’re playing Where’s Wally / Ou est Charlie with garlic cloves)
- Paprika (This is a nice smokey one we still have from our time in Spain and it still adds a lovely smokey flavour to the dish)
Chop Chop lets get a move on that lentil stew won’t cook itself. Get chopping your onions as you’ll be frying them in a bit of olive oil first. With the kids I like to chop these rather finely. Leaving larger bits is nice as well.
Today I used my big pot as I wanted to get this cooking a bit earlier as Val was heading out tonight and I wanted everything ready with minimal hassle for her (Too much detail I know) You can also use a normal pot.
For your garlic I like to remove the germ if there’s much of one noticable (I started this thanks to Val) If you’re eating raw garlic this has a hell of a kick in it .. when it’s cooked I’m not sure how much it adds so I just remove it when I think of it)
If you’re using chorizo you can use as much of it as you want. I recommend removing the skin on these packet varieties (I’ve no idea if it’s really animal intestine or something slightly synthetic .. ). I use a half a pack which gives you about 100grammes of chorizo. You could use lots more (I’ve actually a left over chunk I’m using as well), you could keep the pieces larger and get them fried and crispier if you wanted too you can really do whatever variation you want on this dish.
I see a waxy shiny on this so yes I like to remove that skin.
I slice the chorizo lengthwise and then slice the two halves lengthwise again.
Get this frying with your onion. The fat in it is going to start melting adding a lot of flavour / grease to the dish don’t worry it’s worth it.
Now it’s onto the carrots … I like to cut small chunks again because they’ll cook quicker. The normal way I cook this dish it takes around 30 – 35 minutes.
I’m trying to keep all the chunks roughly the same size. Smaller carrots it’s slice lengthwise and then slice the two halves lengthwise and then dice. With the bigger carrots it was lengthwise and then each half lengthwise in 3. Throw your carrots into the chorizo / onion mix. I’m assuming it had a nice good cook as you’re not a chopping god / ninja 😮
Rince your lentils throw them and the tin of tomatoes into the pot of lentil stew with chorizo and carrots. Add a good teaspoon of paprika. Depending on your paprika go in small and adjust later if needs be.
If you want you can also add a pinch of chilli flakes here (If you’re using a slightly spicy chorizo there may not be a need for this). Rince your tin of tomatoes 1/3 to 1/2 a tan of water in it … and into the pot with it all. Give it a good stir and cook at a low to medium heat with the lid on for 20+ minutes stirring occassionally until the carrots aren’t as hard as rocks 🙂 In my case I put it on a slow cook for a good while longer with the lid on (did a bit of work … went and got the kids … you know the drill)
Serve! That’s it there’s nothing else with this dish serve up a nice bowl of lentil stew jimmy style 🙂
We ended up finishing off the pot! So now I need to figure out something to cook for lunch tomorrow 😀 If you opt for just a lentil stew without the chorizo I’d love to know how you get on or if you use a substitute for it.