a little more
Feb. 13th, 2016 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitThe stew turned out very tasty. Or rather, the chickpeas are tasty, the red peppers are tasty, the little bits of chorizo are gorgeous, and the broth is fantastic. The meat is okay. If it wouldn't feel wasteful, I would take the meat out and get rid of it. It has contributed flavor to the delicious broth, and I ask nothing more of it.
How I made the stew. This is for my own future reference as much as anything.
About 3 oz Spanish chorizo, diced
1 medium onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 large red bells peppers, cut into strips
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
About 1 teaspoon each of sweet paprika and hot smoked Spanish paprika
1.5 lb, or thereabouts, of trimmed country style pork ribs or other stewing pork
About 1 teaspoon Greek oregano
2 ribs celery, cut in half
3 small carrots, scrubbed and cut in half
1 small can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes, chopped, juice reserved
2-3 c cooked chickpeas
Brown the chorizo in olive oil until the oil turns red and the chorizo is a bit crunchy. Set chorizo aside. Cook onion and bell pepper in oil until softened, then add garlic and paprika and cook for a minute or two.
Add all this to the slow cooker along with the pork ribs, oregano, the celery and carrots (which are just for flavor and will be removed at the end, hence leaving them in big pieces), and the tomatoes. Add enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for an hour or so. Add salt to taste at this point. Heat up the chickpeas (so you don't bring down the temperature in the slow cooker) and add them along with the reserved chorizo. If you want to start with raw chickpeas--I happened to have some home-cooked ones in my freezer--soak them overnight first and then add at the beginning of cooking.
Cook everything for another hour or so until the pork is tender.
I ate this with polenta in a bold pan-Mediterranean move, and because polenta is among the lingering pantry supplies it's time to use. But it would actually have been better with crusty bread. However, I now have a lot of cold leftover polenta to use, which is not a bad thing.
When I reheat the leftovers I may add a diced raw potato and let it cook in the stew. There was a lot of broth (delicious broth, did I mention?) and potatoes are yummy with paprika.
In only tangentially food-related news, I was googling around about joint pain and I discovered that gout is a known and not uncommon side effect of a medication I take. If the rude, judgmental, pompous doctor who suggested 18 months ago, when I had similar symptoms, that it might be gout had mentioned this, I might have been more apt to believe her. *sigh* On the one hand, DO NOT WANT gout and do not want stupid restricted diet. On the other, it's much better than the other option frequently offered me by Dr. Internet, which is rheumatoid arthritis. (Fear not, actual trained medical professionals: I'm aware that Dr. Internet is prone to error. But it comforts me, in a strange way, to have a possible answer instead of unexplained pain.)
How I made the stew. This is for my own future reference as much as anything.
About 3 oz Spanish chorizo, diced
1 medium onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
2 large red bells peppers, cut into strips
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
About 1 teaspoon each of sweet paprika and hot smoked Spanish paprika
1.5 lb, or thereabouts, of trimmed country style pork ribs or other stewing pork
About 1 teaspoon Greek oregano
2 ribs celery, cut in half
3 small carrots, scrubbed and cut in half
1 small can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes, chopped, juice reserved
2-3 c cooked chickpeas
Brown the chorizo in olive oil until the oil turns red and the chorizo is a bit crunchy. Set chorizo aside. Cook onion and bell pepper in oil until softened, then add garlic and paprika and cook for a minute or two.
Add all this to the slow cooker along with the pork ribs, oregano, the celery and carrots (which are just for flavor and will be removed at the end, hence leaving them in big pieces), and the tomatoes. Add enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for an hour or so. Add salt to taste at this point. Heat up the chickpeas (so you don't bring down the temperature in the slow cooker) and add them along with the reserved chorizo. If you want to start with raw chickpeas--I happened to have some home-cooked ones in my freezer--soak them overnight first and then add at the beginning of cooking.
Cook everything for another hour or so until the pork is tender.
I ate this with polenta in a bold pan-Mediterranean move, and because polenta is among the lingering pantry supplies it's time to use. But it would actually have been better with crusty bread. However, I now have a lot of cold leftover polenta to use, which is not a bad thing.
When I reheat the leftovers I may add a diced raw potato and let it cook in the stew. There was a lot of broth (delicious broth, did I mention?) and potatoes are yummy with paprika.
In only tangentially food-related news, I was googling around about joint pain and I discovered that gout is a known and not uncommon side effect of a medication I take. If the rude, judgmental, pompous doctor who suggested 18 months ago, when I had similar symptoms, that it might be gout had mentioned this, I might have been more apt to believe her. *sigh* On the one hand, DO NOT WANT gout and do not want stupid restricted diet. On the other, it's much better than the other option frequently offered me by Dr. Internet, which is rheumatoid arthritis. (Fear not, actual trained medical professionals: I'm aware that Dr. Internet is prone to error. But it comforts me, in a strange way, to have a possible answer instead of unexplained pain.)
