Ingredients
A piece of Hot Chorizo - preferably Marsh Pig, but any Piquante one will do. About 100g, chopped into dice
4 chipolatas, cut into 1cm pieces approx
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
2 sticks celery, chopped finely
1 can chopped tomatoes
Parmesan to serve with
Put a meagre amount of veg oil in a frying pan on a medium heat
Add the chorizo and cook to render the red fact out of it.
As the fat starts to come out of the Chorizo add the sausage pieces, fry both until they start to colour
Add onions, garlic and celery. Continue to fry until these soften
Add the tin of tomatoes and strir well to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and simmer, covered with a lid while the pasta cooks
Cook enough pasta for your diners in a pan of boiling salted water
Drain the pasta and add it to the meat sauce, turn it all over to coat the pasta
Serve, topped with lashings of grated parmesan.
Method
This is a classic example of menu driven by available ingredients. But with great results.
So its mid-Novmber and at the weekend we went to a Christmas Craft Fair - at a lace called Backthorpe barns. Well worth a look if you are in the Bury-St-Edmunds area when it is on. Good range of crafts people all selling the stuff they make. Great for Christmas presents for Difficult People. Anyway, they always have a few food producers there as well and this time the Norfolk charcuterie business Marsh Pig had a stall selling their salami, coppa, bresaola chorizo and so on.
Anyone who knows me knows I am fascinated by the curing process and making charcuterie. I have had a go in the past and with pretty good results - made Saussison sec, chorizo, salami and air-dried ham as well as bacon. I have also had a go at hot smoking and curing Salmon and in due course a recipe for Gravad Lax will make its way onto this blog as it is a christmas staple. When the Wife was alive, we(I) thought about keeping some pigs and starting to make charcuterie - I could not understand why this country had such fantastic pork, but no indigenous producers of "value add" meat. Well that has started to change in recent times which is great to see, and Marsh Pig is one of the foremost of those. They dont sell through retail though - you will find their produce in high end restaurants or online. Link above. I tried various of their meats, as did the Offspring (middle and youngest daughter came along). They both raved about their Hot Chorizo, and after I tried it I understood why. It is a fabulously piquant treat. Hot with smoky paprika and pepper. It is well rounded and less acidic than many Spanish ones - an English take on Chorizo. So I bought a couple.
As you may know Tuesday is a Busy Day, with the need to feed before 5:30 so the youngest can get to Brownies. I had bought some sausages (chipolatas they were) as well, so I thought to combine them with the Chorizo and make a pasta sauce. So I did - and it was very scrummy, and scored 2 nines from the youngest Offspring (the Elders were out) and a thumbs up.
Again this is simple and easy to do, yet full of flavour. The quantity below served 4 easily