Tag: chorizo

Apple, Spinach and Chorizo Frittata

Ahhh, frittatas. So easy, so delicious, so good at making a meal out of the most basic ingredients.

This particular frittata, for example, is so stupidly easy, yet the flavour is almost undeservingly wonderful. Such marvelous results for such little effort or need for cooking expertise. I mean, isn’t that the best kind of cooking? All the results for little effort? In my busy, lazy world it is.

This frittata is so versatile, too. You can make it the night before, which is perfect for Thursday nights when the daughter and I both have netball training, the son has baseball, and the husband has a killer commute. It’s a meal in itself, but light enough for those nights when you don’t want a full dinner. And, best of all, while doesn’t last long in my house as everyone loves it, if I can keep it away from snacky, sneaky hands, it lasts two or three days for a great work lunch. A larger serving (1/4) is only 360 calories, and a smaller serving (1/6) is 240. Add some veggies or a salad, and you’re absolutely good to go – and it’s more filling than just the larger serve.

Ingredients

2tsp olive oil

180g chorizo sausage, sliced into coins

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 red apple, thinly sliced

100g baby spinach

9 eggs

60g milk

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180C.
  2. Heat oil in an ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Cook chorizo for five minutes, or until golden. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes, until softened. Transfer both to a bowl, but keep oil in the pan.
  3. Place apple slices in pan and cook for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden and starting to soften. Remove to a separate plate or bowl.
  4. Add spinach and stir briefly until just wilted. Return onion and 3/4 of the chorizo to the pan, and distribute evenly in the pan.
  5. In a clean bowl, whisk eggs and milk until combined. Pour into pan, over the spinach mixture.
  6. Arrange remaining chorizo and apple slices over the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes, shaking occasionally, until eggs just start to set. Transfer to oven, and bake for 12-15 minutes until egg is golden and cooked though.

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Chorizo, Lentil and Vegetable Soup

When I can’t decide what I want for dinner, or if I’m not particularly hungry, I almost invariably turn to soup. I just love it – especially the broth kinds.

Today was one of those indecisive days – I didn’t have a clue what I wanted, and I wasn’t feeling hungry or inspired, so looking through my (way too many) cookbooks and saved recipes didn’t float my boat.

So I did what never fails – I trawled my My Fitness Pal recipe collection to see what looked good and had a decent amount of calories and macros – basically, I let nutrition make the decision for me. After scrolling for what seemed forever, this recipe, from Smitten Kitchen, jumped out at me when nothing else looked even mildly interesting.

Of course, I had changed everything in it when I put it into MFP months and months ago. No oil instead of 1/3 of a cup of it, Chorizo instead of sausage meat, baby spinach instead of chard, chicken stock instead of water, and I threw in a zucchini, too. I knew the sum of the parts were good, so I just hoped for the best.

Which is exactly what I got. A flavoursome, complex, delicious, nutritious filling and textured soup that had all of us eating in almost complete silence. I made garlic bread using bread rolls I had laying around, and while they were delicious, the soup is more than able to hold its own, too. The servings are generous, too. The recipe yields six servings for 238 calories per serves, and by ‘serves’, I definitely mean ‘full bowls’.

Ingredients

180g chorizo, sliced into small coins

1 onion, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g tin brown lentils, drained and rinsed

800g tinned tomatoes

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

6 cups chicken stock


1 medium zucchini, diced

60g baby spinach

4tbs grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

  1. In a large saucepan, cook chorizo over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until golden.
  2. Lower heat, and add onion, carrots and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until vegetables have softened.
  3. Stir in lentils, tomatoes and bay leaves, and season well.
  4. Add chicken stock, and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to medium, and simmer for 20 minutes, until lentils are soft but not mushy.
  5. Tumble zucchini into soup and cook for 3 minutes, until zucchini is tender. Add spinach and remove from heat as soon as it wilts (within 30 seconds or so).
  6. Ladle soup into bowls, being careful to remove the bay leaves. Serve with extra pepper and topped with parmesan cheese.

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