As I make my own idiosyncratic chorizo and Picante Pimentón de la Vera each Autumn and grow most of my own vegetables, Spanish inspired stews bursting with spicy smoky flavours are a common dish around here. After frying chorizo, Pimentón, onions and garlic, plucked Cavello Nero and chard get slow cooked with dried beans from last harvest, spring onion, rosemary, thyme , bay, house cider and stock. Often other protein will enter the alchemy. Beef rib, lamb offcuts, calamari, tripe, black pudding, chicken nibbles are all occasional ingredients. Sometimes the stew is a side , sometimes it sits under a fillet of fried fish. In the summer I might add some fresh tomatoes and fresh beans. There are no rules really.
Due to some inevitable health issues that are creeping in with surviving long enough to rust I am striving to eat less carbs these days. This veg packed dish is good for that.

Picante Pimentón de la Vera

I grow rocotto chillies from the Andes. They fruit all year round as they are from alpine climates. One year I got carried away and grew far too many chilies of a range of varieties so my corpse freezer is also packed with bags of chilies. I’m slowly getting through them. One way is that I have been making my own Picante Pimentón de la Vera, or spicy smoked paprika. I smoke the peppers for 5 hours or so over cherry wood and manuka chip before dehydrating for a day and then grinding in my spice grinder. As I make my Pimentón from my fairly hot home grown chillis it does tend to have more kick than shop bought. I sometimes add some bought in capsicums to bring down the heat.

Idiosyncratic Chorizo

Obviously shop bought chorizo will work absolutely fine. Across the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American worlds there are a fairly wide range of chorizo sausages, many more types than the dried paprika filled type you will find here. I call my homemade chorizo idiosyncratic as I make it to my own method using both the Pimentón or smoked paprika I make by smoking, dehydrating and grinding my homegrown chilis and peppers and by smoking the sausage after it has been filled. I also tend to add a good dose of homegrown fennel seed. This double smoky method is not traditional but it is delicious. I then semi-dry the sausages in the fridge for a week or so before vacpacking and freezing them. The resulting sausage is not suitable to eat raw but cooks beautifully and adds lots of smoky oomph to dishes like this.

Cider

I tend to make this dish with cider rather than wine as cider is what I make and always have access to for free. This is also traditional in the north of Spain where they make gloriously tart funky cider. Wine will also work of course.

El Estofado

Ingredients

Splash of olive oil

1 large onion

½ a head of garlic smashed and chopped

2 Teaspoons Pimentón

2 cups leafy greens chopped (Cavello Nero, Chard, Cabbage…)

1 cup (ish) stock

½ cup (ish) cider

2 Chorizo sliced

Dried or canned beans (borlotti, butter beans , or chickpeas) , soaked and simmered if dried.

Bouquet garni of bay, rosemary and thyme.

Chopped spring onion, chives, and or parsley

Seasoning

Fry Chorizo in olive oil in a heavy bottomed casserole till the spicy smoky fat comes out

Add onions with a pinch of salt and fry till translucent

Add garlic and fry on for a few minutes

Add Pimentón

Add the leafy greens and fry a further minute

Add cider, bouquet garni, beans and stock.

Simmer for 30-45 minutes or till everything seems cooked and yielding.

Season and add spring onions, chives and parsley.

 Note : If adding another protein, you may want to cook longer with the pot covered depending on what it is. Add more stock or water if necessary to account for the longer cooking time and greater evaporation.