All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Paprika Pepper Pasta

By 4 Comments

Life is busy. I have a toddler. Dinner that can be ready in a flash is what it’s all about in my house. This paprika pepper pasta is a dish I keep coming back to, and variations of it, because it’s so quick and simple. The ingredients are easy to get hold of and inexpensive: exactly my kind of weeknight cooking. And, with three portions of veg in one meal everyone’s happy!

A smoky, sweet and savoury pasta sauce it is also delicious served with baked potatoes. The fresh basil really lifts the dish and parsley would work just as nicely. read more

Chicken and Chorizo Tray Bake

By 10 Comments

finished chicken and chorizo tray bake

It’s late autumn. I want the food on my plate to reflect the leaves on the trees outside and my chicken and chorizo tray bake does exactly that. A sizzling tray of orange, red and purple it smells so good while it’s cooking and also tastes divine. Those orange juices at the bottom of the dish? Don’t waste those. Tear open some crusty bread and get dunking.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped
  • 1 red onion, peeled and sliced
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 75-100g cooking chorizo, sliced or diced
  • Olive oil for cooking
  • Salt and pepper
  • Crusty bread to serve

Method

Preheat an oven to 180C.

Put the peppers, tomatoes, onion and chorizo in a baking dish; one big enough to almost hold everything in a single layer. Drizzle over a little olive oil and some salt and pepper then roast in the oven for 10 minutes. read more

Chorizo Hash with Purple Spring Onions

By 11 Comments

purple spring onions

Sometimes the vegetables that arrive in my veg box are so stunning that it (almost) seems a shame to eat them. We all know that a romanesco cauliflower is mathematically wonderful and who can say no to a green lemon when it’s yellow inside and full of juice. A bunch of purple spring onions turned up on my doorstep and I knew simplicity would be the way to make the most of them; bold flavours from few ingredients. Chorizo Hash with Purple Spring Onions was certainly the way to go.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • One bunch purple spring onions
  • 1 chorizo, sliced (peeled if needed)
  • 500g new potatoes, roughly chopped and sliced as you wish
  • Salt and pepper

Method

Start by putting the sliced potatoes into a pan of cold, salted water. Bring to the boil and boil for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are just cooked.

While the potatoes cook put the sliced chorizo into a large frying pan and cook on a low/medium heat so that the fat from the chorizo melts out and fills the frying pan.

Drain the potatoes when cooked and put to one side.

Halve the spring onions lengthways, removing the dried green ends and any roots, then add to the frying pan with the chorizo. Leave to soften with the chorizo for a few minutes.

Add the potatoes to the pan with some salt and pepper and turn the heat up. Fry for another five minutes or so to allow the potatoes and chorizo to crisp up slightly.

A handful of ingredients prepared and cooked in less than half an hour; what a plate of pure loveliness. Making the most of an ingredient when it’s available is really important to me and results in meals like this. The potatoes absorb the beautiful colour and flavour from the chorizo oil, the chorizo shrinks slightly and turns crisp on the edges. The purple spring onions are silky and drape over everything else quite elegantly, retaining a little bite and some of their raw onion piquancy. Super simple, minimal fuss and absolutely delicious.

Chorizo, Pepper and Potato Hash

By 17 Comments

Potato, pepper and chorizo hash

I’ve always liked the idea of a hash; various bits of food all chopped up and cooked together. I tried to make a corned beef hash once which was somewhat eventful. I was at University in my student house with two of my friends. The can of corned beef was being somewhat stubborn so I used my intuition and tried to open the can with a can opener. Suffice to say there was some slippage and some slicing and next thing I know I’m running around the kitchen with all of us pretending to be braver than we are trying to wrap my hand in kitchen roll. Luckily we lived near the hospital so off we trudged, in the ice and snow, to sit in A&E with all the people who had dislocated something slipping on the ice. I ended up with four stitches and my two fingers bandaged up which provided much amusement for the following week. In my haste to leave the house I had left a pan of water on the hob; this was also the night I learned you can burn water.

Ingredients

You will need (for 4):

  • 900g potatoes, cubed and peeled    £0.90
  • Oil for frying (preferably olive)        £0.04
  • 2 medium onions, chopped               £0.20
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped                     £0.05
  • 1 large pepper, chopped                     £0.80
  • 250g chorizo, sliced                            £2.00
  • Salt and pepper                                    £0.02

Total                                                        £4.01

Method

All the vegetables should be chopped to roughly the same size; I went for 1-2cm cubes.

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and put to one side.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and add the chorizo. Cook until the oil starts to come out of the chorizo and it starts to get crispy. Remove the chorizo from the pan and put to one side. Drain off most of the oil from the chorizo but keep a little and return the pan to a medium heat.

Add the onion and pepper to the pan and fry for around 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes and garlic to the pan and fry until everything is golden.

Add the chorizo back to the pan with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

You can top the hash with a fried egg if you like too.

As you can see I steered well clear of corned beef for this attempt at a hash and I managed to make it injury free. It was lovely; bright, vibrant and full of different flavours. I like that it’s all mixed together in the same pan; the dark, sticky, sometimes crispy onions are a real treat. Not too pricey, not hard to make and it uses up bits you might have hanging around anyway.
Oh, and also, the aforementioned corned beef incident also taught me something else: my tetanus vaccinations were up to date. Every cloud.

Cheat’s one pot Paella

By 21 Comments

cheat's paella

I didn’t realise how much rice I had been eating until I thought about the last time I ate pasta or potatoes and I can’t remember when that was. I like rice as a plain side to something, a herb encrusted rice salad or as a risotto. This quick and easy rice dish (or a cheat paella) is not a paella by any means but it’s a great dish to knock up after a hectic day with a nice bit of chorizo for a mid-week Spanish pick me up. Get out your flamenco.

ingredients

You will need (for two):
225g rice (preferably easy cook)
 £0.35
1 large onion, sliced
 £0.10
2 garlic cloves, sliced
 £0.05
175g cooking chorizo, diced
 £1.96
150g small mushrooms, quartered
 £0.75
200g frozen peas
 £0.20
900ml chicken or vegetable stock
 £0.10
Salt and pepper
 £0.02
1 tbsp olive oil
 £0.02
Total
 £3.55 

Method

Add the oil to a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the onion. Fry until softened then add the chorizo and garlic and fry until the chorizo is nice a brown. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes more. read more

Chicken and Chorizo Tartlets

By 28 Comments

Chicken and Chorizo Tartlets baked and ready to eat

I’m not very good at anything that requires precision; cutting, gluing, drawing, sewing and the like just aren’t made for me no matter how much I might like them to be. I thought it was time I challenged this, determined to be as perfect as possible I set about making some mini chicken and chorizo tartlets. This of course was not only an excuse to try and achieve the impossible; namely a pastry tart case that didn’t shrink, but also to use up some more of my leftover chicken.

To make four mini tarts you will need: read more

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