Tomato & chorizo spaghetti


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That time of life when you question the meaninglessness of gyms, stare at your sad plate of wilting salad and hear the lovelorn cries of bread ignored into the icy depths of your freezer.

You stare out at the bleak weather outside, wonder why March is freezing cold and why you can’t break free of your grossly regimented dull routine for just once. You stare at your thighs and get back to pushing salad in your mouth; suddenly it hits you like a brick that you have but one life, and possible reincarnations won’t necessarily bring you back as human because you’ve kind of ignored Karma all your life.

No time to waste, you have a lot of catching up to do. Make peace with yourself and earnestly promise an extra hour of aerobics, that is if you ever shake yourself out of this fabulous food induced slumber.

No laughing matter this, you need to gratify your insides with something comforting, something meaty and something carbs..and this is exactly where this chorizo and tomato spaghetti comes into existence.

Very recently I’d chanced upon some seductive chorizo, beckoning me with their naked meaty plumpness and I had no choice but to give in to their pleas and buy them without a second thought. These were raw and not those paprika coloured cured red ones, but did I care?

This recipe happens to be just one of those miracle cures when even the thought of salad makes you want to hurl, and making a bowl of this is easier than chopping vegetables for your salad.

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the ingredients for this are oh so simple.Just spaghetti or any pasta you love, chorizo sausages, chopped onions and garlic, tomato pulp (or use chopped tomatoes), paprika, garlic powder, salt, sugar and oregano.

note:-  this tomato pulp is really just fresh tomatoes cooked for a few minutes and skinned and mashed.

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Take the chorizo out of their casings .

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like so

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heat some butter and oil

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add in the skinned bits of chorizo

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break them into smaller bits using a wooden spoon

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cook for a couple of minutes until they very lightly brown, you don’t have to bother about cooking them completely at this stage.

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add in the chopped onions and garlic and stir them well, cooking for just about a minute or so

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add in the tomatoes

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followed by paprika, oregano, garlic powder and sugar

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and salt

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cover and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes on medium low heat, keep stirring occasionally and add a tasblespoon of water if it sticks to the bottom.

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look at this fabulous transformation after 20 minutes.

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add in your cooked spaghetti.

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and a bit of this pasta cooking water.

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to not only thin the sauce, but also to ensure that each spaghetti strand is coated with the sauce and the starches in the water helps bind and make a slicker coating for better taste.

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mix well

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and serve!

Ingredients

Chorizo sausages uncooked: 450 g

Tomato pulp/ chopped tomatoes – 350 g (3 medium sized tomatoes)

Onion- 1 medium size

garlic- 3 cloves

paprika- 1 tsp

oregano- 1tsp

garlic powder- 1/2 tsp

sugar- 1 tsp

salt-1 tsp

black pepper- 1/4 tsp

spaghetti

Butter- 1 tsp

olive oil- 2 tsp

Cooking instructions 

Remove the chorizo from their casings and cook in a pan with olive oil and butter. Break the chorizo into smaller pieces using your wooden spoon and after a minute of cooking add in the chopped onion and garlic.

cook for another minute and add in the tomatoes, paprika, salt, garlic powder, oregano, pepper and sugar and stir to combine. Lower the heat and cover and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally and if it gets too dry, add in some water but don’t thin the sauce.

After 25 minutes add the cooked pasta to the chorizo sauce and 200 mls (3/4th cup) of pasta cooking water. Mix well and serve hot.

Note*- if you’re using cured chorizo then you can reduce the cooking time.

Stoners grub: Sausage, mushroom & cheese sandwich


DSC_0935When thoughts are dull, days are cold and pleasures scarce, it’s always the food we turn to for comfort. There are days when even the idea of having something virtuous like smoothies, salads and fruits makes you want to launch a crusade against health food, you turn to sustenance. Hearty, innocent, full-bodied food that’d make you tuck in like a tapeworm, food that’d make you cry with joyous tears.

This sandwich is the stuff that voluptuous dreams are made of. It’s the kind of food you’d want to have after a night of crazy drinking or a joint too many. For days when you want to carelessly binge, for moments when you want to feel fueled and for times when you have the munchies for planet portions of feel good food, this sandwich is a life saver.. and it’s easy enough to throw in a matter of moments.

DSC_08922This is a pretty versatile affair. You can stuff it with whatever you want, but I did mine like so… butter, cheese (emmental & cheddar), cured sausage, onion, mushrooms & bread.

Now before I start this, I’d like to mention that  this is just my version. You can make this anyhow you want, using whatever cheese, whatever meat, whatever mushrooms, in fact whatever whatever. Just make sure its got plenty of meat and cheese and butter.

DSC_0893I started with the sausages and sliced them like so.

DSC_0894into a hot pan for a few seconds just to let them warm through. These are cured so they don’t really need any cooking. That makes this recipe so much easier.

DSC_0895Now very carefully because this step call for being an incompetent chopper, chop your mushrooms. Be very casual about it, because it’s not a gourmet sandwich meant for a Michelin table.

DSC_0897In a pan or skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter along with some oil.

DSC_0898add  in the mushrooms because we want to cook them and turn them brown and get rid of their water. We don’t want a soggy sammy!

DSC_0899while that’s cooking away, in a similar incompetent fashion chop the onion. Make sure there’s nothing pretty about it.

DSC_0900check your mushrooms. add some crushed black pepper (entirely optional) but oh so good!

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DSC_0907while the mushrooms are cooking up, grate your cheeses. In hindsight I realized I should have used a box grater because it took me forever to grate this but it doesn’t matter, the important thing is grated cheese.

DSC_0903checking the mushrooms they looked good and almost done.

DSC_0905add in the onion and just stir it in the mushrooms. We don’t really want to cook the onions just slightly soften them. This step is done.

DSC_0909This step is essentially building up your sandwich. I have here some hearty brown bread ( I don’t know why though), but use any bread you prefer.

DSC_0910Layer on the cheese

DSC_0911Pat it down so that it doesn’t bulge up and form a hump. then layer with your mushroom onion mixture.

DSC_0912like so.. and sort of flatten it a bit to prevent a dome formation.

DSC_0915layer your sausages and while layering I realized that the sausages were a lot more than the rest of the ingredients but you shouldn’t let trivial things like these matter, so build away. Finally top it with the remaining cheese.

DSC_0916Gently place the other half of your bread on top if this structure. Press down a bit, but honestly if you stuff your sandwich to this point some meat or cheese is bound to ooze out in the most gratifying way.

DSC_0917If you have softened room temperature butter then please violently slather it on your bread, I however had very cold butter which I simply dotted all over the top.

DSC_0919Melt a generous amount of butter in a pan

DSC_0920place your bread on it and move it around a bit to let it absorb all the butter. Once you feel it’s done from the bottom, carefully flip it and cook the top side. There might be some spillage in the process but i don’t think it matters.

DSC_0938There you have it, a meal fit for the gods of carnal pleasure. Get your munchies on, get rid of your hangover, binge eat and give up yourself to some sin. This is seriously good. Eat these with some delightful baked potato fries

Ingredients

  • cured sausage or meat of your choice diced into small pieces (crisped bacon, yesterdays chicken, can of tuna, anything you love) – 100-150g (mine was 1/2 cup)
  • sandwich bread slices
  • Emmental and cheddar cheese (or any cheese you love and have readily available) – 1/2 cup
  • mushrooms – 5-6 medium size
  • onion -1/2 of a big one or 1 small
  • butter – 4 tablespoons or more
  • salt & pepper to taste

Recipe: dice the sausages into pieces and let them warm through on a hot skillet. Keep aside.

Melt one tablespoon of butter with some oil and add in the chopped mushrooms till they are cooked and their water has evaporated. Add in the chopped onions and pepper and salt and cook for another minute. You don’t have to cook the onions completely.

For the assembly, start with layering the cheese, followed by the mushroom onion mixture and then the sausages. Press down a bit after every layer to prevent the formation of any bulges.

Heat some butter in a skillet and place your sandwich on it and move around to help it absorb all the butter. Also butter the top part of your sandwich and once the bottom is nicely browned flip it over carefully.

If there is any spillage, you can always push them back into your sandwich.

Make this!!!

DSC_0937Enjoy.

 

 

Smashed potatoes for the lazy…


As an old habit, I usually boil and keep a couple of potatoes in the refrigerator. firstly its easy to conjure up any dish and secondly it gives me this satisfied feeling that at any given time I have readily available food I can eat, since I’m in love with potatoes and need just another excuse to put them in hot oil.. yum..

this recipe is not much heavy on the calories though, and is perfect when you’re really watching what you eat and for the times you don’t want to go through the trouble of cooking up something fantastic.

Ingredients

boiled potato – any kind actually

salt to taste

Italian seasoning

pepper

garlic salt

1 tbsp olive oil or any vegetable oil

– without peeling off the skins of your potato cut them into thickish slices, not very big but not too thin either. they should be smashable.

on the oven tray, spread the olive oil/vegetable oil using a pastry brush and thats all the oil we need.. (see healthy & tasty)

taking your potato pieces and laying them carefully at least a few inches apart from each other just smash them. You can use a potato masher, I used a big fat spoon. My potato masher was yet to be washed… too much work.

once you have them smashed, just sprinkle on some garlic salt, pepper, seasoning, salt and put the tray into the oven and under the broiler for around 15-20 minutes (depending upon your oven ) at 220℃.

that’s actually it.. once done just pull it out and Enjoy !!!