Saturday 12 December 2015

Creamy Leek and Chorizo Jacket potatoes

We recently returned from holiday and had only been very briefly been shopping, which involved mostly throwing random ingredients in a tired manner into the trolley and so when faced with cooking after a long day the other evening it was a case of staring into the fridge and hoping something would stick out! By luck the shopping involved ever ready and essential chorizo and we had a lonely leek we brought back from our self-catering jaunt! 

To make this meal even easier, we had by chance eaten jacket potatoes a few nights before, and being semi domesticated I have gotten into the habit of cooking extra jacket potatoes - after all you have the oven on for a good hour or more, so why not take advantage of the oven space? They freeze brilliantly or hang around in the fridge for a good few days, providing a quick, yet nourishing and home cooked treat! Unless desperate I really do not like microwaved jacket potatoes, they don't develop that fluffy, golden inside, yet alone taste vs oven baked loveliness!

The creamy sauce only takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook so its a doddle for a week night! My boyfriend loved it so much we also ate it again two nights later! Its reddish hue from the smoky and spicy paprika scented sausage adds both colour and a depth of flavour that I don't think many ingredients compare too! The creamy part of the sauce also calms a little of the heat, so me with the silly sensitive stomach can also enjoy a portion of it too!

*I am sure you know how to cook jacket potatoes but just incase you need some guidance, I always stab them with a skewer, roll lightly in oil and a pinch of salt, thread onto the skewer length-ways, place on a heavy foil lined baking tray and bake in a medium-hot oven until cooked. Depends on size really but anywhere from an hour upwards.


Serves 2
Super easy

Ingredients:

2 cooked jacket potatoes*
1 medium leek, cleaned and sliced into 1/2 cm moons
125g spicy chorizo sausage, diced
150g creme fraiche
10 pimenton stuffed olives, roughly chopped
30g grated parmesan
1 tbsp tomato puree
S&P to taste
1/2 tbsp rapeseed oil

-Separately either warm through prepared potatoes or cook from scratch - the sauce takes about 12 minutes tops.-

Heat the oil in a medium saute pan, add the chorizo and leek and fry for about 4 minutes, or until the leek is softening and the chorizo is starting to ooze its glorious oil, make a well and add the tomato puree with a splash of water, stir around until bubbling, add the olives and gently stir everything together and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir through the creme fraiche and another splash of water if needed to loosen and simmer gently for a couple of minutes to warm through the creme fraiche.

Remove from the heat and season to taste, along with 1/2 the parmesan.


Spoon the sauce over the prepared potatoes and sprinkle over any remaining parmesan


Enjoy!

Monday 7 December 2015

Meal Planning Monday

This year has simply flown by, months have rolled over into new months and along with job changes for both of us and the usual dramas of life its been a bit of one of those years I will be quite glad to see the back of! Meal planning has gone from 6 weeks strict planning to erm nothing! Also the last two weeks we were skiving really, swanning around the Lake District, Scotland and the Yorkshire Dales eating and drinking our body weight in food in beautiful locations like the below picture:

The Lake District
Just before we went away on holiday, our freezer decided to fail with spectacular timing! I had gone to the trouble of buying some easy stuff like fish fingers for when we returned from the holiday for quick dinners and to lose it all, along with other random things like curry leaves and random bits of cheese that I had stashed away was so heartbreaking! I had food waste and having to throw the lot was gutting, it had failed a good 48 hours before we discovered it so couldn't risk it as who knows what state of decomposition it was! 


So I have roughly drawn up a plan for this week to get back on the straight and narrow. Whether I keep to it will remain to be seen! The past few months my IBS and old reflux have been driving me a bit crazy and when I go to cook the planned meal I either don't fancy it, or eating at all to the point I am now waiting to see a specialist...again....But until then I am going to try again to do a plan at least, its the thought that counts right?!

Battered fish with new potatoes and courgettes
Pork & cider sausages, with cheesy baked polenta and green beans
Quorn mince enchiladas with rice n peas
Dinner with friends...
Tuna pasta bake



I promise to also bring a recipe soon too!


01 09 10