Chickpea Chorizo Soup
This soup reflects continuing adventures in one-handed cookery while I struggle with Right Lateral Epicondylitis, whose onset last week was as abrupt as it was painful.
I can’t pretend it’s been a good time, but people are stressed enough without my bitching. Let’s talk about Nigella Lawson for a minute instead.
Nigella has a new cookbook, which we’ll discuss later. I tried a recipe this morning: Nutella Brownies. Sounds divine, right?
So it’s simple: beat four eggs and a pinch of salt with a cup of warmed Nutella. Bake 17-20 minutes. Brownie nirvana, right?
Friends, this was a total fail.
I follow the recipe religiously, only to extract from my oven a pan of wobbly goo. Nervously I pop the pan back in for a coupla more minutes. Remove. Allow to cool. It sets, slightly. Slicing gets a gummy bottom, gooey top, and a curiously dull flavor–the Nutella’s intensity is dimmed by the egg, and the whole thing is just weird.
It’s still sitting in my kitchen. I’m not quite ready to ditch it. Maybe it will find itself? Improve? This is the first time I’ve had a Nigella Lawson recipe not work on me, and I use her recipes a lot. A Lot. I love Nigella. I even forgive her if I have to throw these away, okay?
Okay. We’re done talking about Nigella now. Let’s talk about this soup.
Chickpea Chorizo Soup isn’t precisely one-handed cookery, but neither is it complex. Admittedly, it’s hardly awash in all the turkey-type things everyone else is chatting about right now, but perhaps a soup is in your future. By all means swap the chicken broth for turkey, the chorizo for leftover bird, or whatever suits. The idea behind this meal was ease in time of difficulty, but nobody’s complaining when that ease is restorative and delicious, too.
Like Friday’s Asian Noodle Soup, this arose out of cupboard ingredients; I’d bought the chorizo–a mild one, by the way–for another dish that ended up not happening, no loss–this soup is fine compensation.
Again, please excuse the dearth of photographs–my beloved Nikon D90 is a heavy beast with a decided right-handed bias.
Heartfelt thanks for your continued reading and support.
Chickpea Chorizo Soup
Prep time: about ninety minutes, one hour if rushed
4-5 servings
2 pints chicken broth/turkey broth/water
2 pints water
1 15-ounce can chick peas
1 cup frozen peas
1 link chorizo, sliced. (mine was medium heat)
1 leek, cleaned and chopped
1-2 russet potatoes, peeled, chopped
1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled, minced
salt, pepper, bay leaf
You can make this two ways. The first is to toss everything into the pot, bring it to a simmer, partially cover it, and give it a stir until you want to eat it. Do this anywhere from ninety-minutes to three hours.You’re waiting for the vegetables to cook through; once they’re done, it’s a matter of the soup improving on the stove.
The second method:
Pour olive oil in the soup pot. Add the garlic, onion, leek, celery, and carrot. Sweat the vegetables gently, about ten minutes, until they soften and begin going golden. Add the potatoes, chickpeas, green peas, chorizo, and seasonings. Give everything a few minutes on low heat, stirring gently, before adding the broth and water. Now bring to low simmer and proceed as above.
Serve in those nice soup bowls you always forget you have because you keep them on the highest shelf in the kitchen.
This is the kind of soup that only improves over time, should it last over time: two of us demolished it in two days.
Have a good holiday–good food, not too much stress. If stress is unavoidable, take long walks, drink fine wine, and surf the internet for the best cat photographs. The Belgians are on to something.
