Spanish Spaghetti

I would love to travel to Spain. The night life looks so inviting. They just seem to love life and don’t seem stressed. What a way of life. Spain is also known for their little plates called tapas. They are a variety of small savory foods served hot or cold. They are kind of like American appetizers and are served before dinner or at night while Spaniards are enjoying sherry. The main courses in Spain are both simple and exotic. If you are on the coast of Spain, you will enjoy seafood, anchovies, cod and tuna. If you are more inland, you will enjoy all kinds of pork dishes. The Mediterranean is all about clean, fresh straightforward flavors using olives, garlic, sherry and saffron.

I had just purchased Spanish chorizo and was in the mood for pasta. I know pasta isn’t the first thing you think of when you think of Spain but I thought that I could make a pretty good and easy pasta with a Spanish flair. I used the chorizo, olives and lemon zest. It came out delicious. Even kids will love it and it makes a ton of pasta for the whole family. Here’s how I made it…..

Ingredients

1 lb spaghetti
1T olive oil
8 oz diced Spanish chorizo
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1t dried oregano
1/2t crushed red pepper flakes
1/4c dry sherry
2c tomato puree or pasatta
1/2c green olives with pimentos
1T capers
1 lemon zested
1/4c parsley chopped
Parmesan Cheese

Heat a large pot of water to the boil and salt the water. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and chorizo and cook a couple minutes until the chorizo starts to brown. Add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 4 – 5 minutes till the onion softens. Add the oregano, pepper flakes and cook 1 minute. Deglaze with the sherry and cook till almost all is absorbed. Add the spaghetti to the pot and cook 1 minute shy of package directions. Add the tomato puree and bring to a simmer. Cook until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the olives, capers, zest and parsley and heat through. Add a little pasta water to the sauce to thin if it got too thick. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss a minute or two until combine. Top with Parmesan cheese.

You could always make the sauce and freeze it too. Then you would be able to serve it any time.

A great place to find Spanish chorizo in the US is at World Market. It’s one of my favorite places to shop for ethnic cuisines.

Easy Garlic Rosemary Chicken

I took chicken thighs out last night to grill on the bbq because it was beautiful day in the morning but those plans quickly changes. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I hate the wind and guess what was to blame for the change of plans? The wind so I had to come up with a quick idea for the chicken thighs.

I had seen Anne Burrell make a garlic chicken earlier in the day so I decided to come up with my own quick version of a garlic chicken. I decided I would try to combine garlic, rosemary and white wine with the thighs although you can use chicken breasts if you prefer just be careful not to over cook or it could come out dry. Here’s how I made it…..

Ingredients
8 skinless chicken thighs
2T xv olive oil
1/2c flour
6 cloves garlic minced
2T chopped rosemary
1/2c dry white wine
1/2c to 1c chicken stock
1 lemon zested and juiced
1/2c chopped parsley
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat. Salt and pepper the flour and dredge the chicken through the flour and shake excess off. When oil is hot, add the chicken and brown on both sides. Remove from pan. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook one minute. Deglaze with the wine and reduce down by 3/4s. Put the chicken back in the pan, add the stock, lemon juice and half of the zest, half of the parsley, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook 15 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate, top with sauce and remaining parsley.