Name: Chorizo and Potato Stew
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 250 g cooking chorizo, sliced; 1 onion, chopped; 1 red pepper, diced; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tsp smoked paprika; 600 g potatoes, cut into 3 cm chunks; 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 400 ml chicken stock; 1 bay leaf; 1 tbsp sherry vinegar; 2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Chorizo and Potato Stew

Spanish chorizo, potatoes, peppers and tomato simmered with smoked paprika into a thick, brick-red stew, finished with parsley.

50 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

The Method for Chorizo and Potato Stew

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Fry the chorizo in a large pan over medium heat for 5 minutes until the oil runs and the edges crisp.
Add the onion and pepper and cook for 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic and paprika for 1 minute.
Add the potatoes, tomatoes, stock and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer.
Cook, partly covered, for 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Crush a few against the side of the pan.
Stir in the vinegar, scatter with the parsley and serve.

What Can Go Wrong

Use cooking chorizo, not the cured eating type.
Crush a few potatoes to thicken the stew.
Add vinegar at the end to lift the flavour.

Ingredient Swaps

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Good to Know About Chorizo and Potato Stew

Why does so little chorizo flavour so much stew? Because the sausage is cured with smoked paprika and garlic, and as it cooks it gives up its fat, which is dyed red and carries the flavour through everything else in the pot.

Use Spanish cooking chorizo, not the soft, spreadable kind or the dry sausage you eat sliced raw. Cooking chorizo is firm but fresh enough to render its oil. Slice it and fry it gently for 5 minutes until the edges crisp and the pan fills with red oil. Everything else cooks in that oil.

Cut the potatoes into rough chunks, not neat cubes. Rough edges break down a little in the stew and thicken it, in the way that starch from the potatoes does in a classic Spanish dish. Waxy varieties stay firm, while floury ones thicken the sauce.

Add the tomatoes, paprika and stock, and simmer for 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened. Crush a few potatoes against the side of the pan to help the process. Finish with parsley and a splash of sherry vinegar.

To Go With It

Crusty bread · Green salad · Fried eggs · Red wine

Storing Leftovers

Keeps for 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.