When both of us wants pie, we usually go for the fail-safe steak and ale, so for something a little different I remembered making a chicken and chorizo pie. After searching and searching, I found Curiously Delicious' Chicken and Chorizo Pie but couldn't find the original one I made way back before the blog. This version was the most similar to the original, bar the tomato sauce and peppers.
FYI: I used Jamie Oliver's shortcrust pastry recipe which I have reviewed here.
Yay or Nay: Yay
I've only added photos of the filling, mainly because everyone knows what a pie looks like!! The recipe straightforward and even though it wasn't like the dry original pie, this one I purposely reduced the tomato sauce down (in case of a soggy bottom!) and the chili paste (I used chili powder) gives it some heat. My only gripe is that I cannot for the life of me find real Spanish style chorizo, here in the States, it is more like a regular raw sausage.
TIP: The recipe says to use puff pastry, but I prefer shortcrust. I followed Jamie's recipe for cooking the whole pie, but I would increase the time to about 50mins as I like my pastry crispy and brown.
There's nothing better than a surprise right? By chance someone at work had left a pile of old Bon Appetit magazines on the communal table. Honestly I have never flicked through the magazine or considered reading it, but seeing as there was nothing else to do during lunch I figured it can't hurt. The surprise was, they were pretty informative and definitely inspiring for mid-week meals. Yes they probably require a little more work or ingredients you can't quite get your hands on but it's worth a try!
The recipe for Passport Pasta intrigued me as it sounded as delicious as a meaty pasta I usually make but switched up with harissa and Merguez sausage.
Yay or Nay: Yay
It was better than I expected, the chorizo gave it a kick and the feta added a nice salty element. I do have to say that actual merguez sausage probably would have elevated this but could not find it for the life of me! Next time I might make my own sausage based on Ottelenghi's recipe in this weekend's Guardian instead.
This isn't the OFFICIAL recipe for Bojangles' Dirty Rice, I got this through randomly clicking through Pinterest so it is from Nosh Cook Book instead. I was looking for a side dish for some jerk chicken I was making, naturally the spicy moreishness of this spicy cajun rice (not dissimilar to jambalaya) was a natural pairing. Now, I love me some Bojangles but you can't get it in Upstate NY so any trip down South means a trip to the nearest Bojangles!
Yay or Nay: Yay
It was pretty much fry off the sausage and onion then dump everything else in, boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes and that's it! I used brown rice instead of white, omitted the celery salt as I had none and used leftover chorizo instead of ground pork. Still tasted good though!!
