A Spanish Vegetable Stew with Chorizo and the Gilda, a Pintxos recipe from a cooking Masterclass in beautiful San Sebastian

 

I had an abundance of vegetables in my refrigerator crisper needing to be used during the week, and rather than do a traybake with them, or donate them eventually to the compost bin or the worm farm, I decided to make a rich vegetable stew with a Spanish theme and Mediterranean flavours. In the process, I also rediscovered the Gilda, a delicious and famous Spanish Pinxtos.

By adding a  spicy, paprika enriched chorizo the vegetables were transformed into a delicious dish reminding me of our holidays in Spain, quite a few years ago.  Once again, I feel very fortunate that we travelled there when we did. Strangely though amongst this  medley of vegetables there was no eggplant, so I used up the zucchini instead, but eggplant would also be perfect. We eat fresh vegetables and salad every day, however sometimes I still manage to accumulate them, because I can't resist them when they are selling for a good price or look especially fresh and delicious at the market. 

I almost feel guilty putting up a recipe like this one on my blog as it is so easy, but my friends it is so tasty and authentically Spanish as well. So today I have given you two recipes, just to spread the love. Spanish food isn't complicated food, it's pretty simple really, with lots of fresh ingredients and sometimes incorporating bottled pimentos, olives and peppers etc for authentic flavouring. Whilst writing this up, it inspired me to take a look at some of our old photos of when we were driving around Spain and the Basque cooking masterclass in San Sebastian that Shannon and I went to. It was truly the best experience and it was just us in the class. So much food and wine, because after a cooking class, you get to eat the results. Amazing! As this is mainly a food blog after all, I thought you might enjoy a few of the Spanish photos we took, as we can't travel to Spain anytime soon. First the recipes, and then the photos.

Spanish Vegetable Stew with Chorizo

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 onion, diced

1 bunch fresh asparagus (in season right now)

340g zucchini or eggplant or both, diced

120 g large mushrooms, sliced

1/2 red capsicum

1 tsp. mixed herbs, or combination of fresh if you have them

100g chorizo, diced

3 garlic cloves. sliced

400g tin chopped tomatoes

2 handfuls diced pumpkin (I used Kent, but you can use butternut if you wish) or leave it out

Salt and ground Pepper for extra seasoning

Method:

1. Saute the onion in the olive oil in a casserole dish over a medium-low heat until softened and sweetened for 4-5 minutes, then add the zucchini or eggplant, capsicum, mushrooms, herbs and chorizo.
2. Cook this mixture for 5 minutes, and as it starts to brown, stirring regularly, and add the garlic at almost the end of the cooking time.
3. Pour in the chopped tomatoes, asparagus, and the pumpkin and half a cup of water, just enough to loosen up the mixture, and then simmer for about 40 minutes, with the lid on, stirring occasionally to prevent the mixture from sticking, until all of the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
4. Have a taste to check if it needs any extra seasoning, I added a little extra salt and ground black pepper.
5. Serve it with brown rice or quinoa, and some steamed greens and a sprinkling of parsley to garnish.

Now for my Spanish photos:-

The photos were taken at the Basque Cooking Masterclass, in the very well equipped Spanish cooking class kitchen in San Sebastian and here is one of our chefs. She was delightful. 

The temperature rose in the kitchen when our chef started to flambe prawns in whisky. They were delicious.

Here's Shannon hard at work in the kitchen with our other chef. The fresh white asparagus which unfortunately we can't buy here, was delightful, and can you spot the chorizo? 

The Gilda

At the cooking class, we learned how to make the Gilda, one of the most famous Pintxos ever.  It still appears on every bar in San Sebastian, or so they say, and was named after Rita Hayworth's title character in the 1946 film. The easy to assemble Pintxos offers a great flavour combination of saltiness and acidity. It's the perfect Spanish starter. 

Gilda ingredients:

8 canned or jarred Anchovy fillets

8 to 16, pitted Green Olives

8 Guindilla (or other pickled green) Peppers

Toothpicks or wooden skewers

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Method:

Curl up an anchovy fillet and thread it on to a toothpick or small wooden skewer, then add a Guindilla and an Olive onto opposite ends and drizzle with a high quality olive oil.

Repeat the process until you have a beautiful display of shimmering olives, peppers and anchovies on skewers.

We also discovered that this Pinxtos pairs perfectly with Txakoli, the Basque white wine.

I've mentioned the Gilda in a previous post on Happy Retiree's Kitchen, but I haven't given you the recipe before. I hope you enjoy it. 

Of course every Spanish market has beautiful flowers, and San Sebastian was no exception.

Oh to have fresh artichokes (alcachofa) like these ones below. At the cooking class we made Artichokes with Ham, and garlic, a simple dish but delicious, and because I rarely see artichokes here I haven't yet replicated it. I need to try and rectify that.

Lots of fresh produce to choose from at the San Sebastian market which we shopped at for our cooking class. Yes there were tubs of wattle too, that was a surprise.

There are always lots of different varieties of olives, and legumes to buy for every Spanish dish and their delicious tapas.

Warmest wishes from sunny but quite chilly North Queensland.

Cheers, 

Pauline