Mar 23 2010
Improvised black pudding stew
I was in the big useless Scotmid at the bottom of the hill last week and spotted a pack of six slices of black pudding for something like 70p. Typically we only have black pudding for the once-in-a-blue-moon fried breakfast but I was reminded of something else. Helen’s dad once cooked some kind of delicious stew for her birthday, which included slowly cooked black pudding in with everything else. I only have the vaguest recollection of what else was in the stew, so I decided to reinvent it with what I had anyway.
In the end I used
- two small onions
- a handful of spring onions
- a dozen-or-so thin slices of chorizo
- a tin of plum tomatoes
- about a pint of weak vegetable stock
- a courgette
- six slices of black pudding
The whole thing was built up in a sturdy pan in fairly short time as I was heading out the door shortly. I cooked the onions down a fair bit; not quite to the stage where they’d be suitable for onion soup but more caramelised than I usually have them. The spring onions and chorizo went in for a few minutes and then the liquid, tomatoes and courgette, cut into thick coins and then halved. The plum tomatoes were a good find, as they rarely seem much use and we always end up with more in the cupboard than is really necessary.
I brought everything to the boil while I quartered each slice of black pudding. Then I just dropped all the slices of pudding in, the lid went on and I turned the heat off completely. I came back to the house two hours later to the most amazing smell. :-) I gave it some gentle heat to move things along and made some rice alongside. Helen was late home from Glasgow that night and I think this was the best welcome home!
Leftovers the next day were eked out with a garlicky peppers concoction. I don’t think salad is the right word but I don’t know what is. It was very lovely though.
sounds brilliant. I have sent you what might have been the recipe I used whenever it was!
I think chorizo and black pud make a fine combination, and quite why I haven’t revisited this, I am not sure. However, it seems like a grand idea for tomorrow night’s tea when Lizzie gets back from London. Ta!
I got the recipe, thanks! The “whack it in the oven” technique is one I always forget about.
Ah….. now I have printed out the recipe and tried to do it, I realise that it doesn’t make sense: “olive oil for frying” but no frying mentioned.
So, following your example, I did fry my onions and garlic till golden, added the pepper, then the chorizo (I only had a rather hot variety, though I think I prefer the milder one). Potatoes went in next, followed by wine and vinegar (couldn’t be bothered tracking down stock in the freezer and with highly powie chorizo, probably not necessary). Finally the morcilla and seasonings went in, brought to the boil and into the low oven to cook slowly all day.
I anticipate enjoying this!
Annoyingly I’ve misplaced whatever note I’d made of the peppers ‘recipe’. Have checked email and text message histories but to no avail, clearly it was an orally transferred instruction. I think…slowly cooked in oil with garlic….but there may have been more to it? Another time!
I sent the Chorizo Morcilla etc recipe to Dougal since he was the original poster boy…..
If it was the garlicky peppers recipe, I have surveyed my hoard of digitally secured recipes and there is nothing. An Omission!
In real terms, if I recall correctly, loads of sliced peppers get flung in a pan with a generous libation of olive oil, at least a couple of tablespoonfuls, plus appropriate seasoning with salt and pepper plus one or two cloves of garlic sliced thinly. Apply good heat initially and stir frequently till all is sizzling and hot, 3 or 4 minutes, perhaps, then turn heat down LOW and whack on a well fitting lid and allow to cook for about 30 mins, or until the pepper is suitably flaccid. Serve hot, but pretty tasty cold if there are leftovers; this is unlikely unless you make an unfeasibly large amount.
You can also make this with an equal amount of thinly sliced carrots, but essentially follow the same recipe; could substitute butter for some or all of the olive oil.
When cooking the pepper recipe, NO water is required as the peppers give out a fantastically tasty liquid which essentially steams them. When doing it with carrots, I sometimes add a minuscule amount of water at the start, maybe a tablespoon, just to get the steam levels going.
So there you are, two recipes for the price of one.
Roll on more food blogging; it is inspirational!
Re-reding the above, I think I sometimes add a teaspoon of sugar to the carroty version. The carroty one is probably best hot IMHO.
mmm, sounds fantastic!