Spanish Kale and Chorizo Soup

Here’s a simple, nourishing soup of homemade bone broth, Spanish cooking chorizo, Arroz bomba de Calasparra, fresh garden vegetables, fennel pollen and oregano..

Spanish Kale and Chorizo Soup

Kale is extraordinarily high in Vitamin K (778%) and is an excellent source of beta-carotene and Vitamins A and C.

1 quart homemade chicken stock
1 tablespoon Spanish olive oil
1/3 pound Spanish cooking chorizo, thinly sliced
1 Spanish onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 Roma tomatoes, cored and diced
1/4 cup soft sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1-2 Danvers carrots, oblique-cut
1-2 celery stalks, bias-cut
1-2 green garlic bulbs & tops, thinly sliced
1 cup kale, rinsed, ribbed and cut into chiffonade
1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon fennel pollen (optional)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili
1 teaspoon dried wild mountain oregano
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 cup Arroz bomba de Calasparra or other good paella rice
sea salt

Sauté carrots in olive oil until about 2/3 done.  Add sausage, celery, onions, fennel seed and rice and stir to coat. Sauté until onions are opaque, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and chicken stock and simmer 15 minutes.  Add green garlic, kale, chili and oregano and simmer until rice done, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then ladle into bowls and drizzle with a little olive oil. Finish with a sprinkle of fennel pollen.

This recipe can be easily adapted for a vegetarian diet by substituting vegetable stock and eliminating the chorizo.

Conchiglie al Formaggio

Baked seashells with artisan cheeses, mustard and fresh cream with spring onions, grape tomatoes and bits of spicy sausage..

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Conchiglie al Formaggio

1 1/2 cups conchiglie pasta, cooked and drained
1-2 spring onions, sliced or 1/2 yellow onion, diced
1-2 spicy cooking sausages (such as Spanish chorizo), sliced
1/4 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup cheese (Manchego, Parmesan, etc.), grated
1 cup fresh whole milk, more-or-less
1 cup fresh cream
1 pastured egg
3 tablespoons grass-fed cultured butter, divided
2 tablespoons sprouted wheat flour
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
1/8 cup fresh oregano, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Whisk in flour and mustard and cook, stirring continuously until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Slowly whisk in cream and stir until combined, then thin with milk until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit, then whisk in the egg and set aside.

Quickly brown sausage and onions in a heavy skillet over medium high heat until some of the fat has rendered, then add tomatoes and cook until softened.  Drain any excess grease, then fold into the cheese sauce along with the parsley and oregano.  Fold in pasta and adjust taste with salt and pepper.

Turn pasta mixture into a buttered casserole, then top with fresh bread crumbs and bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Serve with a green salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio if desired.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, in support of freedom of choice for farmers and consumers everywhere

Who’s invited?  Raw milk producers and their consumers, grass based farmers fed up with the low commodity milk prices looking for alternatives, folks that have seen healthier days, Future Farmers of America wanting to check out the buzz about direct sales of raw milk,  constitutional scholars and lawyers looking for work that makes a difference, mother and fathers looking for answers to their children’s chronic health and obesity problems, college students cutting classes and stumbling into some life changing information, new couples considering having  family, doctors and dentists interested in pragmatic prevention based solutions, teachers and parents concerned with sugared milk in school lunches and YOU!

Spanish Chicken and Rice with Roasted Vegetables, Butifarra, Morcilla and Chorizo

Pastured chicken pieces are roasted with winter vegetables then baked with stock-soaked bomba rice with saffron, garlic, fire-roasted tomatoes, piquillo peppers and butifarra, morcilla and chorizo sausages..

Spanish Chicken and Rice with Roasted Vegetables, Butifarra, Morcilla and Chorizo

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds chicken pieces
1 large carrot, oblique-cut
1 leek, split, rinsed and sliced
1-2 bulb onions, sliced
6 cloves whole, unpeeled garlic
1 tablespoon pastured butter
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 cup filtered water
3/4 cup fire-roasted tomatoes
3-4 piquillo peppers, chopped
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup bomba rice, rinsed
1 quart homemade chicken stock, divided
saffron threads, crushed
1/3 pound morcilla (blood sausage), sliced
1/3 pound butifarra (white garlic sausage), sliced
1/3 pound Spanish cooking chorizo, cubed
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.  Stir in paprika, then add chicken and toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper, add water then roast in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and add carrot, leek, onion and garlic and put back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin cooking rice in chicken stock with saffron threads.

Remove pan from the oven and transfer chicken and garlic to a cutting board and allow to cool enough to be handled.  Transfer the vegetables and cooking liquid to a Dutch oven. Add in rice and stir to combine.

Briefly sauté the sausage then add to the pot with vegetables and rice.  Stir in fire-roasted tomatoes.

Peel and chop the garlic.  Pull the chicken meat from the bones and tear into chunks. Add to the pot with the vegetables and pour in 1 cup of chicken stock.  Cook uncovered until most of the stock has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, and parsley and piquillo peppers and allow to stand 10 minutes.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary and serve hot.

Eggs Toscana

Tuscan Fried Eggs

Eggs Toscana

Fresh local eggs fried in a bit of cultured butter with chorizo, Italian grilling peppers, red & green onions, flat-leaf parsley and roasted salsa.  Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper.

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Breakfast Burritos

“A chicken that in addition to grain has access to pasture and a natural diet of grasses, forbs, and insects produces eggs that are higher in nutrients. Pastured eggs have been found to contain less fat, less cholesterol, twice as much vitamin E, 40-62% more vitamin A and up to four times as much omega-3 fatty acids compared to the standard values reported by the USDA for commercial eggs. Pastured eggs also typically contain higher levels of carotenoids such as lutein and zexanthin.

The other great thing about pastured eggs is the taste! As soon as you crack one open you can tell-that deeply colored yolk carries with it an enhanced nutritional value, and a better, richer flavor.”  LocalHarvest

Pastured eggs, chorizo, fresh peppers, onions and cilantro wrapped up in an organic paprika/cayenne tortilla..

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"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food," Hippocrates.

Dice Spanish chorizo, red bell and pickled jalapeno peppers, slice green onions.  Sauté in pastured butter with a little Mexican oregano over medium-low heat until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat fresh tortillas on a dry comal or skillet.

Crack eggs directly into pan with vegetables- rather than sticking, they should float over the thinnest of layers of butter and fat rendered from the sausage.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the eggs onto themselves several times, allowing them to spread back out in between times until set, about 4 minutes.

Arrange mixture in the center of a tortilla (I’ve spread a little chili con queso on mine), fold the edges inward then roll up like a fat cigar.  Pico de gallo makes a great side.


This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays