Chorizo and Shrimp Stew

I love when I have an unusual ingredient that I want to make into something new and different (to me at least). After I'd made the traditional paella from the chorizo I brought home with me from Barcelona, I still had some left and wanted something delicious to make with it. Among the many good ideas was this stew, which I adapted from foodandwine.com. 

The ingredients were simple, some olive oil, onion, garlic, frozen shrimp, a few roasted red bell peppers (this time I used those from a jar and didn't roast them myself), crushed tomatoes that serves as the base of the stew and of course, chorizo. 

Start by thinly slicing the chorizo and dicing the onion and garlic. First add the chorizo to a deep heavy coated stew pan with a drizzle of olive oil (the chorizo will not need a lot of added fat to cook, as it has plenty of its own). Stir in the heat until sizzling. The sides of the chorizo slices will curl up and become very fragrant.
Remove the chorizo from the pot, leaving the oils in the bottom. Set the chorizo aside with the shrimp for later.
Next, soften the onion and garlic in the pot. You may also use sliced or diced carrots. Once soft, you may add a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and stir until yellowed and bubbling if you wish to thicken this into a stew. Then add the crushed tomatoes, sweet roasted red peppers (about 2), and a few cups of water and bring to a boil. At this point, I made the texture of the stew smoother by using a few short pulses with my hand blender. Lastly, add the shrimp and chorizo and cook for a few more minutes.

Serve with fresh slices of avocado and enjoy.

Herbed French Vegetable Stew

This stew was inspired by a lot vegetables that I just had on hand and was very simple to put together in a big dutch oven. Letting it stew for several hours gave the apartment a nice warm aroma and tasting it gave me a nice warm comfy feeling inside..... mmm... I could just sit and watch the snowfall and watch a good movie while eating this stew.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2-3 large waxy potatoes
1 large onion
1 can of green beans, or about 2 cups of frozen french cut green beans
2 cloves garlic
2 cubes vegetable bullion or 3-4 cups of vegetable broth
herbs de province
1 tbs tomatoe paste
parmesan cheese (optional)
3 tbs pesto rosso (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper

I first diced the onion, celery and garlic, and sauteed them in about 2 tbs olive oil until the onions were transparents and the herbs were fragrant.
Then, I julliened the potatoes and carrots. I added these and the vegetable bullion cubes, plus 4 cups of water to the dutch oven and brought this to a slow simmer.
I then added the tomato paste, pesto, and salt and peper, gave it a stir, and continued to let simmer for 2 hours. By then, the vegetables had soaked up much of the broth, and rather than be soup-like, it was a delicious hearty winter stew.
Bon Apetit!