Andrajos con Chorizo

I made this a few weeks ago...but it seems appropriate to post it now with the cold weather we are getting here in New Jersey...

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I studied abroad in Spain during my junior year of college. I was lucky to be in a program where we lived with a host family. Loli, my host mother (or “senora” as all the students called their host moms) was an excellent cook. At the end of the semester, I made sure to get her recipes for my favorite dishes, such as tortilla espanola, gazpacho andaluz, and san jacobo.

The recipe below is actually not one of Loli’s recipes, but it captures the intense flavors of Spain that I remember. I had to make some substitutions based on the availability of ingredients in the United States and the season. But it’s still delicious, nonetheless. Plus, it presents a wonderful opportunity for me to try making homemade pasta for the first time. "Andrajo" means "rags" in Spanish, so I can only surmise that the pasta is supposed to represent the "rags." According to Wikipedia, it is a common dish in the rural areas. It is often served in winter, making it appropriate for this season.

Andrajos con Chorizo
(Tomato and Chorizo stew with homemade pasta)
Adapted from One-Pot Spanish by Penelope Casas

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
1 cup flour
¾ cup water
¼ teaspoon salt

For the stew:
3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
½ Spanish onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb fresh chorizo,* casings removed and roughly chopped into ½ inch chunks
6-8 canned plum tomatoes, roughly chopped, plus about 1/3 cup of the juice**
1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbs smoked paprika
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup sherry cooking wine***
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredient notes:
* To be authentic, cured Spanish chorizo is best. But since there wasn’t any at the supermarket, so I settled for hot Mexican chorizo instead. I ended up with chorizo “balls” rather than slices of chorizo. But still good.
** Recipe called for five fresh plum tomatoes and 1/3 cup tomato sauce, but again I was limited by what was available at the store. Since it is no longer tomato season, the plum tomatoes were hard and pitifully pink. So I opted for canned. And since I already had the can, I subbed 1/3 cup of the juice for the sauce, rather than having to open another can. But if you are fortunate enough to get nice ripe tomatoes, I say go for it.
*** Original recipe called for a dry white wine. I used a sherry cooking wine, which I forgot was already seasoned with salt. If I were to do this again, I would not add any more salt to overcome this. Or use a real wine.

To make the pasta:
Combine flour, salt, and water together in a bowl until it comes together into a ball. (You may need more water). Flatten the ball into a disk about an inch thick. On a floured surface, roll the disk flat to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut the pasta into circles, about 2.5 inch in diameter (I pressed the opening of a glass on the pasta to cut them. A biscuit or cookie cutter would probably work better if I had one). Cut the circles into quarters and set aside. Roll the scrap pasta into a ball and repeat until you no longer have enough dough left to make circles.

To make the stew:
In a large pot, heat olive oil. Saute garlic and onions until onion begin to get soft. Add chorizo chunks in a single layer and allow to brown for about a minute. Flip the chorizo and brown for another minute. Stir in tomatoes, juice, thyme, bay leaf, and paprika. Allow to cook for five minutes. Add broth, wine, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes.

Stir in pasta, and cook for about another 15 minutes, until the pasta is al dente. Add more water if necessary.

Serve with a nice crusty bread. Makes about four servings.