Chorizo and chickpea stew

This is based on a recipe by Henning Marstrand in The London Cookbook by Jenny Linford. Henning’s exclusive ingredients are only available from Brindisa in London’s Borough Market. I work near there so I planned to source all the authentic produce, but in the end I bailed and got everything at the supermarket. I fiddled the recipe a little to compensate, but when I dished this up the other day everyone cleaned their plates and asked for more, so who knows how good it would have been if I hadn’t cheated.

Ingredients

• 1 cooking chorizo sausage (250-ish grams)
• 200g chopped pancetta
• 1 red onion
• 1 red pepper
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 generous glass of red wine
• 4 large cloves of garlic
• 4 teaspoons of dried oregano
• Pepper (I just happened to grab green pepper, but of course black will do)
• 3 cans of chickpeas in brine

Method

1. Chop the onion and red pepper finely.
2. Fry the chorizo, pancetta, onion and red pepper in a dry pan until the meat starts to brown. The oil will come out of the meat.
3. Crush the garlic.
4. Add the tomatoes, fill the can with water and add that too, with the wine, garlic, oregano and pepper.
5. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Add the chickpeas with their brine (this gives the dish enough salt).
7. Bring back to the boil, and then simmer for ten minutes.