Foodie Friday – Chorizo!

It sounds like something you might yell at the top of a mountain you just climbed, or in a huddle before a football match in Europe. Cho-ree-zo! However, it is a spicy Spanish sausage.

Yesterday at the grocery store I was looking for something different to make for dinner today. My store has come out with a lot of new products, many packaged fresh meals with all the ingredients included. I usually can’t buy them because they contain additives and/or ingredients we can’t have.

However, something jumped out at me! There was a chicken breast roast stuffed with chorizo sausage – and no additives. Yes, this sounds good but why I am so excited for it?

It all began in early 2006 while I was in culinary school. During the three-month restaurant experience, we were often given challenges to fill time. We had a “black box” challenge where each team of two were given a box of ingredients to make a meal. My partner and I got a chicken breast, chorizo, strawberries, tarragon, a carrot, onion and Brussel sprouts.

So, we decided to chop up the sausage and strawberries very fine, mixing in some onion, tarragon, salt, and pepper. We cut a pocket in the chicken breast and loaded it with the stuffing. We placed the breast, sliced carrot, and halved Brussel sprouts in a shallow pan and roasted it in the oven.

We WON!

The sweetness and slight acidity of the berries balanced well with the heat of the sausage and everyone loved it.

A few years later I was catering a wedding, and the couple wanted something different. So I thought about the chicken and wondered if I could do something similar with a pork loin roast. I did a test run for them, and it turned out well. So, that was one of the main dishes for the wedding.

I used it again a few years after that while cooking at a camp. We were all in advanced crew mode trying to get everything ready for the summer when just under 400 kids would arrive every week. Our manager suggested we do a little iron chef deal where each staff member took an evening meal and did their own menu. We had a dollar limit but could buy anything with it.

Hubby and I decided to do the chorizo pork loin, and again it was a hit!

So, prepping this little roast, with its aroma brought back these memories. This one doesn’t have strawberries, but that is totally okay. I just plopped it a roaster, along with a few vegetables, put it in the oven, and sat back and waited.

We were not disappointed! There was lots of chorizo stuffing, the chicken was surprisingly moist, and it was bursting with flavour.

Lydia!