Seasonal recipe No 40 – Kale with chorizo and poached egg

A recipe from Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat. She claims it’s one of her ‘regular fast hot lunches’. Quantities are for one, so double, treble or quadruple etc as necessary.

Serves 1

Preparation 15 minutes
Cooking 15 minutes

Ingredients
175g kale
approx. 100g chorizo (the fresh or semi-dried sausages – rather than the salami type – half of one of the horseshoe-shaped linked sausage loops is about right)
1 egg
1 tbsp ordinary oil

Method
Remove the curly leaves of kale from the stems and tear the leaves into smallish pieces. Cut the chorizo into slices about 5mm to 1cm thick and then cut them into quarters. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add salt. Put the kale in the boiling water and cook till tenderish (about 5-7 minutes).

Put 1 tbsp oil into a heavy-bottomed, deepish frying pan and cook the chorizo pieces for a few minutes, stirring and pressing with a wooden sppon – 3 or so minutes should be fine. While this is happening, as well as keeping an eye on the kale, put a pan of water on to poach the egg. Drain the kale well when cooked and then stir into the chorizo. Put the egg in to poach and when it’s ready, turn the orange-spliced kale on to a plate and put the poached egg on top.

Seasonal recipe No 27 – Kale with chorizo and almonds

In last weekend’s Observer magazine, Nigel Slater sang the praises of kale – especially after a touch of frost. As well as using it as a side dish with a seasoning of crisp garlic and red chillies, he also cooked it with chorizo. For his recipe for a “less rich version of the classic cauliflower cheese” and other ways of using your winter greens, see his Cold as brassicas page.

Serves 2 as a light main course, 4 as a side dish

Preparation 5 minutes
Cooking 15 minutes

Ingredients
250g curly kale
250g cooking chorizo
a little groundnut or sunflower oil
50g skinned whole almonds
a clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

Method
Wash the kale thoroughly. Put several of the leaves on top of one another and shred them coarsely, discarding the really thick ends of the stalks as you go.

Cut the chorizo into thick slices. Warm a non-stick frying pan over a moderate heat, add the slices of chorizo and fry till the pieces are golden. Lift them out with a draining spoon on to a dish lined with kitchen paper. Discard the oil that has come out of the chorizo and wipe the frying pan clean. Add the almonds and cook for 2 or 3 minutes till pale gold then lift out and add to the chorizo.

Warm the oil in the pan, add the crushed garlic and shredded greens and cook for a couple of minutes, turning the greens over as they cook, till glossy and starting to darken in colour. Return the chorizo and almonds to the pan, add a little salt and continue cooking till all is sizzling, then tip on to hot plates.