JP Food: Smoky Spanish Hotpot

From Tallaght, John Paul Kennedy is a self-taught cook with a passion for good old-fashioned home cooking. 

To thank me for hosting colleague cooking demo sessions on Zoom, I was recently sent Mary Berry’s new cookbook ‘Love to Cook’, which is a beautiful book.

With a drop in temperature following the recent sunshine, I was craving something warm and comforting and a recipe for Mary’s Spanish Hotpot jumped out at me.

In essence it’s a stew / casserole, one pot supper that’s tomato based with lots of smoky, earthy hits from the paprika, saffron and chorizo.

Quick and easy to make, served with champ mash this went down a storm when I made it for Sunday lunch and it’s a new recipe in my repertoire that I will be returning to.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

500g of pork fillet steak cut into thin strips

1 tablespoon of runny honey

2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

150g chorizo, diced

1 large onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced

1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

2 teaspoons of paprika

2 tablespoons of plain flour

2 tablespoons of tomato puree pinch of saffron (optional as it’s quite expensive)

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

300ml of hot chicken stock

2 bay leaves

Sea salt & black pepper for seasoning

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

Method

1. Place the sliced pork fillet into a bowl and drizzle the honey over it. Turn to coat and season with some sea salt and black pepper.
2. Heat the oil in large flameproof casserole dish over a high heat. add the pork, I would suggest cooking two batches so not to overcrowd the pan as you want the pork to brown quickly. Once browned remove from the pan and set aside.
   
3. You might need to add a little extra drizzle of oil to the pan and then add in the diced chorizo and cook until nice and crisp. Then add the onion, peppers and garlic powder and fry off for a few minutes.
   
4. Sprinkle in the flour and paprika then the tomato puree and saffron. stir in the chopped tomatoes and stock, give it a good stir, and allow to come to boiling point then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. season and add the bay leaves and allow to simmer for 30 – 40 minutes.
5. Return the browned-off pork and cook for 5 minutes, remove the bay leaves, and stir in the chopped parsley to serve.

Serve with champ mash or rice or even on its own with some crusty brown bread.

This can be cooked up to eight hours ahead and reheated before serving – this dish also freezes well so it’s a great recipe for batch cooking.

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