Baked Vegetables with Chorizo

I am a meat eater but I don't feel that each meal has to be accompanied by a slab of meat, in fact, I try and listen to my body and what it wants, often I find I want fish, vegetarian or vegan food or, as in this case, a meal which is dominated by the vegetables rather than the meat.

This is a dish inspired by memories of Andalusian cuisine heavy with paprika and chickpeas (garbanzo beans).  I do love looking at the food with an eye to the history of a region, you can see the conflict in the food of Southern Spain full of Moorish spices and chickpeas with the very Christian influenced heavy use of pork, although the quantities of olive oil can sometimes be slightly frightening.  I once had a lovely tapas dish of chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, paprika and spinach but the amount of oil was eye watering.  The kind of thing you eat not worrying about the calories because you're on holiday!

I do love chickpeas, they are such a great flavour but work so well with lots of other ingredients.

Baked Vegetables with Chorizo - Serves 1

Ingredients

70g, 2.5oz Chorizo
Approx half a can (120g drained weight, 4oz) tinned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) see tip below
1/2 large red, orange or yellow pepper (capsicum)
3 small tomatoes (or 1-2 large)
A large clove garlic
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp olive oil

Method

Chop the chorizo into cubes, but in a baking dish with the drained chickpeas, chopped pepper, halved or chopped tomatoes, chopped garlic, paprika and olive oil.

Bake for approx 25 minutes at 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6 turning occasionally until cooked and browning at the edges.  Sprinkle with parsley if liked.

Serve on it's own or with a salad.  Even without salad, this contains 2-3 portions of vegetables!

Tip:  If you eat alone and want to buy tinned (canned) pulses like chickpeas, garbanzo beans, black eyed beans, haricot beans etc, the cans might look too big.  I have a tip for you, drain the rest of the beans and bag up the leftovers, put in a freezer bag with what it is and a date and freeze for up to 1 month.  Zero waste!

I've linked this up to recipe of the week.