Baked Orzo with Chorizo and Spinach

I had some leftover chorizo that I wanted to use up.  When I saw this recipe I knew I wanted to try it.  This was really easy to prep and then cooks in the oven for 25 minutes.  It was a perfect weeknight meal for a cold winter's night.  The kids picked out what they wanted to eat (chorizo, yes, spinach and mushrooms, no) but did try one bite of everything.  My husband and I really liked this dish!  I could have halved it so we didn't have as many leftovers as we did, but it was eaten up for lunches throughout the week.  I would definitely make this dish again!

Baked Orzo with Chorizo and Spinach
recipe from Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
1 pound orzo pasta
Chorizo; I used 2 links, each was about 6 inches long.
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 c shredded cheeses - I used a mix of mozzarella, Parmesan, and asiago
More Parmesan cheese, for the topping, about 1/4 c
6 oz fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Crumble the chorizo into the pan and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, saute 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, saute 2 minutes.  Add the wine, stirring to scrape up all the brown bits. Let simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Stir.  Add the cheeses, stir. Pour in the cream and stir to combine everything.

Pour the mixture into greased baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered until golden, about 25 minutes. I turned on the broiler for the last minute or two.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

This post is shared at:
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country
Showcase Your Talent Thursday @ What's Cooking, Love?
Food-Spectacluar Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Foodie Friday @ Simple Living and Eating

Mexican Breakast Hash

A few weeks ago I had a bunch of different ingredients left over that I thought would make a great breakfast for dinner meal.  Breakfast for dinner is always a huge hit in our house and I'm guaranteed that the kids will eat all of their dinner.  This dish was no exception.  The chorizo was a little spicy for them but otherwise they enjoyed this.  I know hash is normally made with fried eggs.  My husband made some fried eggs for his when he got home.  But since I hate egg yolks, (especially runny ones) I made scrambled eggs for the kids and I.  This was a nice hearty meal that used a bunch of leftover ingredients up!

Mexican Breakfast Hash
my own recipe

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 Eastern potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 chorizo link, casing removed and crumbled
1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup salsa (more for topping)
 shredded cheddar cheese for topping
6-8 eggs scrambled

Directions:
Heat oil in cast iron skillet (or large frying pan) over medium heat. 

Add potatoes and onions and cook until browned, stirring every once in awhile for approximately 20 minutes.

Add chorizo crumbles and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

Add black beans and salsa and cook for 3-5 minutes until heated through. 

Spoon hash on plate, pile scrambled eggs on top, top with a couple of pinches of cheese and additional salsa if desired.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

The Weekend Chef: Chorizo-Stuffed Poblano Chiles with Sweet-Sour Escabeche

Menu planning can take me hours.  The problem is that I have too many recipes that I want to make!  Then it's about balancing out the dishes.  I don't want all chicken or pasta dishes, etc.  Do I have something meatless this week?  Are there any ingredients from one dish that I can use in another, so the leftovers don't go to waste?  Believe me, it can get pretty complicated!  I've tried to make it a little easier by going through my recipe pull-outs and some cookbooks and making a list of all the recipes that I want to try soon.  The pull-outs are in a special folder so I know where to find them and then noted on the list.  The cookbook recipes have the name of the cookbook and page number listed next to them.  The blog recipes are just filed in a "cooking" folder under favorites.  Haven't tackled that yet!  So, when I get to Saturday and Sunday I sometimes ask The Weekend Chef what he's going to make.  Other times I give him a recipe and say, "You're making this!"  This past weekend finding our Supper Club recipes took awhile.  I told him about my recipe list and said, just pick something from the list! I had a cookbook open with the Peach and Brie Quesadilla recipe in it and said, "Oh, I have chorizo, do you want to try making this?" (this stuffed poblano recipe). 

He said yes, but I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into!  This is not a weeknight dinner for sure!  It definitely took a lot longer than expected to make.  The poblanos turned out spicier than we thought too so the kids didn't eat those. The onions were pretty strong in the Sweet-Sour Escabeche.  However, it was pretty tasty for all the hard work!  We had more leftover stuffing than peppers.  So, for lunch one day I ended up heating the leftovers in a pan and then cooked some egg whites with it for a hash-like dish, eaten with an english muffin.  It was delicious!

Chorizo-Stuffed Poblano Chiles with Sweet-Sour Escabeche
Recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light, May 2005

6 servings (1 chile each)

Spicy, tangy, a little sweet, and a tad sour, this dish from Rick Bayless is based on a traditional central Mexican version. You can prepare the different components--roast the chiles and make the potato-chorizo stuffing--a day ahead and refrigerate. Then let everything come to room temperature, and stuff the chiles.


Ingredients:
6 large poblano chiles
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups cubed red potato
8 ounces chorizo sausage

Preparation:
Preheat broiler.

Place poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil 14 minutes or until blackened, turning twice. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 10 minutes; peel.

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add carrot to the pan; cover and cook 5 minutes or until carrot is crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Add water and next 4 ingredients (through bay leaves) to pan; stir well. Bring mixture to a simmer; cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Discard bay leaves. Combine onion and salt in a large bowl; pour vinegar mixture over onion mixture. Cool completely.

Place potato in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer 10 minutes or until tender; drain.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Remove casings from the sausage. Cook sausage for 10 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Drain sausage on paper towels. Add potato to pan; cook 15 minutes, browning on all sides. Stir in sausage; cook until mixture is thoroughly heated.

Cut a lengthwise slit in each chile; discard stems, seeds, and membranes. Place about 1/2 cup sausage mixture in each chile (chiles will be full). Divide onion mixture evenly among each of 6 plates; top each serving with one stuffed chile.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.