Serves four-six. Prep and cook time: one hour

Ingredients:

• Chorizo – one full ring (225g), diced fairly small to speed up rendering the fat

• Onion, courgette, carrot, red pepper – two small / one large of each, diced 

• Tomato paste – 2tbsp

• Smoked paprika (hot) – 1-1.5tsp, depending how spicy you’d like it

• Dried oregano – 2tsp

• Dried red lentils – 150g

• Chopped tomatoes – one tin, good quality

• Chicken/vegetable stock – one cube/stockpot dissolved in 800ml water

• Fresh parsley – 20g, roughly chopped

• Yoghurt and lemon (optional)

Method:

1. Add the chorizo to any high sided pan (wok/cast-iron/saucepan), with a tiny splash of oil to get it going. Bring it up to a medium heat, and fry for one-five minutes, stirring constantly to make sure it’s not catching on the pan. Once it’s starting to look crispy (slightly golden) swimming in a bath of its own making, remove, leaving all the oil inside the pan, and set aside.

2. Add all your veg with a pinch of salt. Bring up the heat in the chorizo fat to medium high, and cook vigorously until the water has evaporated. This is when you stop seeing any bubbles of water coming out, the veg is just starting to develop colour, and it goes from sounding like a downpour to a crackling fire. It should have reduced volume by about half. 

3. When you reach this point, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Scrape off anything that is sticking to the bottom of the pan (the fond), and if it looks like it’s starting to burn, add a drop of water and scrape off. The bitter flavour you get from burning fond is very unforgiving, so really watch this (especially if you're using non stick).

4. Add the garlic for the last two minutes.

5. Once the veg looks lightly golden, add the tomato paste, paprika and oregano, and fry for one-two minutes to remove the bitter rawness of the tomato paste and bloom the dried spices.

6. Add the chopped tomatoes, the 800ml stock, lentils and around ¾ of the reserved chorizo. Simmer on a low heat for around 20 minutes until the lentils are cooked, and the stew is at your desired thickness. Add some water if it's too thick, or crank up the heat to evaporate some water if it’s too thin.

7. Season with salt and plenty of fresh black pepper. Finish with fresh parsley, the crispy chorizo bits and, optionally, a dollop of yoghurt and a healthy squeeze of lemon.

Notes:

1. Chorizo substitute – The chorizo is the protagonist here, so removing it would fundamentally change the dish. You could, however, use olive oil to fry the veg, and double the lentils to make a spicy lentil stew.

2. Veg base – This is just one possible vegetable combination. Use whatever you have to hand, or whatever you like! Leek, celery, aubergine would work well.

3. Potatoes – one of the best ways to give it a bit more oomph. Just make sure to use a waxy potato (Charlotte is the easiest to find) as starchy potatoes (Maris Piper, King Edward, for example) will break down and become lost in the sauce. Add along with the lentils and stock.

4. On lentils – a tin of drained green lentils would also work. You could also substitute with a tin of chickpeas if that’s more your style.

5. To serve – I served with buttered bread for a substantial dinner portion, but it is very versatile. You could use this as a pasta sauce, served over rice, just eat alone (perhaps with potatoes). I often do multiple things with the same batch to keep the leftovers interesting!