Leftover chicken and chorizo

We had a few pieces of chicken in the fridge which I had cooked up during the week and which The Woo repeatedly forgot to take in to work for her lunch so I decided to do a sort of chicken and chorizo rice thingy this evening.

Certain things we always seem to have knocking about either in the fridge or cupboards.  In a posh cook book they would be called 'store cupboard ingredients' but to us they are either 'leftovers' or 'stuff we forgot we had'.

Our list usually includes an assortment of tomatoes, chillies, onions, garlic, herbs and spices, various beans and pulses etc etc etc.  Don't get me wrong.  I can be quite organised; especially when it comes to food, which is my passion (apart from The Woo of course!), but we always seem to end up with bits and pieces that just need using up.  Almost every meal I prepare has some sort of 'leftover' aspect to it.  It's not that I'm tight...I just hate throwing stuff away. 

When you think about it there is always a price to pay for our food.  It doesn't matter whether you're an omnivore like me, a picky eater, a vegetarian, vegan or whatever...someone has either put time, effort and money into growing or preparing it or an animal or fish has died for it.  We owe whoever or whatever a debt that should be paid other than by shoving their efforts in the bin!

I'm rambling.  I blame it on the early start, busy day and a few glasses of vino collapso.  For those of you still reading this twaddle here's this evening's offering.  We had good friend Cath stop for food before heading off for some Good Samaritan stuff so this was for three people.

In a large frying pan I softened a sliced red onion in some butter and a bit of olive oil.  To this was added four finely chopped cloves of garlic, three sliced red chillies, five chopped up Heritage tomatoes lurking in the depths of the fridge, a good squeeze of tomato puree, sea salt and black pepper.  After a few minutes I added about 10" of sliced chorizo.  A little water was added to loosen things up and then the whole thing was gently fried for about 10 minutes to let the flavours develop and for some of the water to reduce down.

I then shredded the meat off the four neglected chicken thighs and added this to the pan along with a small tin of sweetcorn.  This was cooked for a further 10 minutes to let the chicken warm through.  A small handful of chopped coriander (upper depths of the fridge so still fresh!) and some pre-cooked brown rice was added and mixed in.  All heated together until ready to serve.  It all seemed to work so job done.

After supper I sat amazed by the Paralympic athletes.  I am in awe of anyone who has that sort of commitment to anything; especially when faced with the sort of adversity they have to deal with on a daily basis.  I won't decry their efforts with any of my empty plaudits other than...bloody well done the lot of you!!