Category: Spanish food

Dirty Cajun rice recipe

Dirty rice come in many (delicious) forms. Cajun is a pretty classic combination so here’s something I’ve put together.

To the recipe!

Ingredients: £2.79 – serves 2 (£1.40) or 3 (£0.93) (per serving)

  • 200g basmati rice
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 500ml water
  • 100-200g diced cooking bacon
  • 1 ball of mozzarella, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 large onion, finely diced
  • 1 tbsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp ketchup
  • 2-3 tbsp Cajun spice
  • You shouldn’t need any salt here as Cajun spice has a shitload already
  • Oil, for frying.

Equipmemt

  • Saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Tinfoil
  • Frying pan
  • Wooden spoon
  • Plate

Prep and cooking (40-50 minutes)

  1. First cook the rice but be sure to put 1 tbsp of Cajun spice, 1 beef and 1 chicken stock cube in the water when cooking, leave it covered until needed.
  2. Heat some oil in a pan on a fairly high heat until it’s nice and hot. Cook the bacon until the fat is rendered down and nicely crisp. Remove from the pan and keep to onne side.
  3. Add the onion to the pan, you want to get it nicely browned so the flavour develops, turn the heat up but don’t let it burn though. It’s a fairly fine line between nicely browned and burnt.
  4. Add the red pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes, be sure to keep everything moving.
  5. Now add the garlic paste and ketchup cook for another 3-5 minutes while stirring.
  6. Remove to the heat and turn your attention to the rice. Remove the kids and fluff with a fork, and 1-2 tbsp of Cajun spice and mix well.
  7. All that’s left to do is mix the two together! Dirty.

Dirty rice all round

Costing

Cutting the cost

Looking at cost there are a few bits you can cut to save a bit, you can’t really change the amount of rice as it’s the bulk of the dish, unless you’re just cooking for 1.

Using half the amount of Cajun spice will save about 30p and you can just add some extra salt, the flavour won’t be quite as strong but still good.

The red pepper can be optional, removing it takes off another 45p, as is the mozzarella which saves an additional 45p.

This can cut the cost down to £1.59, or about 80p a serving.

All the prices used are from tesco.com on the date of this post.

Nutrition (based on 1 serving, half the above amount or )

Nutrition information

As you can see it’s fairly heavy on the carbs and a nice whack of calories, just about enough for a mealtime.

More recipes soon, keep on sending in your requests!

Romesco sauce recipe

This is one of many Spanish recipes I picked up whilst working with a top bloke in a makeshift tapas restaurant for about 3 months, he was my head chef and he’d come to England from Barcelona for work.

Romesco sauce is more of a cold dip, but it goes great with most meat especially steak.

It’s nice and easy to make so let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 400g)

  • 200-250g red peppers, roasted. You can roast your own or use ones in a jar from the shop.
  • 100-150g blanched almonds
  • 2-4 plum tomatoes
  • 1-3 tbsp garlic paste, more garlic will give it more heat I usually chuck quite a lot in
  • Either sherry, cider, white/red wine vinegar or lemon juice (1 or 2 tbsp)
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 70-100ml olive oil
  • Handful of fresh basil

Equipment

  • Frying pan
  • Food processor or immersion blender and measuring jug (food processor works best)

Prep and cooking (5-10 minutes)

  1. First you want to lightly toast the almonds so heat the frying pan to a medium-highish heat.
  2. When it’s nice and hot add the almonds and stir/toss them constantly for a few minutes until there’s nicely browned parts on the almonds, remove onto a plate and put to one side.
  3. Drain the red peppers so there’s not too much oil on them and put them in the food processor with the almonds, tomatoes (cut into quarters), garlic, paprika, vinegar and basil. (Everything except the oil).
  4. Blitz until you have a lumpy paste looking concoction.
  5. Leave the food processor running and pour in about 1tbsp of olive oil. After 5-10 seconds (or until the oil is fully mixed in) do this again until you have the consistency you want (the oil will emulsify the whole thing binding it into a sauce/dip)
  6. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  7. Dip! Or drink?

¿Cuál es la fruta que más se ríe?

La naranja, ja, ja, ja, ja…

Bad jokes aside, romesco is a delicious and easy sauce that can be whipped up in about 5 minutes.

It’s great on a buffet as a dip or you can use it to marinate meat.

Goes well with a bbq 🔥