Cocido - Spanish stew/soup

My wife just made this last week after seeing it on Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals program. We couldn’t find any Spanish chorizo at our market so we substituted Mexican chorizo. The stew/soup is hearty, spicy and tasty–as perfect winter dish. We served it with egg noodles and crusty bread. You can find the recipe at her website: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1511

Cocido
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • 1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, halved lengthwise then sliced 1/2-inch thick
  • 1 small head or 1/2 large head, no more than 1 pound, savoy cabbage, shredded
  • 2 leeks
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 fresh or dry bay leaf
  • 1 can chick peas, drained (15 ounces)
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 3/4-1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 3/4 pound ground beef pork and veal mix
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs or 1 slice stale bread, crumbled
  • 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika or paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • A few grates fresh nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, (2 handfuls), and divided
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 cups fideos or medium egg noodles
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 firm plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

Preparation
Heat a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium to medium-high heat with EVOO. Add chorizo and render 2-3 minutes. To chorizo, add cabbage and begin to cook it down. While cabbage wilts, trim the leeks of top 3-4 inches and root ends then halve them lengthwise and thinly slice. Soak in large bowl of water to release grit. Repeat of leeks are especially sandy. Wipe down work area. Dry the leeks on kitchen towel and add to cabbage with some grated carrot. Season with salt and pepper and bay leaf and sweat the vegetables 3-4 minutes. Add chick peas and chicken stock to the pot, cover to bring up to a boil.

Uncover pot and turn heat back a bit but keep at a low boil. Stir chicken into soup.

Add ground meat to a bowl and top with bread crumbs or crumbled bread. Season the bread with paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add a handful of parsley to the bowl and an egg. Mix and form 1-inch meatballs, adding them to the soup as you work. Wash up and simmer meats 5 minutes then stir in egg pasta and simmer 5 minutes more. Turn off soup.

While the soup cooks, combine remaining parsley with lemon zest, and chopped garlic Place seeded and chopped tomatoes in a small bowl and combine with lemon-garlic-parsley mixture.

Serve Cocido in shallow bowls and top with spoonfuls of tomato topping to stir in.

omg. that sounds SOOOooo freakin’ good. Now I’m hungry dammit…