Chorizo Conundrum

"Every great decision creates ripples, like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforeseeable ways. The heavier the decision, the larger the waves, the more uncertain the consequences." So says the Seventh Doctor, as portrayed by Sylvester McCoy, in the classic 1988 Doctor Who Story "Remembrance of the Daleks".

Admittedly the decisions the Doctor had to make in that particular story were sizeable compared some I've been faced with recently but all the decisions I'd made, after going through the pros and cons of each possible outcome scientifically, were eventually decided by gut instinct.

After a day in the garden, while my dog is on holiday, the back and the front now looked like they were owned by somebody. As the sun beat down the decking and flint chippings, freshly purged of weeds, made the back garden look a little like a Mediterranean Beer Garden; especially if you squinted and closed your eyes slightly.

That said I decided to make a Chorizo Frittata a dish that is common in the Mediterranean World. The soundtrack to cook to was appropriate for my current state of mind as it was the Rolling Stones' gritty and defiant 1978 comeback "Some Girls" which includes the disco funk of "Miss You" and the 'wanted man' anthem "Before they Make Me Run"

The Ingredients of the dish were:

Half a white onion diced up.
A clove of garlic diced up.
Two teaspoons of dried Basil.
Two teaspoons of Harissa.
One diced Tomato.
One Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar.
Four eggs that were beaten and mixed up in a measuring jug with three tablespoons of unsweetened  Soya Milk.
A pack of Chorizo.

The first job was to fry the vegetables, Tomatoes and spices in three tablespoons of Rapeseed Oil in a frying pan. I did this for around ten minutes on a medium heat until the Onion pieces were translucent and golden in colour.

I then added the Eggs and the Soya Milk mixture by folding it steadily into the frying pan with the slices of Chorizo which I distributed evenly throughout the mixture. I also used my spatula to bury some of the pieces deep within the mixture while leaving others on top of it.

I fried the mixture for about twenty minutes on a medium heat while periodically putting the spatula underneath it to stop it sticking to the pan and avoiding the underneath of it being burnt. After twenty minutes I served the Frittata on a plate with a side of lettuce.

Basil and Tomatoes are always a winning combination in any recipe and when coupled with Chorizo and Harissa it gave the dish a feel of warm Southern European days. The taste of the dish, together with the sun beating down into my dining room, took me back to my last holiday abroad, some time ago, in Fuerteventura where dishes and ingredients like this were commonplace.

Chorizo in the Sun; the Egg and Milk body of the Frittata shines brightly.