fried egg and spicy chorizo rice

When we're home on the weekend I will often make us a lazy, slightly indulgent brunch - the sort that you want when you're perhaps feeling a little worse for wear from the night before. I usually crave something a little spicy, there needs to a certain 'stodgy' quality to it and there must be eggs involved too. This is a very easy to make dish can have infinite variations depending on your level of creativity. I think it could be wonderful with some cheese melted on top or stirred through, maybe add in some chopped carrots, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn and/or peas along with the onion for a healthier option or use a different kind of sausage. Really do whatever takes your fancy but I do urge you to top it off with a crispy-edged but runny-yolked fried egg. It rocks.

Ingredients serves 2 greedy people
3 spicy chorizo-style sausages, raw
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chilli, de-seeded and chopped (optional)
180g white rice
500ml chicken stock
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 organic fried eggs, to serve

1. Heat up a wide frying pan or casserole that has a lid. Add the oil then remove the sausage meat from the casing and place bite-sized pieces in to the pan. Cook over a medium heat until it starts to develop browned edges.
2. Add the onion, garlic and chilli to the pan and stir scraping the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon to pick up any of the stuck on tasty stuff from the sausages. Keep cooking, stirring the whole time until the onions start to turn translucent. 
3. Add the rice to the pan, stir through so that everything is well combined and the rice starts to pick up colour from the chorizo juices. Add the paprika to the stock, stir then add the whole lot to the pan. 
4. Once the stock in bubbling put the lid on the pan and leave to bubble away on a medium to high heat for 5 minutes. Do not stir or do anything else to the pan at this time. When 5 minutes is up leave the lid on the pan, turn of the heat then leave for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is cooked through. 
5. In the mean time you can fry your eggs how you like them then serve the rice up with the egg on top. Yum.

Belgian Beer Onion Gravy

This recipe started as another experimental creation that worked out well. We recently bought some fantastic Pembury Porkers sausages from this farm shop on the way back from a camping trip. Grilled up with some mashed potato and onion gravy, this was an excellent way to finish the bank holiday weekend.

Ingredients
1 tsp oil
1 large onion, sliced
couple of sprigs of rosemary
couple of bay leaves
330ml bottle of Gulden Draak or other dark, Belgian beer.
beef stock cube (optional)
1 tsp agave syrup, sugar or honey
Worcestershire Sauce to taste
Good quality vinegar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Over a medium heat fry the onions with the bay leaves and rosemary until they have taken on a golden colour with some decent crispy bits. This will probably take around 10-20 minutes. The longer you take over this the sweeter the final flavour will be. Colour on the onions intensifies the flavour of the gravy. 
2. Open and carefully pour in the Gulden Draak beer. It will probably bubble up a little but this will quickly subside. Add the beef stock cube if you're using it then cook the beer down until the smell of alcohol is gone and the liquid has reduced a little. This will be around 5 minutes depending on the heat you're using.
3. Taste your gravy carefully, it will be very hot, and adjust the flavour according to your taste using the sugar, worcestershire sauce, vinegar and salt and pepper. I put in 1tsp of agave, roughly  1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tsp white wine vinegar and a good sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. I did not add any salt. 
4. Cook for another minute or two to help the flavours mix together, then serve.