Pork and chickpea stew

I have a confession to make.  I've got a bit overexcited, having moved here to Lewes, and bought a lot of exciting ingredients because they looked amazing then realised that there are only two of us and put the whole lot in the freezer.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing: I reckon we can get from here to pay day without buying anything other than some odd bits of fresh veg and salad, so all the money in my wallet is mine and mine alone, to spend on fun stuff.  That's what the freezer's for, no?

I also seem to have gone a bit overboard on chorizo.  The freezer seems to be full of the stuff, which is fine because I love it and it's really versatile.  That and the pork belly seemed to suggest a Spanish style stew.

Start by finely chopping a carrot and an onion (the classic trilogy would include celery as well, but neither of us can stand the stuff) and sweating them in olive oil over a low heat.  Chop a chilli pepper and stick that in too.

Get some potatoes boiling while that's going on.  We're using stock later on, so I used some of it in the potato water to add a bit of extra flavour.  When they're nearly cooked drain them and put them to one side.

When the veg is getting soft, add your chopped up chorizo.  I love how the colour starts bleeding out of it and into the veg straight away.

While the veg is softening and getting to know the chorizo we want to get some colour onto the pork.  I used pork belly, removed the skin and cut it up into bite-size pieces - it is available skinless if you don't want the extra work but I used the skin to make pork scratchings so nothing was wasted!

Just get a pan really hot, season the pork with salt and pepper and brown it on all sides.

Now, back to the main pan.  Throw in the pork pieces when they're nicely browned along with a small tin of tomato purée (or about four tablespoonfuls if you're using purée from a tube), a drained tin of chickpeas, a splash of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Now move it all around so everything's coated in spice, then add the rest of the stock - 300ml or so should do it.  Raise the heat until it just starts to bubble - not a rolling boil - then back it off to a simmer.

It doesn't need long, maybe 20 minutes or so until the stock has reduced to a thick sauce and everything heated through.  Add the cooked potatoes and let them warm through, then serve.

This made four portions for us - so the level of stock in the freezer hasn't really gone down, it's just turned from ingredients into meals ready to take to work and microwave!