When I was asked recently if I’d like to try the new Spanish and Iberian range in Lidl stores right now ( April 9th – 15th ) and create a recipe using some of their products I was quite excited. To me a meal in Spain would always have that hint of warmth from chorizo and paprika with perhaps a glass of red to accompany it or a jug of sangria.
Paella is a dish I really love but I’m not a huge fan of seafood so I like to make my own substituting the seafood with chicken and chorizo. Paella rice is great but standard long grain rice does the job just fine. You can add any leftover vegetables you have or other meats as it’s such a versatile dish.
Firstly I thought I’d tell you what I thought of some of the products you can currently buy in store and if you want to check out the offers for yourself you can click here:
4 Spanish Style Chicken Thighs With Chorizo:
I used these to create my paella dish below but we also tried them as a standalone dish and they were delicious and a real bargain at £2.99.
Smokey Paprika Chicken Breasts
We made these to create fajitas for lunch whilst on holiday. The chicken was extremely succulent and full of flavour. A nice kick to it too.
Jamon Serrano Gran Reserva Ham:
This was a real steal at 99p per pack and I used the ham to wrap asparagus. I baked them in a hot oven with a little olive oil, basil and seasalt for about 15 minutes and it was delicious.
Lidl Tomato Selection
We fell in love with these over the weekend, managing to demolish two packets of them. Sweet, juicy and unusual varieties of tomatoes in a handy multipack. Here is a photo of them in the Clay Bowl which was from the frozen Tapas – the meatball version were fabulous and I love the reusable bowls.
Fresh Chorizo Sausages:
I used these in my paella and also plan to use some in pasta dishes this week. Delicious. £2.89 for 8 sausages.
Churros:
These frozen Churros were amazing. We shallow fried, then doused in cinnamon sugar and served with the recommended dark chocolate sauce which I made using Bellarom finest dark chocolate & double cream.
Perfect dessert for the last night of our holidays:
I think that with the sunny weather we are having you should head to your local Lidl to snap up these offers before they end on Wednesday.
Finally here is my recipe:
Easy Peasy Chicken and Chorizo Paella:
4 x chicken thighs with chorizo – I used the Lidl Packet as mentioned above and (sorry) ignored the packet instructions. You could also use normal chicken thighs but I suggest if you do that you add a tbsp of smoky paprika for flavour.
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 X chorizo sausages sliced
1/2 large red onion diced
1/2 sweet red pepper diced
1 garlic clove diced or 1 tsp of ready minced garlic from a jar
1/2 tsp of crushed black pepper
1/4 tsp of sea salt
10 green ( or black ) olives halved
12 small tomatoes halved – I used the Lidl tomato selection
2 tbsp of Olive Oil
450ml chicken stock
200g long grain rice
Heat the oil in a large paella pan or cazuela. Add the garlic, onion, peppers, and turmeric. Soften and brown over a medium heat for a few minutes. Remove the chicken and chorizo from the packaging and pour into the pan along with the contained sauce and your additional sliced chorizo.
Mix to combine and add your rice and 350ml of your chicken stock. Cover with foil and simmer for 10 minutes before adding your tomatoes, olives and your remaining stock. Season with your salt and pepper, cover again and simmer for 10 more minutes until the rice has absorbed the liquid.
Serve immediately. We served ours with crusty bread and a little green salad. It’s perfectly good as a standalone dish.
Wine recommendation – We tried Tarragona Gran Reserva – wine of the week at Lidl and priced at £4.09. It was perfect.
If you would like to check out more pics of the dishes we made it’s worth looking at the Munchies and Munchkins Instagram Feed and to find out what other people think have a look at #lidlsurprises on social media channels such as twitter.
*This recipe was commissioned by Lidl and I was compensated for my time and ingredients.