Lunches rarely involve a specific carbohydrate. My body reacts best to a high protein/low carb sort of diet so I tend to avoid potatoes, bread and pasta unless I'm feeling in need of comfort food.
Today's lunch was typical of what I eat. I look in the fridge and larder for vegetables, proteins and flavours that are on hand and put them all in the saute pan!
I had some chorizo, green beans and goats cheese left over from the private Annie's on Sunday but I didn't want to just recreate the warm salad that I used them in for the starter. I placed diced chorizo in the wok as it came up to temperature, releasing all that lovely paprika flavoured oil. I like my chorizo to be very crispy so the heat was set high. Once it was nearly to that stage, I added half a thinly sliced yellow pepper, a generous handful of fine green beans and one spring onion cut into chunks.
I stir fried the veg for a few minutes, allowing the pepper to soften slightly but keeping the beans lovely and crunchy. I had found some of my spicy cherry tomato sauce in the fridge so I poured that over and turned the heat off. After tossing it all together I added fresh basil and oregeno, sea salt and black pepper, and a very generous handful of diced goats cheese.
The texture contrasts were perfect. The chorizo was hard, crispy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle, the beans crunched, the spring onion was firm, the peppers were softened, and the cheese was melting.
The taste hit all the right spots too! The spiciness of the chorizo mirrored the light spice of the tomato sauce. Overall the sauce was sweet - and that mirrored the peppers. The cheese and even the beans provided an umami taste along with the meaty chorizo. Salty, spicy, sweet, savoury - it might not look much on the plate but this was a sensationally tasting lunch that managed to wake me up in a way that coffee has failed to do today!
Bring on the afternoon!
