A pasta dish based on a traditional Spanish tapa called ‘Chorizo al vino‘ or Chorizo in wine. Merging both makes a splendid result for a main dish with extra red pepper, onions, parsley and garlic.
Chorizo al vino is a tapa that cooks chorizo sausages slowly in red wine with a touch of smoked paprika, nothing else. I’ve used the idea and added extra veggies, red bell pepper, onion and garlic that go perfectly with the chorizo and served it on pasta. Chorizo Pasta sauce is thickened with cornstarch and tomato paste—a lovely Mediterranean dish for sausage lovers.
Spanish Chorizo Sausage
Authentic Spanish Chorizo isn’t a spicy “hot” sausage, nor a fresh type of sausage. It’s a paprika-flavoured, cured pork sausage that can be softly spicy or sweet, depending on the paprika used. If you want to reproduce the smokey effect with a sweet sausage, add some smoked paprika (Pimenton de la Vera) to the sauce; then you’ll recreate this fantastic smokey note. Be careful with this smoked paprika; it’s pretty powerful, and a single teaspoon does the trick.
Paprika vs Smoked Paprika
Spanish Paprika has two types; sweet and spicy, and these are dried in the sun, while smoked paprika (Pimenton de la Vera) has three types; sweet, sweet & sour and spicy but is made with different peppers and dried with burning logs in smoked houses the traditional way. This spice is the caviar of spices for its flavour and colour! A fantastic spice everyone should have in their pantry!
Tapa ‘Chorizo al Vino’
In Spain, they make all kinds of chorizo tapas; for example, some are flamed in clay pots with rum or cooked in cider, and others are grilled or on top of a piece of bread with Padron peppers. For this particular recipe, I inspired myself with the chorizo cooked in red wine (Chorizo al vino), which is so simple to make. The cooked wine with all the smoky notes and meaty flavour will serve as the perfect sauce for your pasta!
Other Chorizo Types
Be careful not to use the Mexican ‘hot’ sausage but a Spanish type if you try this recipe. You can substitute the Chorizo for a simple pork sausage if you prefer. Adding the smoked paprika will make it close to the real deal.
Other Twisted Spanish Recipes
Chorizo Pasta al Vino
Ingredients
- 250 g Pasta (Whatever form you fancy)
- 200 g chorizo (cut into slices)
- 150 ml red wine
- 50 ml tomato paste
- 1 red pepper (sliced)
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 1 tsp cornstarch (mixed in 30ml of cold water)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (Pimenton de la Vera)
- parsley
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook the onion with some salt with the olive oil, in a saucepan, for a few minutes, until translucent.
- Add the chorizo sausage and garlic and bring to medium-high heat; cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomato paste, let cook for 2 minutes until the tomato becomes thicker.
- Add the wine, red pepper, and smoked paprika and let reduce, medium-low heat, for 10 minutes.
- Add the cornstarch mix and let thickens the sauce an extra minute or two.
- Add the fresh parsley and serve on pasta of your choice.
