Chorizo, Limas, and Grilled Padron Salad

So much Spanish flavor coming out of this dish. I cheated with the canned beans and tomatoes and it came together a whole lot quicker, as you can imagine. I’m sure the real deal from the original recipe [cooking the beans from scratch and roasting the tomatoes] is a whole lot better in terms of flavors and textures, but this was a completely acceptable substitute. The originally recipe also talks about layering everything together, adding the vinaigrette and mixing everything together in the individual bowls. It felt really unnecessary and messy to get everything mixed well. When I do this again, it’ll absolutely be in one giant bowl to aid my clumsiness. Chopping up all of the peppers would be a good idea too. Then you can have more pepper goodness in each bite. Otherwise, you’ll end up like me, and just sit and eat all the peppers before eating the salad.

I’d really suggest getting good, fatty pork chorizo for this. I have tendency to lean on the chicken chorizo at New Seasons a lot for my chorizo needs, but I’m glad I didn’t do that for this. The beans can be totally overwhelming in flavor, so bright punchy chorizo is necessary. The chicken version just isn’t that.

Ingredients

• 2 cans lima beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can fire roasted chopped tomatoes, drained
• 1 1/2 tablespoons + one teaspoon olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 12-15 padron peppers
• 1/2lb fresh chorizo, casing removed if yours has it

Preparation

Heat a pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic. Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn. Once it starts to turn in color, add the tomatoes and mix everything together. Warm the tomatoes and taste for salt. Remove from heat.

In a blender or food processor, add the tomatoes, remaining olive oil, vinegar, paprika, and some pepper. Blend until smooth and taste for more salt and pepper.

In another pan [or on your grill], cook the peppers on medium high heat in an even layer. They will soften and start to blister on all sides. Transfer them to a cutting board and coarsely chop a few. If I were to do this again, I’d have chopped them all to make it easier to eat all mixed together.

In the same pan as the peppers, crumble the chorizo and cook until it’s crispy and cooked through. Drain on paper towels if there is a lot of rendered fat.

In a bowl, mix together the beans, chorizo, and chopped peppers. Drizzle in the tomato vinaigrette [you may not need all of it] and gently mix so you don’t break the beans apart. Garnish with the whole peppers if you still have them.

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