Potatoes Riojana’s style

How to prepare some potatoes with chorizo ​​or la riojana . “ Chorizo, potatoes and wine, that’s the way to go ” is how this recipe begins, it doesn’t look bad, huh? I don’t know if you have tried this famous potato recipe where the chorizo ​​elevates the flavor of the stew to heaven.

A plate of people from the countryside, from the grape harvest of La Rioja and from all over Spain. A dish of all life and of very humble origin. I am talking about the Rioja style potatoes , one of my favorite winter stew recipes . And of course perfect for the whole year, one of the best to put some calories to warm between your chest and back.

Perhaps it is the best restorative that I have had for breakfast after the revelry at one of the best parties in Spain, those of Haro. I imagine that the chorizo ​​fat helps to counteract the excesses of alcohol.

Something similar to a good Galician stew after a night out. Now that I am old in those tasks I have prepared them for the weekend meal with their good after-dinner and nap of the pajamas.

This dish is prepared with potatoes, chorizo ​​stew, chorizo ​​peppers, paprika from La Vera and bay leaf. It is important for them to be perfect that when cutting the potatoes we click or crack them so that they release the starch and thus fatten the sauce, which must be thick.

I leave you with a classic of truly cold winters, when you feel like preparing some potatoes with chorizo, or what is the same , potatoes a la Rioja.

Before starting with La Rioja potatoes

1. A combination of ingredients that someone cannot possibly like:  potatoes and chorizo . Let’s give thanks to the pig, a blessed animal that gives us this stew full of flavor.
2. There is no recipe-formula, here everyone at home does it in their own way, but the base must have chorizo, potatoes, onion, garlic, a little extra virgin olive oil, water, chorizo ​​peppers and salt.
3. If you dare you can make explosive and spicy La Riojan potatoes, at home we like them with a spicy touch of Pimentón de la Vera (half sweet and the other part spicy), which invites you to have a good Rioja with your meal.
4. The important thing about this dish is that the broth is creamy, the closest thing to the photos that I show you, the potatoes have to be about to fall apart but without breaking.
5. The aspect is perhaps not the most beautiful in the world but I assure you that its flavor is 10 points, my girlfriend even tends to mash (crush) the potatoes with a fork until they reach a delicious texture, I leave you below how to prepare them, you will see how simple it is.

Preparation of the base of the potatoes to La Rioja

1. I have used choricero pepper pulp to save time, you can find it in any supermarket. Although if you want to follow the recipe in the traditional way, the best thing is to dip the chorizo ​​peppers in very hot water. It is for them to rehydrate and you must leave them a minimum of twenty minutes.
2. In some cases it can be blanched in very hot water and even take advantage of the water resulting from rehydration. Although I think it is not necessary because the stew already has enough flavor.
3. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to a large saucepan. It is not necessary much because you will already have enough fat.
4. We will even remove part of the fat that floats in the stew at the end of cooking and I assure you that you will not miss it.
5. Chop the onions very finely and add them to the casserole. We cook over low heat about 15 minutes. The onion must be well anchored, neither tight, nor raw, nor toasted.
6. Peel the potatoes and break them into pieces of about 4-5 cm with the help of a knife.
7. The first cut should be smooth to put the knife but before cutting the whole piece we must break the potato, thus releasing the starch or starch and fattening the sauce.
8. We cut the chorizo ​​into thick blocks and add them to the onion sauce together with the unpeeled garlic cloves. We braise a couple of minutes.
9. We add a tablespoon of sweet paprika and the tip of the cayenne (you can substitute it for the spicy Vera paprika). We remove everything very well, bringing the flavors together. Less than a minute that we don’t want the paprika to burn either.

Cooking and final presentation of La Rioja potatoes

1. Add the potatoes and mix well with the rest of the ingredients, add the meat stock until the potatoes are covered by at least one finger above them.
2. We raise the fire and when it starts to boil, lower it and add the pulp of the choricero peppers. We remove putting everything together and cover the casserole allowing it to breathe a little.
3. We cook everything for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are done, moving the casserole from time to time so that the broth grows fat.
4. If they stay dry, we add more water, always cold. Let stand 10 minutes and correct salt if necessary.
5. If the broth is very liquid, crush a potato and return it to the stew. If it is too thick, add a little water.
6. We plaster and if you want to decorate them, a little chopped parsley will not even paint, it only remains to repeat the dish. Enjoy and live La Rioja!

Lots of ideas to cook everyday at home in a traditional and homemade way. And of course, enjoy a good weekly menu or a luxury Sunday meal.

Emi Albelda tells me  that she has a very good tuning that I will try in Autumn. “This autumn was fantastic for the mushrooms and the rovellones, so I decided to add some rovellones to the potatoes from La Rioja. The result was so good that now when I prepare them I add a few of those that I prepared in a can. ”

You can see all the photos of the step by step recipe of potatoes in the Rioja   in this album.

Be sure to enjoy all the stews with or without potatoes and of course those stews of a lifetime in our recipes for soups and stews .

Maite’s version of La Rioja-style potatoes

• From Logroño , Maite has just sent me an email , as she says from the heart of La Rioja and she tells me that these are not the true Rioja potatoes ( Maite, I promise to make them as soon as I can ). These potatoes are called ranch there which also usually have meat (pork rib, rabbit or lamb).
• He comments to me: “ I personally like them with pork rib, and if it is false, better, because the stew is finer, and if you already put some snails that you have cooked before, you embroider it. I always have snails in the freezer that I collect in the field. After 15 more days, I wash them well and cook them. So I add them to different stews, or I make a sauce and spread bread. ”
• His recipe for  La Rioja potatoes.

1. The potatoes are peeled and washed, they are broken by clicking them, water is added to cover them, but one or two fingers above, they put minced garlic, dry or green pepper (better dry) and bay leaf.
2. They are allowed to cook 20 minutes over medium heat and when they are already cooked. In a separate pan, put diced white bacon. It is left to cool in its own fat, with a little salt, and then in that fat that the bacon gives.
3. Add sweet or spicy ground paprika de la Vera, to taste, and top with the potatoes. These potatoes are called potatoes to the poor with chinchorras .
4. Then with the broth that remains on the plate, and the dried pepper if you want. Some potatoes are crushed, and raw oil is added, and it is smeared with bread. This one is licking your fingers, I call it wet .