So as you all know I ordered some Spanish Chorizo on-line at http://www.amazon.com/. This was my first experience ordering food from Amazon and it was super easy and the more I checked out the web page the more I discovered...hmmm this could be a dangerous and expensive habit. It is truly amazing how many vendors are selling rare and exotic food products via Amazon and I think its my job to support each and every one of them...ok maybe that is a little extreme. But as you all know I tend to do everything to the extreme.



Since I ordered the chorizo to begin with you probably guessed that I had a few recipes in my back pocket that I wanted to try that included this product. Last night I decided to make Sunset Orzo with Spanish Shrimp and I was really happy. I expected the chorizo to be super spicy but it was really mild. I liked that it had a texture similar to good quality hard salami or summer sausage. And it had the flavor of smoked paprika. This recipe had great flavor overall as it was a great combination of olive oil, lemon juice and saffron. The contrast of textures between the shrimp and the chorizo were excellent.



This recipe was a little more time consuming than most of my cooking adventures but it was not so complex that I just gave up and drank a bottle of wine instead. Cook the pasta just like you normally would. In a seperate pot cook the saffron and chicken broth to a low simmer. In yet another pot....yes every pot in my kitchen was used...saute the chorizo in the olive oil. Then add bell pepper, garlic, onion and turmeric to the chorizo. Cook for 5 minutes and add the peas. And in yet another pot saute the shrimp in more olive oil. Once they are cooked through add the parsley, lemon juice and paprika. Add the vegetable mixture, chicken broth mixture to the orzo pasta that has been drained. Finally either stir the shrimp in as well or serve on top.

BTW I love saffron....I love everything about it...flavor, smell, color! It is just the most intriguing spice and dang its expensive and all you get is a few strands but I have decided it is worth it. Did you know that saffron actually comes from a flower? Its a flower that is in the crocus family and it has been around since the 7th century. I also learned that it is super expensive because it has to be harvested by hand and there are only a few per flower.