Hairy Bikers Prawn and Chorizo Orzo Recipe

In Hairy Bikers prawn and chorizo orzo, prawns each threaded with a slice of cooking chorizo sit on saffron orzo with orange and fresh herbs. And on their BBC series Comfort Food they cooked it by eye, so I’ve weighed it out: 2 plates, 625 calories each, 40 minutes.

“I think the link is orange”, they say on the show, because the zest ties the saffron orzo to the spicy chorizo. And it’s a two-hander, since Si threads the kebabs while Dave makes an orzo pasta bake with stock and saffron.

Fry the kebabs in a completely dry pan, since the cooking chorizo lets out enough spiced fat to cook the prawns without oil. Then that fat, lifted with orange zest, becomes the dressing for the orzo, so none of it gets wiped away.

Hairy Bikers Prawn and Chorizo Orzo Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Italian Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time: 25 minutesRest time: Total time: 40 minutesServings:2 Calories:625 Best Season:Summer

Description

Onion, orzo and hot stock bake for 15 minutes, and near the end the chorizo-threaded prawns caramelise in a dry pan. Then big handfuls of coriander and parsley, plus a little mint, go through the orzo before the prawns and orange pan juices go on top.

Ingredients

For the orzo

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 150g orzo
• 400ml hot chicken stock
• a good pinch of saffron
• a large bunch of coriander, chopped
• a large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• a few mint leaves, chopped
• sea salt flakes and black pepper

For the kebabs

• 12 large raw shell-on, head-on tiger or king prawns
• 1 cooking chorizo sausage (about 100g)
• zest of 1 orange, plus a splash of its juice

Instructions

1. Start the orzo: Preheat the oven to 180°C. Then heat the olive oil in an ovenproof sauté pan about 20cm across, and sweat the onion gently for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Coat and simmer: Stir in the orzo until every grain is glossy with oil, then pour in the hot stock and bring it to a bubble. Then crumble in the saffron and stir once.
3. Bake the orzo: Put the pan in the oven uncovered for about 15 minutes, until the stock is absorbed and the orzo is tender and bright yellow. But if it’s still firm, stir in a splash of hot stock and give it up to 5 more minutes.
4. Make the kebabs: While it bakes, twist the heads off the prawns, peel them and pull out the dark vein. Then cut the chorizo into 12 slices as wide as the prawns, and push one slice through the curl of each prawn.
5. Dry-fry them: When the orzo has about 5 minutes left, heat a frying pan over a high heat with no oil at all. Then fry them 2 to 3 minutes a side, until the prawns are pink right through and the chorizo is cooked and caramelised.
6. Add the herbs: Take the orzo out of the oven, then stir through the coriander, parsley and mint. And season it with sea salt flakes and plenty of black pepper.
7. Deglaze and serve: Lift the kebabs onto the orzo, then add the orange zest and a splash of its juice to the hot pan. So scrape up the spiced fat as it loosens, and tip it all over the top.

FAQs

Do I need cooking chorizo, or will cured chorizo do?

Cooking chorizo, because it’s raw and soft enough to cut into thick slices that stay put in the curl of each prawn. And it gives off enough spiced fat to fry the kebabs in a dry pan, while ready-sliced cured chorizo is too thin to thread.

Cured chorizo suits their chicken and chorizo paella instead, where it’s fried until crisp so its paprika-red oil flavours the rice.

Is this exactly what they cooked on the show?

Very nearly, and it has a family story behind it, since Si’s brother Will first cooked it for them all in Italy. But garlic gets sliced on camera and never goes in, so I leave it out rather than guess where it belongs.

On screen the orange is zest only, while I add a splash of juice because it helps loosen the spiced fat from the pan. And the herbs are meant to be generous, since they compare the orzo to a tabbouleh where the herbs are part of the dish.

Can I cook the kebabs on a barbecue?

Yes, their official site has a version called prawn and chorizo bites with garlic oil, using 500g of tiger prawns and one cooking chorizo. And it serves 2 to 3, with the kebabs grilled or barbecued for 3 minutes a side and brushed with garlic oil.

Then they get a final toss in more garlic oil with lime zest, lime juice and parsley. So for a summer plate I swap the orange for lime and keep the orzo.

How do I make it for 4, and will leftovers keep?

Double everything: 24 prawns, 2 cooking chorizo cut into 24 slices, 300g of orzo and 800ml of stock. Then bake it in a 28cm pan for up to 20 minutes, stirring halfway so it cooks evenly, like their chicken and mushroom risotto. And fry the kebabs in two batches, since a crowded pan steams them instead of letting the chorizo caramelise.

Cool any leftovers and chill them within an hour, then eat them the next day. And I eat the prawns cold, since heat turns them rubbery, the same reason their seafood paella returns its prawns only at the end.

Is this the same as Jamie Oliver’s prawn and chorizo orzo?

No, Jamie Oliver’s is a tomato orzo, with 400ml of passata, sherry vinegar and basil through 300g of orzo. But theirs has no tomato at all, because saffron, stock and the chorizo fat do all the flavouring.

So if a recipe under their name uses passata, it is not the dish they cooked on Comfort Food.