Two recipes starring Spanish chorizo: a crostata and a shrimp dish

I love Spanish chorizo, which is dense, chewy and intensely flavoured. You can use it in small amounts, to add a rich umami flavour to food, or in larger quantities, as with these dishes.

Savoury crostata

This is a savoury free-form tart that is easy to make, especially if you use commercial puff pastry (although, as always, home-made is better). Be sure to buy all-butter puff pastry that comes in a slab; the rolled-out version is too thin. Except for the potatoes, none of the ingredients are cooked in advance; you just layer them over the puff pastry (which you’ve rolled out, then cut into a large circle), fold over the sides of the dough, to partially enclose the filling, then bake.

Look for small potatoes, about 2cm in diameter.

1 500-gram slab of all-butter puff pastry, thawed, if frozen
150 grams very small potatoes
150 grams Spanish chorizo
6-8 small bell peppers, preferably a mix of colours
100 grams aged manchego
About 60ml cream
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg

Roll out the puff pastry to a 25cm square, then lay it on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Refrigerate for 30 minutes while preheating the oven to 220 degrees Celsius and preparing the ingredients.

Scrub the potatoes, then put them in a pan with enough cool, salted water to cover by 1cm. Place the pan over a medium flame, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for five minutes. Drain the potatoes then cut them in half.