Mediterranean Snacking

I really must apologise for the lack of home cooking posts lately. It isn't that I've stopped cooking and taken up eating take-away pizzas. On the contrary, I've been feeding myself well but having some difficulty finding the time to record my culinary activities. Right now I'm on a college rotation known as "Development". Unlike rotations such as Butchery or Larder, where activities are regular and much the same on a day-to-day basis, this period of my Diploma course is very varied. One day I'll be in the kitchen from 9am to 9pm, and the next day I could have off completely. Once a week we also go off on visits of culinary interest - I'll post on a recent trip in a few days.

I've also had to hand in my Australian Gastronomy Project, give my gastronomy presentation in front of lecturers and fellow students and cook one of the designed dishes (I surprised some of my fellow students who think of me as a kitchen/larder chef by cooking Quandong Pavlova with Forest Peppermint Anzac Biscuits) and I'll catch up with that in a post shortly also. And last but not least I've been arranging my first professional job. My dad's been very busy too - when I head off abroad he's moving out of London for retirement in the Yorkshire Dales. He says he's not putting any pressure on me to leave home, but I got a hint when he put the house on the market a couple of weeks ago. As a consequence of his relocation activities amongst other things, I've been missing a bit of assistance with the posts. So back to food. There are often times when I get back from college and fancy a bit of really indulgent snacking. For me this tends to mean something with rich Mediterranean flavours exploding onto my palate, preferably with fatty juices to spill all down my front. So when I got home the other day and found this... ...in the fridge, together with some very fatty sliced pancetta and a jar of marinated peppers, I could've been mistaken for thinking I was in heaven.

My first and last thought was to cut the chorizo into bitesize sections (yes, I have a big mouth) and roll them up in the slices of pancetta lined first with slithers of red and yellow pimento.

Just a minute or two on all surfaces in a hot pan to generate those all-essential Maillard flavours, and then finished in a very hot oven in order for the wonderfully fatty chozza juices to penetrate into the peppers. OK, so I admit it. Unhealthy, unseasonal and not locally sourced. But to be honest I couldn't care less. Bellissimo! Don't forget you can click on the photos to enlarge them.