This recipe is incredibly quick and easy to make: it takes an hour, but 45 minutes of that are spent winding up your kids, checking their homework and your mail or watching the news while the stew is simmering contentedly in the kitchen. I use dried chickpeas, which I soak overnight and then cook in my pressure cooker. The tins are a much better option if you don’t have the luxury of a pressure cooker, and they are not that much more expensive either. You can pick up a spicy chorizo ring in most supermarkets in London, but go for one described as ‘picante’ (‘spicy’) rather than ‘dulce’, which means ‘sweet’.

Although this is not technically a Spanish recipe, I’ll file it as one for the time being. It is actually a dumbed-down version of a Moro recipe which featured a couple of years ago in the Guardian. I love Sam & Sam Clark’s imaginative exploration of the Mediterranean, especially their pairing of different taste sensations. We have a lovely pork recipe somewhere which uses raisins and sherry – flavours to die for.

Chickpea and Chorizo Stew

• 3 medium-size onions, coarsely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 glas of dry white wine
• 1 chorizo (ca. 240g)
• chili powder or flakes, to taste
• 2 tins of chickpeas, rinsed (or 400g dry chickpeas, soaked and boiled)
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• salt, pepper
• chopped flat leaf parsley

Heat some oil in a deep, lidded pan or casserole dish and add the onions: keep the heat relatively low as you don’t want them to brown too much. After about 5 minutes, add the garlic and gently fry for another 5 minutes.

Cut the chorizo into thick slices (2-3 cms or 1 inch). Add the chunks to the onions, as well as the chili, and fry  for another few minutes. Then add whatever is left of the glass of wine wine (you need to try it, naturally, to check it goes with the dish), followed by the chickpeas and tomatoes. Season, cover and simmer over a low heat for 45 minutes.

Season and sprinkle with the parsley and serve. It works brilliantly for larger gatherings and tastes even better the next day.