WARNING: This recipe contains alcohol.

Ok, disclaimer note to begin with: I'm biased against Hispanic food. Now, let me explain. I'm an old fart that grew up in a time when Ortega's was the only way to get "mexican" food at home. Taco Bell came along and didn't really raise the bar. Same with Margaritas - from the 70's through the 90's, that was the extent of my exposure to this type of cooking. The only exception to this was a brief foray into Venezuela about 1985, and I was too young to really appreciate the culture. Fast forward past the 21 years in the Navy, then during my 13 years in New Hampshire I got to sample the real deal. A restaurant opened among the fast food and prepackaged stuff and pizza places (I can't complain about the Chinese restaurant as it was amazing and the head chef had cooked in the Imperial Palace -always a great time when I asked him to surprise me). But this Mexican place had amazing food, and after talking with the staff and the chef (I refuse to call him a cook) I found that a lot of the recipes were made FRESH, and were recipes their family had passed down.

But, where I was at, I was isolated.

Fast forward to now to Jacksonville, FL, and I'm surrounded by a lot of Latino communities (I'm an old fart...don't hate me for terms and pronouns please) and I can appreciate the people, culture, and foods. This particular dish I found at at small restaurant in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and I can't do it justice. (That doesn't mean I'm not going to stop trying!) I can't say enough about Ponce, in that I'm looking forward to going back. Now, onto the food.

Chorizo Al Vino

Ingredients:

4-5 Medium sized chorizo sausages cut into coin sized pieces (I'm also going to try this with linguica)
1 Large Red, Orange, and Green bell pepper, julienned. (I used half of each...this was a mistake - use them all!)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Medium Vidalia onion, quartered and sliced - you will want nice size slivers to compliment the peppers.
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Cups Wine (I used white - Blanco. This is also made with Red - Rojo - and yes...I can not speak Spanish)
Bay Leaves
Paprika
Olive Oil
Bacon grease (optional)

1. Start off by greasing a deep pan with olive oil, bacon grease, or butter and get it nice and hot before adding the chorizo. Let the coins get nice and browned, sweating out the fat and building up a nice coating on the bottom of the pan. This took me about 15-20 minutes as it took time to get my cast iron pan up to temp. When they're all to your liking (browned, browned and crispy, your choice) turn the pan up and dump into a standby bowl. Wipe any grease/oil from the side of the pan and put back on the stove.

2. Add a good dollop (about 2 tbsp) of olive oil to the pan and let it get hot before adding the garlic, onion, and peppers. Work this until the onions are translucent.

3. Add the coins back into the pan and work everything together. Add the wine, paprika, bay leaves, and brown sugar. Work this all together until it reduces by half which can take about 20 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and plate with rice, and garnish with parsley, cilantro, or chives (Your choice).

Enjoy!

(And if anyone can recommend a good Hispanic/Latino cook book that focuses on fresh ingredients, please drop me a note! )