Warm Chorizo Potato Salad — When You Make Your Own Cold Cuts, You Earn a Side Dish Like This

Christmas shopping. I hate it. I'm a forty-two-year-old man in a mall and I want to leave the moment I walk in. The lighting is wrong. The music is aggressive. Everyone is moving too fast and too slow at the same time. If hell has a retail section, it's Willowbrook Mall in December. But I go because I have three kids and they deserve a father who puts in the effort. Here's what I got: Tyler: a Leatherman multi-tool (the real one, not the knockoff), because the kid loves tools and building things and I want to encourage that. Also a gift card to GameStop because he's fourteen and video games are his language. Emma: a cookbook — "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat — because she's been cooking with me and she's ready for the theory behind the practice. Also a journal, because she writes and I want her to keep writing. Lily: not a pony. A telescope, because she's been asking about stars and planets and I'd rather feed that curiosity than buy her another stuffed cat. Also a stuffed cat, because she's ten and I'm weak. Ma: this is always hard. She doesn't want anything. She says this every year. "Don't waste money on me." But I got her a new stockpot — a heavy-bottomed twelve-quart that's an upgrade from her current one, which has a dent and a loose handle. She'll say it's too expensive. She'll use it every Saturday for the rest of her life. Linh: I got her nothing. We don't exchange gifts. We exchange phone calls and the understanding that we'd both give a kidney without being asked. That's worth more than a gift card. Christine: I got the kids to write her a card together. That's my contribution to their mother's Christmas and it's the right amount. Cooking this week: I made my annual batch of thit nguoi — Vietnamese cold cuts. These are the pressed pork loaves you find in banh mi — cha lua (pork sausage) and gio thu (head cheese). I make them from scratch once a year, around Christmas, because they take time and patience and I like having them in the fridge over the holidays for sandwiches and snacking. Cha lua is ground pork seasoned with fish sauce, sugar, and baking powder (for the bounce), wrapped in banana leaf, and steamed for forty-five minutes. When you slice it, it's pink and springy and tastes like what pork is supposed to taste like before the deli industry got hold of it. I made six logs. They'll last through New Year's if the kids don't find them first.

Making six logs of cha lua from scratch will remind you that you actually enjoy cooking — and that you also deserve a meal where someone else’s pork does the heavy lifting. Chorizo isn’t cha lua, but it shares that same unapologetic, seasoned-pork energy, and when it hits a hot pan with potatoes, it produces something that feels like a reward for all the wrapping and banana-leaf tying. I made this the same week, for lunch, standing over the stove, while the kids were still asleep and the house was quiet. It took twenty minutes and it cost nothing in patience, which by that point in the week I was fully out of.

Warm Chorizo Potato Salad

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs small Yukon Gold or red potatoes, halved
• 8 oz fresh or cured chorizo, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes. Place halved potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook 12–15 minutes until fork-tender but not falling apart. Drain and set aside.
2. Brown the chorizo. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chorizo slices in a single layer and cook 2–3 minutes per side until the edges are crisp and the fat has rendered. Remove chorizo with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan.
3. Soften the onion and garlic. Reduce heat to medium. Add red onion to the same skillet and cook in the chorizo drippings for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add garlic and smoked paprika and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
4. Make the warm dressing. Push the onion mixture to the side of the pan. Add remaining 1 tbsp olive oil, Dijon mustard, and red wine vinegar to the center of the skillet and whisk briefly to combine, then stir everything together off the heat.
5. Toss it all together. Add the drained potatoes and browned chorizo back into the skillet. Toss gently to coat everything in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Finish and serve. Transfer to a serving bowl or serve straight from the pan. Scatter fresh parsley over the top. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 380 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 680mg