I love blending a spicy or smoked meat with seafood and the taste combination of smoky, spicy chorizo sausage and calamari is quite sensational — perfect as a starter and good enough for a main meal.

Typically Mediterranean, this seafood-sausage combo is particularly pleasant served outdoors in the garden or on the patio. For a luncheon or evening meal you can bulk it up with baked potatoes and by serving a salad and crusty bread with it.

I love the wide range of interesting sausages one finds in countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal because you can use them in so many ways.

My favourite sausage is chorizo, which is equally popular in Spain and Portugal and is also growing in stature on local tables. It is a spicy, garlicky, fatty sausage that can be enjoyed as a snack on its own, warmed and served with mustard and bread, or as an accompaniment to many foods.

I love carving a few pieces into a soup and stew because it does add a whole new dimension to any dish. You can buy chorizo sausage at most supermarkets, but if you live in Cape Town I can recommend the chorizo made by Joostenberg Meat. It's worth taking a drive out to Muldersvlei just for their chorizo, but they also have an extensive range of other pork products.

To serve four starter portions of chorizo and calamari, you need:

Ingredients

2 chorizo sausages cut into 1cm thick slices

4x100g calamari steaks (you can serve the steaks whole, or sliced into strips

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 lemons quartered

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 heaped tablespoons plain flour

2 heaped tablespoons coarse bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

Method

Pat the calamari dry with kitchen paper towels

Mix the flour and crumbs in a shallow bowl and then press the calamari steaks (or strips) down well to coat

In a large frying pan heat one tablespoon olive oil

Sprinkle calamari steaks or strips with salt and pepper and fry the calamari steaks one at a time for about one minute per side (You might require a little more oil)

When the steaks are done remove from pan, place on a warm platter and set aside

In a clean pan place the sliced Chorizo and over medium heat fry until juices start to run, but don’t overcook

Place the calamari steaks or strips on to large platter and sprinkle with chorizo sausage pieces and the pan juices

Serve with lemon quarters, a tossed salad and crusty bread