Madhouse recipe : Creamy Chicken & Chorizo with a Peruvian Kick

For the past couple of weeks, the Madhouse kids have been monopolising my computer - Pierre has developed a passion for playing Super Farm and Juliette has started video-chatting with her schoolfriends on facebook. This has been playing havoc with my menu planning because I can't get online to check what I had planned to make and/or the recipes, so when I found myself with a defrosted pack of chicken breasts and no idea what I was supposed to be doing with them, I opened my cupboards and decided to wing it !

I discovered a pack of Capsicana Chilli & Lemon Peruvian Cook Sauce which sounded interesting, but as it had a medium heat rating, I was pretty sure the kids wouldn't like it. I therefore went for a creamy option for the kids, then added the cooking sauce at the last minute for a spicier option for the grown-ups. Both were actually very nice and used just a few store cupboard basics.

Creamy Chicken & Chorizo with a Peruvian Kick

ingredients :

drizzle of olive oil

a pack of chicken breasts

2 onions

a clove of garlic

3 mushrooms

1/2 a red pepper

1/2 a tub of thick crème fraîche

1/2 a mild chorizo

salt, pepper, garlic granules

1/2 a pouch of Peruvian Chilli & Lemon Cook Sauce (optional)

Start off by gently frying the onions and garlic in the oil.

Chop the chicken into bite-sized chunks and add to the pan. Season with salt, pepper and garlic granules.

When the chicken is cooked through, add the red pepper and mushrooms and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes, until they are cooked but the red pepper retains a little crunch.

Add the chorizo and the cream. (You could add the chorizo earlier in the cooking process, if you don't mind it making the dish spicier by releasing its fat.) Give it all a good stir and heat through, stirring, until it is piping hot.

I also had some leftover pre-baked potatoes to use up. (I always throw some large potatoes into the bottom of the oven when I cook the Sunday roast so I have a midweek dinner already sorted for Monday or Tuesday.) I chopped them into wedges and tossed them in olive oil and rosemary rock salt before putting them in a large pan and leaving them to go golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside. I added a spoonful of butter for the last five minutes for extra flavour and colour.

This was the kids' creamy version. 

And once they were all served, I stirred the Peruvian sauce through the rest and reheated it for a few minutes for the spicier version. Both were a big hit !

 Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky as it used up baked potatoes, a pouch of cooking sauce and a half-tub of crème fraîche, as well as various odds and ends from the fridge !