Mexican Pepper and Chorizo Stew

This is a delicious, hearty and warming dish for colder nights that takes very little time to prepare and is light on the purse strings too – win, win.

You can make it slightly bulkier with the addition of chickpeas, butter beans or cannellini beans but I love it without.

I serve with some crusty bread, a dollop of homemade guacamole and a side salad but it would work well with rice or a jacket potato too.

It has a lovely smoky, chilli heat from the chipotle and the chorizo and you can dial this up with the addition of a red chilli as I have, or if you prefer something milder just omit this. I cook for about thirty minutes – however the longer you cook the more the flavours will intensify – so adjust according to how much time you have or how hungry you are.

Serves 3-4

Here’s how:

• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• Handful cherry tomatoes
• 75g mushrooms
• 1 pack of cooking chorizo sausages
• 1 tin passata
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp chipotle paste
• Pinch salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Few fresh coriander leaves

Firstly pop the oil into a strong bottomed, non-stick saucepan and place on a low heat.

Next peel and slice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the chilli and add to the pan to flavour the oil.

Slice the peppers and add to the pan once the onion has started to soften. Slice the mushrooms and place to one side.

Chop the chorizo sausages into small chunks and add to the pan to slowly cook. They will exude a gorgeous red oil that’s full of flavour and will continue to coat all of the ingredients in deliciousness.

Once the chorizo has taken on the colour of the oil all over, add the mushrooms and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.

Finally place the passata, salt, pepper, chipotle and paprika into the dish and stir through.

Cook for approximately 30 minutes and this will be ready to serve. Once dished up, add the coriander leaves as a final flourish and additional flavour.