Creamy Chicken & Venison Sausage Pasta Bake

I came up with the idea for this delicious pasta bake while I was driving back home from work. I stopped at the supermarket and found this dried, cured venison sausage and used it in our bake. If you cannot find anything similar, either replace it with any other dried cured sausage like chorizo, salami or even bacon. You can pre-grill the chicken breast well in advance and keep cool until you use it. For the creamy part I just prepared a quick béchamel sauce which is very easy and quick to prepare. The chicken, sausage, pasta and creamy sauce make this dish a very filling one indeed and can easily be classified as comfort food. To be honest once preparation of the ingredients is complete, it is all a question of mixing it all together. Give it a go to impress your family and friends. You will need...

• 100g dried cured venison sausage, sliced
• 500g grilled chicken breast, diced
• 100g sweetcorn
• 75g frozen peas, defrosted
• 75g button mushrooms
• Salt & pepper
• 300g penne
• 75g grated extra mature cheddar
• 4 teaspoons grated kefalotiri
• 1 beaten egg
• Ground hot paprika

For the béchamel sauce...

• 45g butter
• 45g flour
• 500ml whole milk
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

How to...

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. Start by cooking the pasta al dente, about 11 to 12 minutes. Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water, toss slightly and set aside.
3. Cook the mushrooms in a small pan with a tablespoon of olive oil covered for about 5 minutes until soft.
4. Now, prepare the béchamel sauce, by melting the butter, add the flour and stir until the mixture turns golden brown. Add 200ml of the milk and stir well until the butter/flour mixture is dissolved in the milk and no lumps are present. Now add the rest of the milk and stir constantly until the sauce thickens, then take off the heat and stir in the parsley.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the pasta (if the cold pasta is in one lump, just pour some boiling water on it and you are good to go), béchamel sauce, beaten egg, the cooked mushrooms, diced cooked chicken breast, sliced sausage, peas, sweetcorn and cheeses. Give it a good stir but be careful not to break the pasta. Tip into a greased oven dish, sprinkle with the hot paprika and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and serve warm.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Papas a la Huancaína - Potatoes in a Peruvian Cheese Sauce

Recently I got my hands on some Aji Amarillo (PeruvianYellow Chilli). Aji Amarillo is extensively used in any Peruvian kitchen and it is added to a lot of recipes. The cheesy sauce that smothers these potatoes is so tasty that, believe us, and even if you do not like letuce, you will devour anything that is covered in this awesome sauce. If you cannot find Aji Amarillo, you can use Jalapeño peppers instead, it's basically contains the same heat. Also, you might seem that adding crackers sounds odd but they are added to thicken the sauce. The sauce is so easy to prepare so you definitely should try this recipe. When we boiled the potatoes, we scrubbed them and left the skins on so as they stay in one piece. Once the potatoes are cool, you can peel them easily. You will need...

• 4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced
• 1 small tin evaporated mik
• 2 salted crackers
• 1 dried aji amarillo. rehydrated for 20 minutes in boiling water, deseeded and chopped (or jalapeño)
• 1/4 cup [60ml] vegetable oil
• 250g Feta cheese, crumbled
• 5 lettuce leaves, to serve
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced or quartered, to serve
• Handful pitted black olives, to serve

How to...

1. Put the evaporated milk, crackers, aji amarillo or Jalapeño & crumbled Feta cheese in a blender and blend. While still blending trickle the oil from the hole in the lid until all oil is used. Keep blending until you get a smooth sauce.
2. On a large serving plate, put the lettuce leaves and slice potatoes.
3. Pour the sauce over the potatoes, using a spatula to get every drop of sauce out of the blender. 
4. Garnish with the eggs and olives.

Enjoy!!

R&A