Chicken and chorizo with red pepper purée

The legendary Café del Sol in Johannesburg might be the city’s best-kept culinary secret if it wasn’t so well known! The family behind its charm and success – Chiara Viljoen with Ryan Viljoen and their mother Luciana Treccani – bring us recipes from their kitchen in the new book, Our Italian Legacy of Love. We have a few to share…

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Chicken and chorizo with red pepper purée

SERVES 4

This dish is nothing short of addictive – the epitome of luxury! The red pepper purée is a bit of a mission but adds a depth of flavour to this gourmet sauce that simply can’t be replicated by any other substitutions. The smokiness of the chorizo combines with the savoury notes of the chicken to create a dish that is utterly moreish.

• 200g chicken thighs, deboned and chopped

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 50g butter

• 50g leeks, sliced

• 200g chorizo*, sliced

• 200ml red pepper purée (see below)

• 300ml cream

• 10g fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

• A dash of smoked paprika (optional)

• Cooked pasta of your choice, but we recommend bronze-cut penne

• Grated Grana Padano cheese to serve

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, add the leeks and cook over low heat. Add the chorizo and chicken and cook through. Add the red pepper purée and coat the ingredients well. Pour in the cream and allow the sauce to reduce and thicken, then add the fresh parsley. Add a dash of smoked paprika for a little extra flavour if you like. Add the drained pasta and mix with the sauce until well coated. Serve with a generous amount of Grana Padano.

MAMMA’S PEPERONI (Makes ± 250ml peppers)

• 5 red peppers (or a mixture of red and yellow peppers)

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 125ml extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the peppers by first peeling away the skin, removing all the seeds and white pith, and then cutting each pepper into thick slices. In a saucepan with a fitted lid, heat a splash of olive oil over medium heat and add the peppers, turning for the first 10 minutes until all are well coated. Reduce the heat, add salt and pepper and cook, covered, slowly over low heat, turning them every so often until the peppers are super soft, slightly browned and sweet. There will be a beautiful red pepper olive oil infusion in the pan as well. Transfer the peppers and oil into a sterilised jar with a tight-fitting lid. Make sure the vegetables are totally submerged in the oil. Leave a thumb’s space between the contents and the lid. Tap the jar before sealing to remove air bubbles, and store in the fridge. Eat within a few days.

TIPS: Our family is fussy when it comes to paprika. It needs to be sweet but hot, and we find that only Spanish or Hungarian paprika offers that true depth of flavour. It might be snobby to prefer imported varieties, but it’s all in the name of quality food, right? *For chorizo, we like Spanish Fort chorizo. It’s not too fatty and, in a sauce like this, that is important when it comes to flavour balance.