The perfect midweek meal

 

When it comes to week night cooking I can be a little on the lazy side. I realise at this point that I very rarely talk about cooking because baking, to me, is so much more interesting however that doesn’t mean that I don’t love cooking too. I am a big cook, frankly if something doesn’t involve a kitchen or food at some point then I am not interested. Sad but true. It’s why I’m so excited about my trip to Paris; it’s the first trip I will ever have taken that will centre entirely around food. I. Can. Not. Wait.

Anyway, during the week our meals tend to consist of the same 5 meals on rotation: Pasta with feta (with homemade sauce), stir fry (with Sweet chili sauce out of the bottle), some sort of meat in a BBQ sauce sometimes with a jacket potato (BBQ sauce out of the jar). Probably a stir fry again but with a soy and honey sauce (homemade) and then something like pizza or curry (again sauce out of the packet). Very samey, often boring, but efficient meals. We do try and mix it up with the sauces every now so when I got my mitts on this Peruvian Amarillo sauce I got a little excitable. It called for one thing: a new meal. (Hurrah!)

Encona are famed in the majority for their Sweet Chili sauces but they are expanding their ranges with a soiree into Peruvian cuisine. This sauce can be used as a marinade or a dipping sauce, and sits alongside their new Mexican Smokey Jalapeno sauce. I am going nuts over anything smoked at the moment. Bacon, cheese, Chicken, you name. So this sauce was always going to be a winner.

 

I decided to research into traditional Peruvian cuisine to try and have as authentic of an experience as I could with the sauce. However. Peruvian cuisine includes things that I can’t begin to contemplate, things like Guinea Pig. So I settled on a slightly less traditional, and simple, chicken.

Both of these sauces are total winners, having onion at it’s base the Peruvian Amarillo Sauce has a sweet tang to it with a spicy kick that follows it up from the Amarillo chili's. It has a good heat to it without being overbearing. The Smokey Jalapeno sauce hit the spot perfectly for me. It was the right balance of smokey and spicy, and wouldn’t be out of place slathered on a steak or a burger. And, I can tell you with some jurisdiction that it goes beautifully on a pulled pork sandwich!

You get  your hands on these sauces in most supermarkets and they cost around £1.50 to £2.

Recipe:

Ingredients (For two):

2 Chicken Breasts

¾ cup (or a rough handful each) of rice

1 sweet red pepper

3 spring onions

2 Corns on the cob (although sweetcorn would be more than a good substitute)

250ml Peruvian Amarillo Sauce

Method:

Marinate your chicken in ¾ of your sauce for at least 15 minutes. Once delectably coated add some oil to a pan (I used olive but use whatever oil you’re comfortable with) and pan fry your chicken.

While your chicken is cooking put your rice on and put your corn on the grill. Give your chicken a turn to make sure it doesn’t burn and then chop your sweet peppers and your spring onion.

After about 15 minutes everything should be cooked through so cover your chicken in the rest of the sauce and allow the sauce to heat through while adding your peppers and onions to the rice, give it all a stir and serve. A bit of butter on your cob is always a solid suggestion.

By adding some sauce to your chicken at the end it ensures that your chicken doesn’t get dry and that you get a good punch of flavour.

*The Encona sauces featured in this post were sent to me for review. All views and opinions are my own and I will be continuing to purchase both of these sauces in the future (primarily so I can feel less guilty about making quick meal....'cos it's exotic, right?!).