A few years ago I visited a Portuguese restaurant in a Cornish village. I had only once been to Portugal on a short business trip and certainly am not familiar with their cuisine. I chose a delicious but simple dish that seemed to be a combination of roast potatoes, onions and peppers with chorizo and olive oil flavoured with chilli.

I have tried to do something similar at home or even on a campsite. My kids normally have had no problem demolishing the dish and have often complained that the portions were not big enough. The following recipe is just an outline that I have frequently varied depending on mood and circumstance. Note that – like most things I make – the results are not super-sensitive to the quantities. You do not have to worry about the last gram!

Serves 4

Ingredients

800 g potatoes suitable for roasting

150-200g chorizo – use the soft “cooking” chorizo rather than hard dry chorizo

1 large onion or 2 medium onions

1 green pepper (yellow or red if you prefer!)

3 decent sized cloves of garlic

500 ml passata

Salt and pepper seasoning

Olive oil

(Optional) Either a few red chilis or chilli powder to taste

Method

1. Set your oven to 200℃. Peel and cut your potatoes for roasting. Use your favourite method for roasting potatoes for example parboil then roast for 30 min or roast from raw over 60 min. Alternatively…

1. (a) If roasting takes too long slice your spuds into 1 cm thick slices and deep fat fry.

1. (b) If say you are camping shallow fry Lidl potato wedges!

2. Chop the chorizo into cubes roughly 5 mm each side.

3. Roughly 20 min before the roast potatoes are ready fry the chorizo in 2 tbsp oil on a low heat in a frying pan or wok.

4. The fat should melt and release spices into the oil.

5. If you want a hotter tasting dish add the chillies or chilli powder

6. After 5 min chop the onion(s) and garlic finely and add to the chorizo. Ensure that the frying is gentle to avoid drying out the chorizo.

7. After 5 min chop the pepper (wait longer if yellow or red pepper).

8. After 5 min add the passata and let the mixture simmer

9. Serve the potatoes with the chorizo/vegetables/passata on top.