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Recipe of the week: Chicken and Cheese Surprise

This is one of my absolute favourites. I discovered it on my year abroad, because I was desperate to spice up a tomato stew which had seemingly become my only recipe as I was taking care of the pennies (so that the pounds etc etc).

Ingredients:

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 chicken breast (per person), diced

1 mozzarella ball

1 red pepper, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp paprika

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Begin by frying off the onion in some olive oil. When the onion has become translucent, as it always does after about 3 minutes of frying, add the red pepper and garlic and continue to fry on a medium heat until the whole has become soft. Remove from the pan. Add the chicken and some more oil and fry until each of the sides of the diced cubes of chicken has turned white. This seals the meat and allows it to cook in the stew without giving off any of those noxious raw chicken germs. At this point, pop the pepper, garlic and onion back in the pan and add the paprika, stirring to prevent anything from catching on the bottom. Add the tomato to the pot. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, then chop up four or five big tomatoes that smell very ripe. It is important to convey plenty of flavour, for which you need good ingredients. Lower the heat and place a lid on your pan, keeping it cooking for about 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is ready and the sauce is liquidous. At this point, put the heat on its lowest setting (if it wasn’t already) and place some chunks of mozzarella on top, roughly spacing them so there is room to expand. Put the lid back on and wait for approximately 4-5 minutes. Taking the lid off, the cheese should be just melted and extremely gooey. Ladle the sauce into a bowl, trying to get as much cheese as possible. 

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