Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals Spicy Cajun Chicken with Smashed Sweet Potato & Fresh Corn Salsa

Today is day 3 of my week with Jamie. So far, so good. Whilst I still haven't been able to cook his meals in the advertised 15 minutes, I am still quite impressed at how much I can get done in such little time and how delicious everything tastes. But most of all, what I've really enjoyed is all the healthy and fresh food that hubby and I have been eating.

Unfortunately though, I'm not used to the huge amount of washing up that I need to do after I finish cooking Jamie's recipes! I normally use only 1 pot, 1 frypan and 1 chopping board, whilst Jamie's recipes tend to use at least 3 types of cookware, plus a food processor. I can hardly fit everything on my kitchen bench and stove top, let alone inside the dishwasher. I have a spatially challenged kitchen to work with!

Anyways, I don't think I'm going to bother timing myself any more when it comes to cooking Jamie's meals now. I reckon if Jamie can do it in 15 minutes, it means it'll probably take me about 30 minutes or more to achieve it. I can't multi-task and do the crazy things he does in the kitchen, heck I can't even slice vegetables as fast as he does! Whilst I do enjoy cooking quick meals, I do like to do it in a steady manner rather than rushing around, like I'm at work or something. Home is still a place I like to unwind and take things at my own pace and not be time pressed, if that makes sense?

But enough of my ranting and back to the spicy cajun chicken. This meal took me about 30 minutes from start to finish- it also didn't help that I misread a step- forgot to turn the pot containing the sweet potato on high heat and subsequently my sweet potatoes weren't cooking whilst I was preparing the chicken and salsa. However, since the potatoes were cut so thinly, they cooked really quickly so it didn't matter too much.

I also bought chicken minute steaks in order to omit the step about bashing and flattening the chicken breasts (I live in a unit so I'm mindful of noise and disturbing my neighbours).

This cajun chicken dish tastes absolutely fantastic! I love it and will definitely make it again.

Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals, page, 28

Serves 4
651 calories

Ingredients

Salsa
4 corn on the cob
1 small bunch of fresh coriander
1 fresh red chilli
4 spring onions
3 ripe tomatoes
2 limes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Smash
800g sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

Chicken
4 x 120g skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon polenta
olive oil
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
175g okra
20g feta cheese

* Ingredients out * Kettle boiled *Griddle pan, high heat *Food processor (fine slicer) *Large lidded pan, high heat *Large frying pan, medium-high heat

Method

Put the corn on the griddle pan, turning when charred. Wash the sweet potatoes, remove any gnarly bits of skin with a speed-peeler, then finely slice in the processor. Put the sweet potatoes into the large pan, then just cover with boiling salted water and the lid. On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with salt, the Cajun seasoning and polenta. Fold over the paper, then bash and flatten the chicken to 1.5cm thick with a rolling pin.

Put the chicken into the frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, turning after 3 or 4 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Drain the cooked sweet potatoes well, return to the pan and mash with the sweet chilli sauce, pop the lid on and leave on a very low heat. Slice the bacon and add to the frying pan. As soon as he bacon stars to crisp up, add the okra the pan.

Carefully hold the charred corn steady and run a knife down the sides to cut off the kernals, then put them into a bowl. Roughly chop the top leafy half of the coriander and add to the corn. Finely slice the chilli and trimmed spring onions, chop the tomatoes and add to the bowl with a pinch of salt, the lime juice and extra virgin olive oil, then mix well. Serve the sweet potato smash on a board or platter with the chicken and okra, crumble over the feta, and serve with the fresh salsa on the side.