Skip to main content

Vegetarian Piri Piri Chorizo Bake

4.8

(6)

Sweet potato bell pepper and vegetarian chorizo sheet pan dinner.
Photo by Lizzie Mayson

This is a quick and easy-to-throw-together, eat-the-rainbow revelation. Colored heirloom tomatoes are a great addition if you can get hold of them. The piri piri sauce is wonderful, so consider making double and keeping half for another recipe. Serve with brown rice for an even healthier meal.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    4 servings

Ingredients

For the bake:

2 medium sweet potatoes
Olive oil
1 lemon
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
3 garlic cloves
10 oz. shop-bought veggie chorizo sausages
20 cherry tomatoes
4 cups cooked basmati rice, or use 2 (9-oz.) bags microwavable basmati rice, to serve
3/4 oz. cilantro
Salt and black pepper

For the Piri Piri Sauce:

1 red onion
4 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
2 fresh red chiles (Scotch bonnet, red, or bird’s-eye)
2 Tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 large bunch of fresh basil
1 lemon

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F

    Step 2

    First, cook the sweet potatoes. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 3/4-inch cubes.

    Step 3

    Cut the bell peppers in half, cut out the stems and seeds, and cut the flesh into 3/4-inch cubes, then put them in the roasting pan. Use the back of a knife to lightly crush the 3 garlic cloves and add them to the pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes to the peppers and put the pan in the oven for 10–15 minutes, until the peppers have small black patches on the skins.

    Step 4

    Meanwhile, cut up store-bought sausages into bite-sized pieces and cook following the instructions on the package.

    Step 5

    To make the piri piri sauce, peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Cut the bell pepper in half and cut out the stem and seeds. Rip the stems from the chiles, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds if you prefer a milder sauce. Put the onion, garlic, pepper, and chiles in the blender with the paprika, oregano, red wine vinegar, and basil. Grate in the zest of the lemon, then cut it in half and squeeze in the juice, catching any seeds. Add a drop of water and blend to a smooth paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

    Step 6

    Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Transfer the sausages and piri piri sauce to the pan and mix everything together. Add the cherry tomatoes and put the pan back in the oven for 15 minutes, until the potatoes and peppers are cooked and the sauce is piping hot.

    Step 7

    Heat the rice or cook it following the instructions on the package.

    Step 8

    Pluck the leaves from the cilantro and discard the stems. Coarsely chop the leaves and sprinkle them over the vegetables.

    Step 9

    Serve with rice.

Cover of the cookbook featuring the authors and various single image recipes.
From Bish Bash Bosh! © 2019 by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby. Published by William Morrow Cookbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Buy the full book from HarperCollins or from Amazon.
Read More
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.
In this lasagna, soft layers of pasta and béchamel are interspersed with a rich tomato sauce laden with hearty Mediterranean vegetables.
This summery sheet-pan dinner celebrates the bounty of the season and couldn't be simpler to make. Chorizo plays nicely with the salad, thanks to its spice.
This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!
This Puerto Rican sancocho recipe is hearty, flavorful, and loaded with falling-off-the-bone beef, tender carrots, potatoes, squash, corn, plantain, and yuca.
Berbere is a spicy chile blend that has floral and sweet notes from coriander and cardamom, and when it’s paired with a honey glaze, it sets these wings apart from anything else you’ve ever had.
Traditionally, this Mexican staple is simmered for hours in an olla, or clay pot. You can achieve a similar result by using canned beans and instant ramen.