Baked sweet potato, chorizo, mushrooms & egg

Sweet and earthy, always a winning combination. You can leave the egg off , or use bacon lardons instead of chorizo, if you prefer. A great, gooey, savoury-sweet plateful.

Serves 2

2 sweet potatoes

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

150g (1/2 oz) chestnut mushrooms, cleaned, chopped into pieces

salt and pepper

100g (1/2 oz) chorizo, sliced a little thicker than a £1 coin

2 large eggs

small handful of coriander leaves (optional)

sprinkling of smoked paprika (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

You bake sweet potatoes in the same way as regular potatoes, but for only about 30 minutes (though I find cooking time varies according to the texture of the variety you’re using). Be careful to bake them in a foil-lined tin, as they leach a sticky liquid that is hell to shift.

When the potatoes are nearly cooked, heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms briskly over a fairly high heat. Season. Mushrooms give out a lot of moisture when they cook, so make sure these juices have evaporated. Scrape into a bowl and keep warm. Add ½ tbsp more oil to the pan and brown the chorizo on both sides. Add to the mushrooms.

Heat the rest of the oil and fry the eggs, scooping hot oil up over the yolks to help them cook.

Split each potato lengthways to open them up. Spoon the mushrooms and chorizo inside the potatoes and scatter with the coriander. Top with the fried eggs – sprinkling on a little smoked paprika, if you want – and serve with baby leaves, such as spinach.

Recipe extracted from Diana Henry’s Simple

If you liked this recipe, try Diana’s Roast tomatoes, fennel & chickpeas with preserved lemons & honey from her latest book How To Eat A Peach