* Cavatappi with Four Cheese Sauce, Chicken and Chorizo

I have two of the most beautiful nieces in the whole wide world and I really don't see enough of them. Life has the most God awful habit of getting in the way of the things we want to do, as opposed to the things that we have to do.... anyhoo... a couple of weeks back we all got together - minus my son who doesn't *do* anything under 3ft if it isn't covered in fur (I'm referring to my nieces) - and went to my brothers local Wetherspoons for a "pub lunch".

It's a bit of a dive, and you never order the same meal twice because it's never that great. However - it is the ideal place to eat out and not have to worry about how much noise the youngest niece has decided to make or the fact that the oldest one only wants a plate full of potato. Or that you spend half of the meal repeating everything that's said - to mum - because she's half deaf and mostly in her own little world. It's relaxing.

This time, I ordered a pasta dish that had huge potential to be lovely and fell flat on it's face at the last hurdle. It had a hint of *processed food* about it, which spoilt it. It was just a bit too plasticky to be passed off as *fresh*... so... I made my own version last night.

And it was heaven.

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Cavatappi with Four Cheese Sauce, Chicken and Chorizo Recipe

Serves 4

Prep time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 15 minutes

You will need
A saucepan for the pasta
A large frying pan/skillet
A medium frying pan/skillet

Ingredients
250g dried Cavatappi pasta (or equivalent)
1 tbsp olive oil
350g chicken breast - sliced
140g chorizo - chopped
300ml  crème fraîche
200g Marscapone
80g Gruyère - grated
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
125g ball Mozzarella - torn
2 large handfuls Spinach

Method
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions

In the small frying pan, heat the olive oil and cook the chicken until starting to turn golden and is cooked through. remove from pan - keep warm. Now put the chorizo in the chicken pan and cook until it begins to release it's oils - remove from pan, add to the chicken and keep warm.

Meanwhile (you can do this whilst the chicken is cooking), in the large frying pan place the crème fraîche and Marscapone and very gently heat until melted, giving it the odd stir to combine them. Add the Gruyère and the Parmesan, stir until melted.

Drain the cooked pasta, reserving some of the pasta water - about a cupful.

Add the chicken and chorizo to the cheese sauce, stir to combine and heat through. Now add the 2 large handfuls of Spinach to the sauce and the pasta - stir gently until Spinach has wilted. This is the stage where you may decide you want a looser sauce, so add the reserved pasta water a tbsp at a time until it's as you want it.

At the last minute, stir through the torn mozzarella.

Serve immediately with a HUGE glass of Pinot Grigio and garlic bread.