Hob Top Lunch - Chilli Beef Wraps

Yeh, I know, I should be encouraging a little more decorum when it comes to eating lunch, but when you’ve had no breakfast, spent the morning running around catching up on housework and you get to 1pm and you realise that you haven’t eaten yet and that actually you could eat a scabby horse round about now, that there is something quite appealing about rustling up something and then diving in, no laying of the table, just get on with it. And that is what happened right here and in the spirit of my ‘doing things better’ this year, I decided to sit down and blog about it instead of doing the ironing.

I bought some tortillas ages ago because I had the notion I was going to make fajitas for Lola and Finn but for reasons that I cannot remember it didn’t happen. I probably thought to myself, “Sod it, we’ll get a takeaway…” Anyway, the tortillas have been lodged behind the toaster for longer than I care to remember and as I had some sad looking peppers, beef mince that was about to go past its sell by date and a basket full of spices so I set to work.

You could juzz this up by making it far spicier than I have; I always have to factor in the delicate palates of my bubs. I had some salsa in the fridge which spiced the mixture up as required and a spritz of lime made it all taste tingletastic. We all ate stood up, next to the cooker, just a couple of spoons and a handful of tortilla. Lunch is served.

Chilli Beef Wraps

Serves 3 to 4 people

Ingredients:

Olive oil

Two onions, finely chopped

1 big clove of garlic

1 red and 1 yellow pepper, diced

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli flakes

400g beef mince

Salt and pepper

Handful of chopped coriander

To serve –

Lime wedges

Tortillas

Salsa

Guacamole, etc.

Method:

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan.

Over a medium heat, fry the onions until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook for about a minute or so, take care not to burn the garlic.

Add the diced peppers and the cumin, the coriander and the chilli flakes. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the mince and saute until brown. Season.

Increase the heat and cook the mince until it becomes quite dry. You will need to keep the mince moving so it does not burn.

Once the mince is of a dryish consistency, taste again for seasoning. Stir some of the chopped coriander through the mince and then scatter some over the top. Serve decorated with lime wedges from the pan if you like, with tortillas and salsa and guacamole…

Bank Holiday, Some Lindeman Wine and a Roast, Spanish Style! - Pot Roast Spanish Chicken #capturethesunshine

See it on Instagram!

I didn't really rate bank holidays when I was younger; they became increasingly more appealing when as a student I could work them and get double time to keep myself in weird clothing and Victorian literature, but that was where their allure ended. Until now, that is. Bank Holidays are a little gift which says to you - yes, here is a day off to do what you want with, and the proceeding week is only a four day week so blink and it is Friday again. If only every week started with a Bank Holiday...

 

But, alas, Bank Holidays are all too few and far between and for that reason they must be made the most of, whether it is simply doing nothing because you can, going out and doing something completely different, or inviting a few people around, opening a bottle of wine and cooking something really tasty that fills the house with mouth watering smells. Which is why this weekend I cooked Pot Roast Spanish Chicken, accompanied by Lindeman's 95 Sauvignon Blanc, and filled the house with the chatter of people catching up with the gossip, the clatter of forks and spoons, and the clinking of glasses to toast what was a day of good mood and good food.

 

I adapted this recipe from my recently acquired 'Ginger Pig' Farmhouse cookbook which is full of alsorts of amazing recipes that I cannot wait to try. I cut down the chilli heat of the dish to factor in the fact that there were children around, so the sauce as a result gave a lazy warmth which went well with both the wine and the children. Because of my love of garlic, I mushed the slow cooked cloves of garlic into the winey, chickeny sauce to create something really rather unctuous and full flavoured.

 

I served this with roasties and lots of bon homie. Now, what to cook next Bank Holiday???

 

Pot Roasted Spanish Chicken, adapted from 'Ginger Pig Farmhouse Cookbook' by Tim Wilson and Fran Warde.

 

Feeds Lola, Finn, Mum, Dad x 2 (8 people)

 

Ingredients:

 

3kg (6lb 8oz) good-quality chicken

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sweet paprika

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

.

For the bed of vegetables

 

3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters

3 carrots, peeled and cut into quarters

3 large tomatoes, cut into quarters

2 red chillies, cut into quarters (I used one chilli and scraped the seeds out)

2 heads of garlic, cut in half horizontally (I used only one, but it was truly HUGE!!)

3 red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

400ml (14fl oz) Lindeman's Sauvignon Blanc wine

300g (10½oz) black olives, stoned (I decided, reluctantly, to leave them out...)
Parsley, for scattering over

 

Method:

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

 

Put all the ingredients for the bed of vegetables into a large lidded casserole dish.(I actually used a large roasting tin which I then covered tightly with foil to create the steam).

 

Mix well.

 

Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the paprika and seasoning and rub these into the chicken too.

 

Place the chicken in the dish on top of the vegetables and cover with a tight-fitting lid. (I refer you to how I cooked mine above.

 

Place in the oven for 1½ hours, then remove the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes to crisp up the skin. At this point I removed the chicken to a separate place to rest, whilst I reduced the sauce in the bottom of the roasting tin on top of the hob. Then, as described above, I squeezed the soft garlic out of its skin and mashed it into the sauce.

Serve the pot roast chicken immediately with rice or pasta....or roast potatoes and a glass or two of Lindeman's Sauvignon Blanc!

 

Piggin' lovely! Pork Chops with Chorizo and Pepper Sauce with Manchego Rice

 

 

Day 4 of my blogging marathon. I am posting every day this week because who knows when I will be able to post again once I am back at work. Who knows if I will ever be able to cook again let's be honest, let alone take pictures of it and then blog about it. Anyway, in the spirit of running my freezer down so I can stock them in the lead up to Christmas full of cut price whoopsies and mark downs, I have been scouring the lower echelons of the freezer for something to defrost and cook. Lo and behold I found pork chops, which I quite like but they don't really do for some of the others in the Lola and Finn household, especially dad, who has pronounced pork as tasteless on many occasions. And, in all fairness to him, he is probably right. I think pork can be quite disappointing, especially supermarket pork, which this was. So, a quick Google turned up a Rachael Ray recipe which I thought would be great for ramping up the flavour a bit. I adapted the recipe to what I had, my adaptations listed in red, below. The notable change I made was leaving the sauce chunky by not blitzing the peppers in a food processor. I preferred the idea

 

Have to give a big shout out to Manchego rice by the way. I bought some Manchego cheese from the supermarket ages ago because it was a whoopsie, and after using it once, it was starting to look a bit sorry and dried out in the fridge. Some vigorous grating later and it was given a new lease of life, as was the rice, which was really tasty. Lola has confessed that she could probably eat buckets of the stuff.

 

Pork Chops with Chorizo and Pepper Sauce with Manchego Rice, adapted from the original recipe by Rachael Ray, which you can find here.

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad generously

 

Ingredients:

 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, plus some for drizzling

4 large, boneless centre-cut pork chops, 1 1/2-inches thick

1/2 tablespoon paprika or smoked sweet paprika, half a palm full ( I used paprika 'picante')

Salt and pepper

1/4 pound chorizo, casing removed, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves, 4 sprigs (I used a tsp of dried thyme)

1 (16-ounce) jar pequillo peppers or roasted red peppers, drained (I used 250g of frozen peppers, defrosted)

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, a couple of generous handfuls

1/4 cup dry sherry or dry white wine, eyeball it (I used white wine)

 

Manchego Cheesy Rice:

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups white rice

3 cups chicken stock

Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 cup grated Manchego cheese

Salt and pepper

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

 

 

 

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Season the chops with paprika, salt, and pepper. Place chops in skillet and sear meat to caramelise, about 2 minutes each side.

 

Start to cook the rice (the actual method for the rice is below)

 

Transfer the chops to a baking sheet and place in the oven to finish off, 8 to 10 minutes, or until meat is firm to touch, but not tough. Remove from the oven and let the chops rest covered with a piece of aluminium foil for a few minutes.

 

 

 

While the chops are in the oven, return the frying pan to the cook top over medium heat. Add the diced chorizo and cook stirring frequently for 2 minutes or until the chorizo starts to release its paprika tinted juices. Add the garlic, onion, thyme, salt, and pepper.

 

Cook meat and onions for about 3 minutes.

 

 

 

Add the wine to the chorizo and onions and stir, then add the chopped peppers. Cook another minute or two or until the peppers are heated through.

 

 

Place a chop on each dinner plate and top with the chorizo-roasted pepper sauce.  At this point, the rice should be ready to add the cheese and parsley to (see below):

 

Manchego Cheesy Rice:
                       

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add rice and toast in butter for a couple of minutes.

 

Add stock and bring rice up to a boil.

 

Cook the rice until it is tender and liquids are absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff rice with fork, then stir in the parsley and cheese. Season the rice with salt and pepper, to taste.

 

 

Bonfire Fodder - Buffalo Chilli

 

If I was having one of those bonfire type gatherings, this would be my food of choice, because it is easy to scale up or down, looks as well atop a jacket potato as it does on some fluffy rice, and warms your bones as you stand out watching hundreds of thousands of pretty sparks shoot across an inky sky. Of course, some carefully chosen alcohol would also keep you warm against the cold, but it doesn't keep your hands warm as you wrap your hand around the glass, whereas a bowl of this stuff warms you inside and out, and tastes splendid.

 

Buffalo. I am not deliberately trying to be fancy. The fact is, it was at the back of the freezer, almost in the permafrost (I need to defrost the freezer) and I bought it because it was cheap. In reality, this is how I acquire the vast majority of some of the weirder ingredients in my freezer - if it has a yellow sticker, then it will be bought for some point in the future, and as far as the buffalo is concerned, that point has now been reached. You could obviously use diced beef; It would still be tremendous.

 

I kept the chilli reasonably tame because of Lola and Finn who aren't fond of eating anything which feels like it should be on fire. You should be far more liberal if fire eating happens to be your thing.

 

If you cook this really slow, you should produce unctuous chunks of beef which you theoretically cut with a spoon, and like most dishes of this nature, it is amazingly good the day after. And if you really go for it you could freeze vats of the stuff to be eaten on another random winter night, minus fireworks, when you need something to defrost your bones.

 

 

Buffalo Chilli, loosely based on any recipe or any version of chilli or a stew that I have ever made.

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad, plus 1 other, generously

 

Ingredients:

 

1 chipotle chilli

4 tbsp. olive oil

3 peppers - I went for all red - diced

1 onion, diced

2 sticks celery, finely chopped

1 fresh green chilli, deseeded if you like, finely chopped

800g diced buffalo (or diced beef)

3 garlic cloves

250ml beef stock

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp dried oregano

2 x 400g tinned tomatoes

3 x 400g tins of kidney beans

1 tbsp. fresh coriander stalks

 

Method:

 

 

 

Soak the chipotle chilli in a few tablespoons of water until it is soft. Whilst this is happening, you should crack on with the rest of the method.

 

Heat 2 of the tbsp. of oil in a suitable pot/pan that will be big enough to take all the ingredients later on.

 

 

 

Add the onion, the peppers, the chilli, the coriander stalks and the celery with some salt and saute until soft but not coloured.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

 

 

 

Put the rest of the oil into the pan and then add the meat. You should cook the buffalo until it is well browned; consider doing this in a couple of batches as you want the beef to brown, not steam. Add the chopped garlic and a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook the garlic only until fragrant and then add the beef stock. Deglaze the pan with the stock and bring it to the boil.

 

Return the pepper mixture to the pan and add the herbs and spices.

 

 

 

Add the tomatoes and the kidney beans and some seasoning. You will need a good amount of seasoning so don't be shy.

 

Lastly, remove the chipotle chilli from the soaking liquid and chop finely. Add this and the soaking liquid to the mixture and stir well.

 

 

 

I simmered this, covered with a tightly fitting lid, on a really low heat for a couple of hours, checking it now and then to ensure it wasn't boiling dry. After a couple of hours gentle simmering, I removed the lid and raised the heat to reduce the sauce to the consistency that I like.

 

 

Almost Alliterative - Pasta with Pancetta, Peppers and Parsley

 

 

So, I am making it my business to look for meals that are quick to whip up in time for the new school term when I transform from part time to full time teacher once again. I have to say I am little concerned about how I am going to fit it all in, including the upkeep of this blog, but that is all in the future and miraculously, I may stumble upon some sort of efficient routine that allows me to do everything, domestic goddess style.

 

 

 

Talking of domestic goddesses, here is another Nigella recipe for this month's 'Cook like a Star' hosted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking.  Normally, I wouldn't post one particular 'star' so regularly but as the rest of August will be taken up by a little trip to France (can't wait!!) I thought I would take the opportunity.

 

This recipe is from 'Kitchen'. the sharp eyed amongst you will notice that all recent Nigella offerings have been from this book. I do have others, but this just seems to be the one that is in fashion for now. But the important thing is that it tastes good, is quick, is colourful and everybody liked it!

 

Pasta with Pancetta, Peppers and Parsley, adapted from 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson

 

Serves 4 (quantities doubled from the recipe in the book)

 

My adaptions in red

 

1 lb (450 g) spaghetti (I used trofie pasta) 1 tablespoon olive oil
11 oz (300 g) pancetta cubes or streaky bacon
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (optional)
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup (60 ml) cold water
about 14 oz (400 g) (drained weight) roasted peppers from a jar, chopped into bite-sized pieces (I used a couple of handfuls of frozen roasted peppers, which were perfectly fine) 1 large bunch of parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method:

 

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.

 

Meanwhile, heat the oil over a medium heat in a heavy-based pan, one that’s big enough to eventually add all the cooked pasta to later.

 

 

 

If you’re using regular bacon, chop it into bite-sized pieces first. Fry the pancetta or bacon until crisp, then add the garlic, dried chilli, lemon zest and juice and the water. Cook for 1 minute, then add the peppers and half the chopped parsley.

 

When the pasta has finished cooking, reserve 2 cups (480 ml) of pasta water (I didn't use or need as much water as this, probably only a few tablespoons to slacken the sauce a little), then drain. Add the pasta to the sauce in the pan.

 

 

Toss everything together well and add some of the pasta cooking water if it needs it, then season to taste and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

 

 

#Hungry2happy in minutes with a smiley mini meatball omelette!

 

 

Whilst there is a certain satisfaction in producing something that you can anticipate over a couple of hours as it blips away in the oven or somewhere, Lola and Finn don't really have that kind of patience and therefore it's pretty important to be able to produce something pretty quickly after they have declared their hunger, otherwise there is bad tempered mutiny.

 

 

 

So when I discovered that Britmums were looking for bloggers to create a meal in eight minutes using Richmond's Mini Meatballs I decided to use the quickest fast food I know that doesn't involve a trip out through the 'drive thru', the egg. And as we're talking hungry to happy here, what better than to create a real smile to show how we feel.

 

This is an eight minute recipe. Send your bubs off to wash the hands and lay the table (or something) and prepare the mini feast:

 

Smiley Baked Mini Meatball Omelette

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients:

 

Half a pack of Richmond's Mini Meatballs

four medium eggs, beaten

seasoning

Some bits of peppers to create a nose and eyebrows. (You could go crazy and create alsorts of facial features, hair, etc.)

 

Method:

 

 

 

Put the meatballs on a tray and bake in a preheated oven for seven minutes (They will get a little more cooking once in the omelette).

 

Cut up some pieces of pepper ready to create the face in the omelette.

 

 

Meanwhile crack four eggs into a bowl, add a little salt and pepper and beat until combined.

 

Preheat the grill to high.

 

Place a non stick small frying pan onto a medium heat and add a little oil.

 

Take the meatballs out of the oven.

 

Pour the beaten eggs into the hot pan and briefly mix until the curds are beginning to set. Once the eggs show signs of setting, place the meatballs and the peppers in a smiley face shape. (If you have any meatballs over, these are 'cook's perks').

 

 

 

Put the pan under the grill to cook and set the egg mixture on the top of the omelette. Don't overcook. You want something that is set but not rubberised.

 

 

 

Once set, you're done. Take to the table and allow your children to dig in. Personally I would also consider opening a tin of beans but I need little excuse. By the way, sunglasses are optional.

 

 

 

This post is an entry for BritMums’ Hungry to Happy Challenge sponsored by Richmond Mini Meatballs. Visit here for many more recipe ideas!