Homemade Fajitas

Love fajitas?  Always buy the trusty sachet of spice mix in the yellow and red Mexicana themed packet?  Try my recipe below next time you have fajitas and you'll never go back to that little packet again.  We're talking juicy, tender meat with zingy garlic and lime juice, smoky, earthy depth from the paprika and cumin all finishing in a tingling heat...flavours that really wake up your taste buds.

This marinade works brilliantly for chicken or beef, allow about 500g of meat.  Chicken breast or rump steak cut into strips would be my choice.  I used it once on fillets of salmon then grilled them until sizzling and cooked through, pretty amazing served with avocado and plenty of lime juice in a tortilla wrap.

Just a quick note on ingredients, if you haven't used smoked paprika before it's well worth adding to your spice cupboard, I use Pimenton de la Vera Dulce, it's used in lots of Spanish and Mexican recipes and it's great in barbecue marinades too.  If you can't get the chipotle chilli flakes you could use chipotle paste instead or just use ordinary chilli flakes, it depends how hot you like your fajitas, I do like the depth of flavour that you get from combining the smoked paprika and the smoked chipotle.

Ingredients

Juice of 2 limes (or 1 if your lime is particularly large and juicy)

2 tablespoons olive oil

generous pinch of salt (about half a teaspoon)

good grinding of black pepper

1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

half a teaspoon of chipotle dried chilli flakes

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

half a fresh chilli (more or less according to your liking)

large pinch of dried oregano

• Mix all the marinade together and throw in your strips of either chicken or beef.
• If you have the time let this marinate for around two hours or more, otherwise an hour will be fine.
• Heat some oil in a large frying pan until hot then tip your marinated meat into the hot pan.
• Spread it out into a single layer and let it cook on high for a few minutes then toss the pieces over and let them cook for another few minutes.
• After this time the steak will be ready however if you are using chicken it will need a few minutes more.
• When the meat is cooked through transfer it to a pre-heated oven dish and serve.

Everyone has their favourite accompaniments, for me it's strips of red pepper and onion that have been quickly fried until the edges are browning, then I keep it old school with sour cream, tomato salsa and avocado that has been mashed with lots of salt and lime juice.

Italian Warm Bean Salad

These incredibly tasty, spoon-greedily-into-your-mouth, comforting beans are perfect on their own but can also used as a base for so many meals.  

I'm calling this a salad but it doesn't have to be...serve the beans hot with wilted spinach and cooked chicken tossed through; or with melting mozzarella and sizzling pancetta; served warm with peppery rocket leaves and a fillet of seared salmon or tuna; cold with cooked prawns stirred through; or mixed with chunks of feta cheese, fresh cucumber, tomato and green olives.

I often make a large quantity and keep it in the fridge to be used over a couple of days.  It's also great to take to a party when someone asks you to take a salad...you'll be thanked for this.

Borlotti are generally my bean of choice here as I love their earthy richness, however the beautiful cannellini bean also works very well.  It's entirely your call, I'm seeing the borlotti as Javier Bardem compared to the cannellini as Brad Pitt (or Chris Hemsworth, younger version)....completely a personal choice*.  Actually, why not throw caution to the wind and do a combination of the two?  Imagine that...bean heaven.
* In a bid not to appear to be sexist, if you prefer to compare Salma Hayek to Gwyneth Paltrow it does the same thing.

Serves 2 very generously or 4-6 as a side

Ingredients

2 tins (400g) Borlotti beans 

or around 150g of dried (soaked overnight then cooked for about an hour)

Olive Oil

1 Red Onion, diced

1 Red Chilli, diced (optional, if you like a little spice)

4 Cloves of Garlic, minced or diced

Salt and Black Pepper

White Wine

1 Red Pepper, skinned under the grill (if you can be bothered) and diced

2-3 Ripe Tomatoes, deseeded and diced

a handful of Fresh Basil (one of those small packs in the supermarket)

a squeeze of Fresh Lemon

• Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a large frying pan or skillet and tip in the diced red onion and chilli (if using) along with plenty of salt and pepper.  Turn the heat down and sizzle for approximately 5 minutes until the onion is soft.
• Add the garlic, cook for a couple of minutes then pour in enough white wine to cover the base of the pan.  Let this bubble away until the liquid is reduced by about half.
• When the liquid is quite syrupy tip in the beans and stir well to coat them.  Add the diced pepper and tomato and again give it a good stir.
• Turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly before stirring through torn basil leaves.
• Just before serving squeeze in half a lemon and check for seasoning, it usually benefits from a last sprinkling of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Jerk Chicken

Jerk is arguably the very best marinade for chicken; spicy, sweet, earthy, tangy, hot...it covers all bases.  
The most authentic jerk chicken uses the whole bird, jointed, however I often make it to serve in wraps so in this case use boneless and skinless thighs.  If you want to be authentic but don't want to go down the whole chicken route you can use one or two packs of legs and thighs that most supermarkets sell.

This recipe has been slightly adapted from the one given to me by my lovely cousin-in-law, Nadia Mahabir who regularly cooks Trinidadian food for the good people of West Sussex.  I feel the need to confess, she would not approve of using boneless thighs as in Trinidad they always use meat on the bone...and while I'm in the confessional mood I may as well admit that I don't always use scotch bonnet chillies (those days that I fancy a gentle hum of heat rather than a searing fire!).

For 1 whole jointed chicken or around 2kg of legs and thighs.  It's also fantastic with pork and works amazingly well with salmon.

Ingredients

100ml Malt Vinegar

2 Scotch Bonnet Chillies, finely sliced with seeds

1 Red Onion, roughly diced

100ml Dark Soy Sauce

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

6 Garlic cloves, minced

50g Dark Muscovado Sugar

100ml Orange Juice

1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme
Generous grinding of Black Pepper

2 teaspoons All Spice

2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (best grated directly from the whole nutmeg but use ready ground if you don't have a suitable grater)

1 thumb size piece of Fresh Ginger, peeled and finely sliced (use 1 teaspoon of ground ginger if you can't get fresh, still great, a bit more earthy)

Juice of 2 Lemons
Juice of 2 Limes

• Measure and tip all of the ingredients into a large bowl including the squeezed pieces of lemons and limes.
• Give it all a big thorough stir.
• Place the chicken (or pork, salmon, anything else you fancy jerking) into the marinade and squish it all around to cover all surfaces of the meat.
• Ideally let the meat marinate for 24 hours or, if not, at least 8 hours, giving it a stir occasionally to make sure the marinade is permeating as much of the meat as possible.
• This really is best barbecued, however if the weather doesn't allow it, cooking on a high heat in a ridged griddle pan also works well.  If you are using large pieces of jointed chicken oven-cook them at 200C for 20 minutes then finish them off on the barbecue.  Make sure that it is thoroughly cooked by cutting right into the middle of the chicken piece to check there is no pink.



Sicilian Sausage Meatballs

Packed full of Sicilian flavours...the fennel, lemon, garlic and thyme work perfectly together in these incredibly tasty, succulent meatballs.
Rather than losing the meatballs in a vat of tomato sauce, I love to serve them on top of pasta simply tossed in creamy leeks (cooked slowly in butter and white wine with a touch of cream).  Top the finished dish with a grating of pecorino cheese and you have a very happy bowl of Sicilian heaven.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Olive Oil and Butter

1 Large Onion, diced

3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced

Salt and Black Pepper

1 tablespoon Fennel Seeds

75g Breadcrumbs

Fine zest of a Lemon

1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme, roughly chopped

500g Pork Mince

450g Sausage meat

1 egg

• Heat a glug of olive oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan until bubbling, then add the diced onion and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper.
• Turn the heat down and cook slowly for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft, add the garlic and cook for another few minutes, then turn the heat off and allow to cool.
• Heat a small dry frying pan then tip in the fennel seeds.  Toast the seeds for a few minutes, shaking the pan around until they are starting to smell aromatic and nutty.  Transfer them to a pestle and pound them into a powder (if you don't have a pestle and mortar you can crush the seeds on a chopping board with a rolling pin).
• Put the pork mince and the sausage meat into a large mixing bowl.  Add the cooked and cooled onion, the pounded fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, thyme and egg.  With a fork mix everything together lightly but thoroughly until all the ingredients are incorporated evenly through the mixture.
• Shape them into balls about the same size as golf balls, you should get approximately 18.  They can now be chilled until you need them or cook them straight away.
• Preheat the oven to 220C (fan).
• Lightly oil a large baking tray and place the meatballs on it, evenly spaced.  Roast for 15 minutes then turn the meatballs and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until the meatballs are golden brown, sizzling and cooked all the way through.

  

Mushroom and Pepper Stroganoff

This is perfect comfort food; plump mushrooms, sweet peppers and onions all bound together with a paprika and mustard spiced creamy sauce.  Great with rice, dolloped over a baked potato or spooned onto thick, toasted slices of rustic baguette or sourdough.
I always take the skin of the peppers by cutting them into sections then putting them skin side up under a hot grill until the skins blacken and blister.  I let them cool then peel the skin off with a knife.  This is not essential, it just makes the strips of pepper more silky in the finished dish.  
It's particularly good made with portobello mushrooms and maybe some shiitakes, however I often make it with a mixture of closed cup and chestnut mushrooms and it is still delicious.

Serves 4

Ingredients

25g Butter

Olive Oil
2 Red Onions, finely sliced

1 tablespoon Paprika

1 teaspoon Smoked Sweet Paprika (Pimenton de la Vera)
Salt and Black Pepper

2 Red or Yellow Peppers, skinned (if you are fussy like me) finely sliced
750g Mushrooms, cut into halves and thick slices
3 cloves Garlic, minced

100ml Red Wine

1 tablespoon Wholegrain Mustard

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

250ml Crème Fraiche
Parsley  

• Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat with a glug of olive oil then tip in the sliced red onions.  Season generously with salt and black pepper then add the paprika and smoked pimenton.
• Add the sliced peppers to the pan then cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions and peppers are soft.
• Add the minced garlic followed by the mushrooms and give it a big stir.
• Pour in the red wine then add the mustards.  Cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring often.
• When the juices have reduced down to a thick, bubbling syrup and the mushrooms are cooked and tender, spoon in the crème fraiche.  Stir it through until thoroughly blended and heat it until bubbling.  Taste to check for seasoning and stir through a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley just before serving.

Slow-Cooked Chilli Con Carne

We all love a good chilli, but it does have to be good doesn't it?  Nothing watery and insipid here, I am looking for warming, rich and hearty with flavourful, earthy spices and a tingling hum of chilli heat. 

Using good stewing beef rather than mince gives this chilli con carne great flavour and texture, especially when slow-cooked for around 3 hours.  I like to use pinto beans as well as red kidney beans, they are traditionally used in Mexican food and they make a soft contrast to the more robust red kidney beans.

This recipe makes a dish with medium heat.  If you like it hot I suggest 'layering' the heat by adding dried chilli flakes or, even better, you could experiment with a few different varieties of whole dried chillies, sliced or diced into the pan when you are sizzling the onion and red pepper.  Using chopped dried chipotle chillies (smoked jalapenos) adds real smoky depth to the dish, you could also consider using chipotle paste, you then won't need the smoked paprika.
As always the flavours are better the day after so, if you can, make it a day or two before you need it.

 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Olive oil

450g Stewing/Braising (Preferably Chuck) Beef, cut into small pieces

1 Large Red Onion (or 2 small), sliced

1 Red Pepper, diced

4-5 Garlic Cloves, minced

Salt and Black Pepper

1-2 Fresh Red Chillies, diced

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika (or 1 Dried Chipotle Chilli finely chopped)

2 teaspoons Cumin

Half a teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon Dark Brown Sugar

1 Tin of Plum Tomatoes (400g)
400ml Beef Stock

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder
1 Tin of Red Kidney Beans (400g) or 100g Dried beans soaked overnight then boiled until tender
1 Tin of Pinto Beans (400g) or same as above with dried
 

• Pour a generous glug of olive oil into a large saucepan and put it on a medium heat.
• Add the sliced red onion and diced red pepper to the pan followed by a generous seasoning of salt and black pepper.
• After a few minutes cooking add the spices and the sugar then tip in the chopped fresh chilli and the garlic.  Stir briskly to avoid anything burning then add the beef to the pan.
• Turn the heat up to high then stir the beef around for a good 4-5 minutes to seal it and coat it with the spicy onion and pepper mixture.
• Tip the tinned tomatoes into the pan followed by the beef stock and the Worcestershire sauce.  Give it a thorough stir, bring to the boil then turn the heat to its lowest setting and let the chilli simmer, uncovered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• After this time, add the cooked beans and the cocoa powder to the pan, stir through then let it simmer for about another hour, or until it is thick and rich with meltingly tender meat and beans.
• Serve it with long grain rice or, if you prefer, soft flour or corn tortillas.  I also like to have bowls of tortilla chips and grated strong cheddar cheese to sprinkle on the top, sour cream to spoon over and homemade guacamole for cool freshness. 

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Oh yes, yes, yes...deeply chocolatey, sensuously squidgy yet melt-in-the-mouth, these brownies will transport you to a beautiful place where the only thing you need to think about is your next bite.

There are four secrets to really good brownies...lots of good, very dark chocolate, lots of butter (we're not thinking about calories at this point), relatively little flour and (most importantly) they mustn't be over-baked.  They are ready when they have dried and slightly paled on the top and are still squidgy inside.  Between 18-20 minutes normally does it for me but I normally start to check it at 15 minutes.  Leave for longer if it's still moving like liquid but if you've just got a bit of wobble in the middle then it should be just right when cooled and cut.

Makes 18-24 Brownies

Ingredients

225g Salted Butter

300g Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

3 Large Eggs

1 tsp Good Instant Coffee Powder

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

100g Caster Sugar

100g Light Brown Sugar

125g Plain Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

100g Chocolate Chips (dark, milk or white)

• Preheat the oven to 160C fan and line a rectangular tin with baking paper, I use a roasting tin, 25x35cm.
• Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl resting over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water).  When smooth put it aside to cool slightly.
• Whisk the sugars, eggs, coffee and vanilla extract for 4-5 minutes until light, thick and foamy.
• Fold the melted chocolate and butter mixture into the whipped sugar and eggs then fold in the flour and baking powder.  Mix until smooth then pour half of it into the lined tin and spread it out evenly.
• Sprinkle half of the chocolate chips over the brownie mixture then pour the rest of the mixture over, spread this out evenly then sprinkle over the remaining chocolate chips.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until dry on the top, firm but still squidgy in the middle.
• Leave to cool completely in the tin then turn it out and cut into 18 decent sized pieces or 24 smaller pieces.
• Note - you can use dried fruit (cranberries or cherries are gorgeous) or chopped nuts (pecans are particularly good) instead of the chocolate chips.  You can add them as well as the chocolate chips if you want to, just be aware that you will need to increase the cooking time by 5 mins or so.