Mexican Fiesta!

In November my bestest bud from school, Rhiannon, came to visit. We organised a dinner party to celebrate the fact that she is getting married to the lovely Tom! I decided to cook Mexican food as it's easy for everyone to just dig in and eat what they like. Also my housemate is a vegetarian and allergic to wheat (troublemaker) so Mexican food is perfect for her as she can have corn tortillas and lots of beany goodness.

I made a chorizo & butternut squash taco filling and refried black beans from Thomasina Myers' excellent Mexican Food Made Simple. The refried beans or frijoles are perfect for dipping tortilla chips into or spreading on tacos. They are quite time intensive to make, as the beans need boiling for several hours, but it's well worth the effort. I also cooked my spicy bean chilli, one of my favourite vegetarian dishes.

For the meat eaters I cooked 'Starlit Chicken Wraps' from The Londoner blog (warning: do not look on this blog unless you are prepared to have some serious life envy). Lots of juicy, spicy, sweet chicken with whole cherry tomatoes, one of my new favourite things to cook.

And finally I made a huge vat of guacamole, which I'm slightly concerned I'm addicted to. I like my guac super chunky, with lots of coriander and lime to zing the avocado up. Here's my recipe:

Serves 4
2 ripe avocados
1 lime, juice only
Half a bunch coriander, finely chopped
Plenty of seasoning
Tobasco
2 spring onions, finely chopped
4 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped

1. Cut the avocados in half, remove but do not discard the stones and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Use a fork to mash the avocado, you want it to be nice and chunky so don't go too crazy
2. Next add the lime, coriander, spring onions, cherry tomatoes and LOTS of seasoning. Taste to check the seasoning, adding more if necessary. Now add a few drops of Tobasco to spice it up a little, you can leave this out if you like your guacamole cool
3. Apparently putting the stones back into the guacamole helps prevent the avocado from turning brown, I'm not sure if it actually works but it can't hurt to do so. If you're making this a few hours ahead of time, I find the best way to keep the avocado a nice bright green is to cover with cling film and press it down lightly so there's no air between the film and the guacamole

Black beans boiling away

Chicken with cherry tomatoes

Butternut squash & chorizo

Three bean chilli

Guacamole

Wrap and chilli

Chicken, Spinach & Butternut Squash Curry

Last week I made this super tasty chicken curry. I don't tend to cook authentic Indian food at home as I can rarely be bothered to make my own curry paste and to me the shop bought ones taste pretty good. This takes about an hour and a half to make, so maybe not ideal for a school night, but it's well worth the time and effort.

I used chicken thighs and drumsticks as they're so much cheaper than breast meat (it was less than £4 for enough free range meat for 5 portions). Adding butternut squash and spinach is a handy way of getting a few of your five a day and in my opinion they're a great addition to any curry. The lentils help to thicken the sauce and absorb the excess liquid so you get a deliciously thick sauce, perfect for mopping up with some naan bread. I also nabbed some onion bhajis from work, which were perfectly crisp and full of flavour.

Serves 4-6

800g free range chicken drumsticks and/or thighs
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 butternut squash, cut into bite size chunks
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp hot chili powder
2 tbsp curry paste (I used Pataks)
1 tin reduced fat coconut milk
1/2 jar passata
1 bag of spinach
6 tbsp red split lentils 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the bite size chunks of butternut squash into a large baking tray in one layer, drizzle with oil and cook for 45 minutes or until soft.
2. Meanwhile mix the spices and garlic with a little oil to make a paste, spread the mixture over the chicken and leave to marinade for 20 minutes (or longer if you have time). 
3. Heat a little oil in a heavy based pan and fry the chicken until browned. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the onion. Gently fry for 10 minutes, then add the curry paste & lentils and fry for a few more minutes. 
4. Add the passata, coconut milk and chicken. Bring the mixture to the boil, then turn down the heat, put the lid on and cook for 40 minutes. Add the roasted squash for the final 15 minutes of cooking.
5. When the lentils have plumped up and absorbed the excess liquid, add the spinach a handful at a time and let it wilt. Once all the spinach has been added serve with brown rice.

Chicken marinading:

 Chicken, spinach & butternut squash curry:

Deliverance onion bhajis:

The finished article:

Spinach & Lamb Curry with Coconut Dhal

For last weeks Sunday night dinner I decided to make an Indian feast. I love homemade curry, but I normally end up making it with Patak's paste for ease, so I decided to make it from scratch.

The recipes were both from Good Food, which always offers a good range of recipes. For the lamb and spinach curry I used 400g lamb rather than 600g and doubled the amount of spinach, but other than that I kept to the recipe. It had a good amount of heat, but maybe could have done with some extra cumin, coriander and turmeric. By not using an oily paste and adding plenty of spinach it tasted a lot fresher than your average curry. I only made half the lentil recipe, as I just wanted it as a side dish. I added twice the amount of water and cooked them for a hour until they were really soft, I also added a teaspoon of madras curry paste to spice them up a little.

Both dishes were really tasty and simple to make, it's well worth buying your own spices although I do still think you can make a great curry if you use a good paste. The left over lentils made a quick and easy Monday night meal, with some naan bread for dipping.

Lamb curry cooking:

Amazing lentil curry:

Finished lamb curry:

Shepherds Pie with Goats Cheese

After a long trip to IKEA on Sunday afternoon I decided to cook one of my mum's recipes. There's something very comforting about cooking a meal you're used to eating at home with your family. My version wasn't a patch on my mum's unforunately, as I put too much stock into the sauce and didn't have the time to let it reduce. Nevertheless, it's a great take on a traditional shepherds pie; the spices and goats cheese add a middle eastern flavour which works beautifully with the lamb.

Serves 4 - 6
500g lamb mince
1 sweet potato
1 large onion
2 sticks celery
2 carrots
1 courgette
Chopped fresh thyme & rosemary
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp paprika
Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
Bouillion powder
1 tbsp Flour
850g potatoes
1 Capricorn goats cheese

Method:

1. Fry the lamb until lightly browned. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery and fry for 10 minutes. Then add the chopped courgette and sweet potato, fry until soft. 
2. Add the flour, spices and herbs. Gradually add the stock, then add the puree, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Simmer for an hour until the sauce has thickened.
3. Meanwhile boil the potatoes for 20 minutes until soft. Drain and mash with a little milk and butter.
4. Put the meat into a dish and top with the mash and slices of goats cheese. Cook in the oven for 30 min and serve with winter greens.

Before:

After:

Moroccan Meatballs

This is a recipe adapted from a few that I’ve read online, I love Moroccan food and the more spice you put in the better! These are great as meatballs, or you can serve them as burgers with pitta, hummus and salad.

Serves 4:

500g lamb mince

2 red onions, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, grated

2cm piece of ginger, grated

4 tsp ground cumin

4 tsp ground coriander seeds

2 tsp paprika

2 tbsp harissa

Chopped fresh mint

2 tins chopped tomatoes

Tabasco

Method:

1. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes until soft. Then add the spices and fry for 1 minute.
2. Add the onion & spice mix to the lamb, half the harissa and the chopped mint. Mix with your hands and shape into 24 balls.
3. Fry the meatballs in batches until browned on all sides. Add the tomatoes, the rest of the harissa and some tabasco to taste.  You may also want to add a sprinkling of sugar if the sauce is too acidic.
4. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve with couscous or pasta.

According to Chris, this looks ‘disgusting’, but I promise it was nice!