Chimichanga

 

I am a complete convert, having been horrified at the thought of a deep-fried Burrito. These things are ****ing delicious. 

Ingredients: 

• Chicken thigh
• onions
• wheat wraps 
• oil for deep frying 
• spices (chili, coriander, cumin, paprika, chipotle paste) 
• pickled jalapenos 
• tomato puree or passata 
• sour cream? 
• Stuff for salsa 
• stuff for guacamole 
• yoghurt 

For the filling: 

fry chopped onions, add chili powder, ground coriander, cumin, and paprika (or chuck in a Burrito spice mix if super-lazy), and tomato paste or passata, and some chipotle paste. Ah the chipotle. And the pickled jalapeno. Some recipes have you putting sour cream in this mix, haven't tried what that's like.  Grill chicken separately and chop up small. Combine. 

Meant to be layered with re-fried beans but  worked well enough without (for those concerned about negative outcomes with legumes). 

Then:

Wrap up your flour tortillas TIGHT with this filling and shredded cheese. Some recipes now have you frying these without any kind of binding at all but I definitely haven't figured that one out. I tied them all up with string like little pork roasts. Second time round they weren't wrapped as tightly and seemed to let the oil in. Apparently you can also bake these, but what would be the point of that? Fry, baby, fry! 

Meanwhile make: 

Serve with guacamole and salsa, with some yoghurt being all artistic over the top. Serve HOT. 

Who cares about waistlines. 

Salmon with sweet potato

 

No recipe needed, just a reminder about a nice, light, quick dinner. The skin was particularly crispy and lovely on this one, which is an extra bonus. Sweet potato microwaved, the sauce is a yoghurt/mayo/caper/lemon mix. Mmm. 

Chocolate Berry Goo Puds

Did this for Lara's 16th as she requested 'something REALLY chocolaty and with berries'. It did the trick. Do not attempt to eat this more than once in 16 years as you will die from chocolate overdose. 

Butter up 6 ramekins. It'll fill about 4 small and two large, so you can cater to various chocolate needs. Put a bunch of mixed berries in the bottom. 

Melt together: 

• 105g butter
• 345g dark chocolate 

Beat till thick and zabaglioned up: 

• 5 large eggs 
• 0.75 cups sugar 
• vanilla essence 

Add the two, plus 2tbsp cocoa powder (did we really need that?), in two doses to minimize deflation.  pour mix over berries. Can leave in fridge for 24 hours if necessary at this point. 

Bake at 180 for 15 mins. A few more if from chilled. 

Tip out onto plates, serve topped with fresh berries and some cream on the side. 

NOT for the faint-hearted. 

Pad Thai with chicken, tofu, eggs, and LOTS of peanuts

 Arizona made this so I don't know which recipe it was but it looks a bit like this one: 

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/chicken-tofu-pad-thai-2/8175e040-dfc1-4b4c-8778-77ed0d1b0b5d 

So, for the sauce: 

• about 1/2 cup brown sugar
• plenty of tamarind paste
• fish sauce 
• soy sauce 
• lime juice 
• a shit load of chopped peanuts
• ginger

bulk ingredients:

• red onion
• spring onion
• capsicum
• chicken
• tofu
• beaten egg
• whatever the hell else you feel like 
• thick rice noodles 
• probably some garlic
• heaps of beansprouts
• mange tout

Garnish: 

1. more peanuts
2. chopped coriander 

Was pretty good. A Do Again from all. 

Crustless Quiche and bacon

 Served with salad with giant croutons. I also included feta, ricotta, and pizza cheese in the quiche. Also served with puff pastry sticks, instead of making a quiche crust. Fluffier, crustier and less on carbs. Seemed OK. 

Khachapuri (cheese-crammed bread)

 

Dough: 

• 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup water, (though this is not enough, so about 1.5 cups milk/water) 
• 2tsp yeast, 1.5 sugar, 2 olive oil, 1.5 salt 
• 2 cups plain flour plus for kneading 

1 pound of cheese (pizza cheese, fetta, cottage, whatever mix you like) and I chucked in some cubed ham, makes two of the original cheese vaginas. 

You're meant to stuff the crust, roll it into a... well, nice little... and then there's a gap in the middle which you also stuff with cheese, bake, then back into the oven with a finishing off of an egg and knobs of butter in the middle of the... thing. 

HOWEVER, while these were intriguing and pretty tasty, it was all a bit much. So next time I thought we'd just have Pure Stuffed Crust, and forget about the hole in the middle. It makes the dough underneath rather squishy, and also is not really as convenient a place to dip the bread in as it might seem. I will make some equivalent dipping sauce, either with egg like a hollandaise or perhaps with yoghurt, or a spicy salsa type, or a mix of all of the above. It'll be easier to eat and less soggy, as well as cutting down on the excessive cheese. I'll also serve it with something like a very acid side, like olive/roast pepper salad. On this occasion I served it with 'Communist Salad', which was OK but could do with more. Also another salad that provides crunch and leaf, to counteract all the squish. 

Here's communist salad: 

Beetroot, sliced orange, carrot (grated), sesame seeds. Others as wishes. The point is that it's red and tangy. 

Lebanese meat pies (Sfeeha)

 Dough: 

• 1kg all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsps sugar 
• 2 tbsps active dry yeast 
• 1 tbsps salkt 
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil 
• 2+ 1/4 cups whole milk 

Filling: 

• 500g minced lamb 
• 2 small onions, diced 
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped 
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon seven spice or allspice 
• chili flakes 
• oil for greasing baking sheets 

Nothing extraordinary for the dough, but for the filling you blend the raw onion with the tomatoes and then mix everything together while raw, straining away any excess liquid. Then add the spices and seasoning. Roll the dough out to 1/2cm thick rounds, fill with filling and make tri-corner hat shapes. Bake at 200c for 12 mins. 

However, we found these too bready, and considered changing the shape. The filling tastes good though.