Layered Enchiladas

Wow, what a week it has been!  I’ve been pushing my cooking boundaries already this week and I had to do it again today with the Tortillas.  It’s been a busy few days and I lost a few hours to that little mishap.  I’ve updated the index here again and I’m going to try to keep on top of it this time.  I’m coming up on 100 recipes!  Yes, there will be cake.  I’m generally working hard to get this blog to be the best I can make it.  I’m also hoping to also be able to participate in Adopt-A-Blogger #4 over at Dine & Dish which will hopefully mean improvements around here.  But that’ll be after the christmas madness.  I’m already preparing to go gourmet with the gifts this year.  I have a bunch of recipes lying about that’ll be just perfect for so-and-so so I’m gearing up to get cracking with those.  I hope you’re all getting ready for an excellent holiday season, I know I’ll be stepping up on the Christmas recipes any day now!

Anyway, on to tonight’s dinner!  These Layered Enchiladas were just supposed to be ordinary enchiladas, however, due to the supermarket tortillas going off and my first attempt at tortillas turning out rather brittle I had to go for Layered Enchiladas.  I have to say I am impressed with  how well they turned out.  Instead of having a wrap we each ended up with a slice of ‘enchilada pie’, which was actually really handy for portion control.  This certainly went down well with my dad who asked for seconds, which is almost unheard of!

Serves 4

1 pack tortillas or make your own with my recipe here.
~200g grated cheese 
500g passata
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed
3 chicken breasts, sliced
1 tsp chilli powder
1 fresh red chilli, chopped
1×400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 green pepper, chopped

- First make the sauce.  Saute the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt in a little oil until soft. 
- Then add the chicken and stir until cooked all over. 
- Add the chilli powder and chopped chilli.  Stir well. 
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes with a little water to rinse out the tin. 
- Add the sugar and tomato puree and stir until mixed. 
- Bring to a simmer and add the green pepper. 
- Simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce thickens. 
- Assemble the enchiladas in a greased baking dish either in the traditional way or:
- Place a tortilla on the bottom of the baking dish and sprinkle lightly with grated cheese then add a few spoonfuls the sauce and spread over the tortilla. 
- Add another tortilla on top.  Pour a little passata over and spread over the tortilla.  Sprinkle with cheese. 
- Add another tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.  Add sauce and spread out. 
- Repeat alternating layers of sauce and passata until all of the tortillas have been used making the last layer passata covered with a good layer of cheese on the very top. 
- Bake in a hot oven at gas mark 6 for around 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything warmed through. 
- Serve in slices while hot. It’s really good with creme fraiche and avocado slices.

Homemade Tortillas

Tonight we had enchiladas for dinner.  I was all prepped and organised, I’d made the sauce and done all of my prep as I had to go out and would only get back in time to eat.  Then I got the tortilla wraps out.  Disaster!  They’d gone off.  I knew that mum had made flour tortillas once before so it had to be doable and set off to google a quick recipe for tortillas.  I found two that looked good (love recipes with pictures!) and since they were both the same recipe with very different ratios I sort of took a stab at somewhere in the middle and made it up as I went a long.  With hindsight I’d use double the fat if I make these again and cook them for no more than 20 seconds each side.  As it was these tortillas were very stiff, when I tried to make an enchilada with one it cracked into six pieces.  No worries though, dinner became Layered Enchiladas!  But first here is the basic recipe for tortillas.

Makes 6 dinner plate sized ones, probably 8 smaller

250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
50g lard or butter(I used 25g lard*)
100ml warm water plus extra as needed

- Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. 
- Rub in the lard or butter using your fingers. 
- Add the water and mix well.  Add water 1 tbsp at a time mixing between additions until a soft dough has formed. 
- Turn out onto a lightly floured worksurface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. 
- Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes. 
- Turn out and lightly knead for a minute. 
- Divide into equal portions. 
- Cover any balls of dough you are not working with. 
- Heat a dry frying pan on the hob. 
- Roll out the ball of dough until paper thin.  Aim for a circle but tidy up the shape by stretching the dough out into shape with your hands.  This requires elbow grease.  When I say paper I mean it!
- Pick up and carefully place flat in the very hot frying pan. 
- Cook for 20-30 seconds each side.  Just scare it with the frying pan, don’t leave it or it will dry out too much. 
- Place the cooked tortillas under a tea towel in a warm place. 
- Repeat for each ball.

*Lard has a bad reputation but can actually be better for you than than butter.  I think it has less saturated fat and less cholesterol but I’m not certain just how much better it is.  Either way it doesn’t deserve the bad rep. it has.

Pizza

We have homemade pizza fairly frequently in our house.  We’ve tried dozens of different recipes and techniques trying to find the best pizza dough recipe, the most frequent problem is that the middles become soup so we got pizza trays with holes in, which helped a bit.  Last Christmas I got mum a pizza stone but it wasn’t as impressive as all that.  Up until tonight mum has always made the dough and done all the work but tonight I was put in charge.  So I turned to google and my usual foodie haunts trying to make the best damned pizza this family has ever had.  Boasting it may be but I may well have succeeded!

The secret would appear to be part cooking the base first.  It gets all big and puffy but when you put the toppings on that goes down and means that the middle doesn’t stay all goopy but still retains a bit of crispness.  We are also guilty of piling on the toppings, in the past I have been known to have up to an inch deep on mine.  I have no will power, you see.  We set up a little area with all the toppings layed out in bowls to build our own to spec. and I just keep piling it all on!  This, of course, means that they take longer to cook so be aware that if you’re spare with the toppings it’ll take less cooking time, if you’re like me they’ll need longer. 

Makes 3 large pizzas, if not from a family of gluttons makes 4 individual ones. 

For the dough:
500g strong bread flour
2 tsp salt
1×7g sachet fast action yeast
1 tsp sugar
300ml warm water
2 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
2×400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp herbes de provence (or basil, oregano or any herb that’s good with tomato)

For the toppings:
Whatever you like!  I always think that cheese on top is the only must, below that anything goes! 

- First, as it’s now winter here in the uk, I would remind you to prepare a warm draft free place for the dough to rise.  By the fire, on top of a radiator or boiler, in a gently warmed oven, wherever works for you.  I usually put the oven on the lowest setting (Slow Cook) while I prepare the dough then turn it off when I put the dough in and leave it.
- In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, yeast and sugar. 
- Make a well in the centre and add the oil and water. 
- Mix with a wooden spoon until mostly combined, then get in there with your hands to get it together and get any bits stuck to the bowl off by rubbing the dough around.    
- Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic adding more flour if necessary.
- Wash your bowl if necessary then lightly oil the bowl using your hand to spread it about. 
- Continue to knead the dough for a minute or two with your oily hands. 
- Place the dough in the bowl then turn over so it’s coated with oil. 
- Cover and leave to rise in your warm draft free place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. 

- Meanwhile prepare the sauce and toppings.  Chop up whatever you’re putting on the pizzas and leave them ready for people to put on themselves if you’re doing it that way. 
- For the sauce melt a knob of butter and a small splash of oil in a medium sized pan. 
- Add the garlic and stir on a low heat until just starting to brown. 
- Add the onion and cook on a low heat for about 5 minutes until it is very soft and starting to go transparent. 
- Tip in the tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs and stir well. 
- Turn up the heat and simmer for at least half an hour until the sauce is reduced by half, making sure to stir it occasionally so it doesn’t stick. 

- Heat your oven to as high as it will go.  Mine does gas mark 9. 
- Once the dough has risen knock it down and lightly knead it for a minute. 
- Cut into portions and cover the dough you aren’t working with. 
- Roll out the portion of dough into a very rough circle about 5mm thick. 
- Pick it up (you’ll lose the shape here) and place it on the pizza tray then pull and stretch the edges into a circle and neaten it up. 
- Repeat for each portion of dough. 
- Leave to rest for 10 minutes. 
- Put the bases into the oven and cook for 10 minutes.  *
- Remove from the oven and put the sauce on and spread out to the edges then put your toppings on. 
- Put back in the oven and cook for 15-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edge of the crust is golden brown. 
- Slide off the trays and onto plates to serve. 

*I had to do some improvisation with the oven shelves as I had 2 shelves and 3 pizzas.  I could have used the top oven as well but I’d rather only use one oven if I can and save energy.  I placed a deep cake tin on the bottom of the oven and put the grill tray on top of that to create an extra shelf.  Then I swapped the pizzas about throughout cooking so they were cooking at about the same rate.  Obviously opening and closing the oven so often meant they took longer to cook but better that than having the top one burnt to a crisp and the bottom one still soft!

Maple Pecan Sticky Buns

I meant to post these last night but I’m sick with the most awful sore throat so I went to bed early last night.  Interestingly in the last 12 hours of ill I’ve gone off these.  Last night I was in love with them, this morning they make me feel a little sick.  They are incredibly sweet and sticky so may be that’s it, my body seems to crave protein when I’m ill. 

I have to say that even if I weren’t sick I probably won’t be making these the same way again.  The dough was brilliant.  Easy to work with and it was very tasty.  I’ve been looking for a sweet dough for doing things like this with and this one is a keeper!  I did have a bit of a problem getting it to rise but that was just one of the joys of trying to cook in the winter.  The kitchen is freezing and nothing ever cooks the same as it does over the summer.  Eventually I moved the dough through by the fire and thankfully it did its thing there. 

My problem with this recipe came from the filling.  Not only are pecans ridiculously expensive (£4 for 250g!) but the filling just wasn’t all that great, and at that price I expect great!  I think that in the future I wouldn’t put the sticky stuff all over the bottom but inside the rolls themselves, which may make this a little tidier.  It was an incredibly messy process in places and the original recipe had the cooking timings totally off so I took it out of the tin, tested it, found it was still dough in the middle then re-tinned it and put it back in the oven!  unfortunately they ended up a little too brown as a result, see the bottom pic.  I hope I’ve fixed that problem with my recipe here but do keep an eye on it. 

Makes 9

450g strong bread flour
50g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
85g butter
7g sachet fast action yeast
2 eggs, beaten
a scant 150ml milk
1 tsp cinnamon (original recipe said 2 tsp, I don’t like cinnamon)
85g light brown sugar
100g pecans
125g melted butter
125g maple syrup
50g light brown sugar
100g pecans, roughly chopped

- Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. 
- Rub in the butter with your fingers. 
- Add the yeast, egg and gradually add the milk, mixing until you have a soft dough. 
- Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and soft. 
- Place in a buttered bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. 
- In a food processor or blender blend together the cinnamon, light brown sugar and pecans to powder. 
- Butter a large springform cake tin or a large square one. 
- Once the dough has risen knock it down and roll it out into a large rectangle. 
- Brush the dough with melted butter. 
- Mix together the rest of the butter, the maple syrup, the brown sugar and the pecans and spread over the bottom of the cake tin. 
- Scatter the powder all over the dough, leaving a 2 cm strip on one of the narrow sides. 
- From the opposite short side roll the dough swiss roll style. 
- Pinch together the seam. 
- Cut the roll into 9. 
- Arrange these slices in the tin. 
- Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes. 
- Bake at gas mark 6 for 30 minutes. 
- Either turn out or slide onto a plate, whichever you like, and leave to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

Chilli Con Carne

I think my dad has been cooking this Chilli Con Carne recipe since before he met mum!  The original recipe comes from this ancient ’70s St Michael’s cook book but it’s one of those family dishes that no longer needs a recipe, we just get on with it.  I like this recipe as it’s a nice, tasty and warming way of getting more pulses in my diet and I’m trying to get away from eating so much pasta so rice makes an excellent staple carb alternative.   My dad’s a bit of a spice maniac it has to be said.  Back in his army days he once drank coffee with Tabasco in it and declared it to be delicious!  I, however, am not so fond of chilli, I like a bit of spice, sure, but I like to be able to taste the food that comes with it and noone likes to eat a meal with their nose running constantly.  So spicy food is always a bit of a compromise in our family.  We aim for somewhere in the middle and I cool mine down with yoghurt or creme fraiche and dad adds Tabasco to his. 

Not the best photo, it's all a bit white!

 

Serves 4

1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
750g minced beef
1 tsp chilli powder
1 chilli, chopped (either leave this out if you’re not a fan of spice or put more in if you’re mental!)
1×400g tin chopped tomatoes
150ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
1×400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

- Heat a few tbsp oil in a large pan.  Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. 
- Add the minced beef, chilli powder and chilli.  Cook until browned, stirring occasionally. 
- Add the tomatoes, beef stock, tomato puree and sugar and stir until well combined. 
- Put a lid on the pan and simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring a few times. *
- Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes. 
- Serve with basmati rice. 

*Normally we cook it up to this point early in the day or evening then leave it standing until dinner time when we heat it up again then add the beans for the final 5 minutes.

Italian Stuffed Dough Balls

The filling for these dough balls came from a recipe called Italian Chicken so I thought I’d carry over the name.  Rather than being Italian in style the mix of flavours is what makes it Italian.  The tang of garlic mixed in with the bursts of tomato over the creamy base makes and excellent, and moreish, combination.  Tonight we had Italian Chicken and I thought I’d make some dough balls filled with the left over cheese mix.  I’ve tweaked the recipe from the first time I made Dough Balls and now they’re even better!  They only take an hour to throw together so it’s perfect if you don’t have time to make bread during the day. 

Makes 12 dough balls

250g strong bread flour
1 tsp (approx 4g) fast action yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
150ml warm water
250g soft cheese
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tbsp herbes de provence

- In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, yeast and salt.  Make a well in the centre. 
- Tip the water and oil into the well. 
- Mix together with a wooden spoon until the mix comes together into a dough. 
- Once combined tip our onto a floured worksurface and dust with flour. 
- Knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. 
- Set aside to rest in a covered, lightly oiled bowl for 10-15 minutes. 
- Meanwhile mix together the cheese, garlic, tomatoes and herbs in a small bowl. 
- Lightly knead the dough so all the oil is absorbed. 
- Divide the dough into 12 balls, covering the dough you aren’t working with. 
- Roll each ball out into to a circle about 3″ in diameter. 
- Place a heaped teaspoon of cheese mixture in the centre of each circle. 
- Gather the edges of the circle together and pinch closed so the seam disappears. 
- Place in an oiled baking dish leaving a little space between balls. 
- Bake at gas mark 7 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top. 
- Serve warm to enjoy them at their best.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

A staple meal in our house.  The recipe varies a little each time I make it but this is tonight’s recipe!  There’s not much to say about it really, it’s a simple warm filling year round meal. 

Serves 4 (with enough for seconds ;o) )

750g minced beef
6 thick cheap pork sausages
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
herbes de provence
2×400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ketchup
~200g mushrooms, sliced

- In a large bowl mix together the minced beef the insides of the sausages (discard the skins), half the onion and 1 of the cloves of garlic along with 2 tbsp herbes de provence and salt and pepper to taste.  Get in there with you hands!
- Shape the mixture into balls with your hands and place them on a floured plate or chopping board. 
- Lightly dust with flour and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes, preferably in the fridge. 
- In a very large deep frying pan brown the meatballs, in batches if necessary. 
- Once browned on both sides tip in the tinned tomatoes with a quarter of a can of water.  Add the tomato puree, ketchup and mushrooms as well as another tbsp of herbes de provence. 
- Gently stir the sauce to mix in the space between the meatballs and poke the mushrooms down into the liquid. 
- Put on a lid and leave for 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. 
- Take the lid off and  continue to simmer for another 45 minutes on a gentle heat stirring occasionally. 
- Serve on top of spaghetti all covered in cheese!

Mincemeat Recipe

Right, that’s it I declare it to be Christmas time!  Today I went out and gathered holly, ivy and teasles from the village, I found holly with berries on it!  I’ve lived in this village for 20 years but I never knew that there was a holly tree with berries on the edge of the green until we got the dog and he tied his lead round it!  I was after just a few sprigs for a small arrangement but got a bit carried away.  I came home with my basket and got on with making the mincemeat in preparation for Christmas.  This needs to mature for 2 weeks so this batch will be ready for the 4th, if you fancy having a go I suggest you make it now before it’s too late! 

Makes 750ml (ish)

750g mixed dried fruits
100ml brandy
a scant 50ml lemon juice
300g shredded suet (I use veggie just in case)
1 large bramley apple, peeled and grated
250g dark brown sugar
1/2 a small nutmeg, grated

- Mix together the dried fruits, brandy and lemon juice in a large bowl. 
- Leave to sit for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.  
- Spoon into sterilised jars. (Putting them through the dishwasher is easiest or wash them in hot soapy water then dry them in the oven for 10 minutes.)
- Press down with the back of the spoon to get all the air out of the jar. 
- Put on the lids and leave in a cool dark place (read cupboard!) for 2 weeks then make mince pies!  Yum!

Frothy Milk

I love me some frothy milk.  I like it for my hot chocolate, for my latte, for… well, nope, just those things really.  But frothy milk makes them so much better than ordinary milk!  I used to have an Aerolatte, which was great, love that thing, however it currently resides in a box somewhere in the garage with the rest of my kitchen.  I also have a fancy coffee maker with a steam wand out there too.  However, currently I have neither of these things.  I have been frothy milk-less! 

However, salvation has arrived!  Here is a simple how to for making frothy milk with a jam jar and a microwave.  Sorted! 

(My mother has asked that I point out that Friday is kitchen cleaning day and it has been a hell of a week so any mess you see is the result of bad timing for me to do a quick photo shoot before doing my chores!  I would like to point out the irony of the fancy coffee maker sitting in the back of the shots.  Hasn’t been used in years, I think the instructions were written in Martian!)

Half fill a clean jam jar with milk. Put the lid on.

Shake the jar for about 30 seconds.

The bubbly milk should have doubled in volume.

Remove the lid and microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute (depends how hot you want your milk).

Remove from the microwave.

 (I have to put in here that your milk will probably be a bit more bubbly than mine, mine had to sit for a bit here as there was a fight over the work surface while mum made a bacon sandwich!)

Put your coffee or hot chocolate in the mug. If making hot chocolate I like to mix the powder with a bit of milk first then give it 30 seconds in the microwave.

Pour the milk into the mug holding back the foam with a spoon.

Spoon the foam on to the top. Enjoy!

Falafel Burgers

My kitchen karma has disappeared!  Tonight I made falafel burgers and pita bread for dinner.  Now the falafel burgers just aren’t that great I am afraid to say, at least in my opinion, but the pitas… well, I’m not sure they were pitas.  They were closer to really flat bread buns! 

I had seen the recipe for Falafel Burgers over at Good Food a while ago and thought they sounded great.  Not only were they low-calorie but it was a way of getting more pulses in my diet and all of the comments said how surprisingly tasty they were.  I followed the recipe exactly and I have to say I was not impressed.  They were essentially bland and squishy dollops of meh.  I ended up piling mine up with salad to try and get some flavour.  If you happen to be a fan of chick peas then I suggest doubling the amount of harissa paste and putting in at least 2 good pinches of salt.  I’m willing to accept that may be I just didn’t like them but I had such high hopes for this recipe that I find myself very disappointed. 

As for the pita, I must not have knocked down the dough well enough as they came out all puffy and fat.  More like someone had sat on a bread bun than a pita!  I had made up the dough then got distracted and it sat for 30 minutes and rose quite well.  I knocked it down and carried on as usual but obviously that was a mistake.  We had to cut the pockets into them, nothing had formed like normal.  They were delicious, really lovely and soft and you could, as you see above, cram so much more than you would normally be able to inside of them but not really pita.  I may, however have inadvertently come up with a lovely flatbread recipe!

Falafel Burger Recipe

Makes 6 small, 4 large

400g tin chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 small red onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp harissa paste (or chilli powder) *
2 tbsp plain flour
pinch salt*

- Dry off the chick peas with kitchen paper. 
- Put everything in a food processor and blend until it forms a smooth paste and everything is well mixed. 
- Divide the mixture and shape it into patties with your hands. 
- Fry for 3 minutes each side, or use a health grill. 
- Serve with pita, salad, salsa and yogurt. 

* Double these.