Cheesy Corn Chip Chicken Wings

To be honest these wings have never been near a corn chip but the masa lista and Parmesan give them a fabulous texture without frying and the coating does taste like corn chips!

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

1.5kgs chicken wings, tips removed and cut in two

1 cup masa lista, Mexican corn flour

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salta and pepper

2 eggs, beaten

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade. Line two baking trays with baking parchment.

In a bowl, combine the masa, Parmesan, oregano, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Take a piece of chicken, dip in the egg and then in the flour mix.

Lay on the baking sheet skin meaty side up and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn once and then bake for a further 10-15 minutes until fully cooked.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving with some sour cream dip.

Spicy Hummus

I love hummus as a dip and this recipe is no exception. I top it with my own home made dukkah, the recipe is on the blog. Leftovers are great as a spread in wraps with lots of crunchy salad.

Ingredients

400g tin chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved

1 garlic clove

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tablespoon dukkah

Method

Measure the reserved liquid from the chickpeas and add olive oil to it to make a volume of 160mls.

Pour this liquid into a food processor followed by the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Wizz to form a thick paste.

Spoon into your serving dish, drizzle over some more oil and then sprinkle over the dukkah.

Steak and Bacon Pâté

Whether you call this pâté, paste or spread it is a lovely versatile recipe that can be dressed up or down.

To dress it up, serve in small ramekins topped with melted butter and beautiful bread for dinner parties or dress it down, dolloped on gluten free crackers or as a sandwich filling for the school lunch boxes.

To cook it you need to steam the meat for four hours, until it is falling apart. I use a large 8litre pan and a large Pyrex bowl with a saucer under the bowl to lift it away from the heat source.

As this recipe makes a large quantity of pâté I normally freeze half in two smaller boxes for a later date.

Ingredients

1kg steak, diced

600g bacon, back and middle cuts, diced

8 anchovies in oil, drained

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

Method

You need a large pan, with a lid,  that your heatproof bowl will fit in and a plate or saucer on the base.

Place all the ingredients in the heat proof bowl.

Turn the saucer or plate upside down and place in the base of the pan.

Place the bowl on top of the plate and carefully pour water into the pan, around one third of the way up the bowl.

Cover with a lid and bring up to the boil, allow to simmer for 4hours, covered.

Check the water level regularly, top up with boiling water if needed.

After 4 hours, turn off the heat and allow to cool completely.

Once cool, process the meat in batches until smooth and spoon into ramekins, jars or boxes.

Creamy Green Pasta Sauce or Avocado Pasta Sauce

Avocados are in season here and my boys don’t eat them!

That is, they don’t eat them knowingly!

Enter creamy green pasta sauce, easy to make and full of flavour.

For my gluten free option, I use gluten free pasta.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

500g dried spaghetti, gluten free if needed

6 ripe avocados

2 lemons

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

1 green chilli, deseeded and finely diced

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

saly and pepper

lemon wedges to serve

Method

Cook your pasta as per the instructions.

Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat, add the oil.

Add the garlic and chopped chilli to the frying pan, stir and turn off heat.

In a processor of stick blender, add the avocado flesh, lemon juice, cayenne and the contents of the frying pan.

Process to a smooth paste, taste for flavour, season with salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain well.

Pour the avocado paste into the pasta, stir well and serve with lemon wedges.

Sweet Potato and Feta Fritters – Gluten Free

These are lovely versatile fritters that I like to serve with sliced avocado and a poached egg for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

If I have the oven on for a roast or something similar I pop a couple of sweet potatoes and beetroot in to bake at the same time in their skins. A 650-700g sweet potato will give you around 350-450g cooked potato once the skin is removed.

Ingredients

375g cooked sweet potato

130g chickpea/besan flour

200g feta

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne

a bunch of dill

2 eggs, beaten

90mls full cream milk

Method

Mash the potato lightly with a fork.

Add the chickpea flour, dill, eggs and milk and mix to form a thick batter.

Add the feta, cayenne and freshly ground pepper and combine.

Allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

Once hot, spoon the fritter batter into the pan, using the back of the spoon to spread it out a little.

As the base cooks it will become golden, flip the fritter and repeat.

Allow to drain on a piece of kitchen towel roll.