Chickpea And Carrot Hummus

Hummus is very popular in our house, great to nibble on as a dip, spread in sandwiches or boxed up for school lunches.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

250g dried chickpeas, around 575g cooked

2 garlic cloves

juice of 3 lemons

4 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 carrots, peeled and grated

250mls olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight, drain and pour into a large pan, add three times the quantity of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for one hour until cooked, it may take a little longer depending on your chickpeas.

Drain the chickpeas and allow to cool completely.

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process to a smooth paste.

Chipotle Chilli Mushroom Tostadas

There’s no missing the meat with these tostadas!

Mushrooms are such great carriers of flavour and these aren’t too spicy, I’ve been known to eat any leftovers for breakfast.

If you are not avoiding dairy, a little sour cream over the top when they are hot is a lovely addition, otherwise I like a squeeze of lime and some fresh coriander.

I like to just crisp my corn tortillas up in a hot oven or on a hot pan, you can fry them in oil the traditional way but we are trying to cut down a bit so baking it is!

Serves 2 as a starter.

Ingredients

30mls olive oil

1 small red onion, diced

1 small red chilli, finely diced

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

pinch chipotle chilli

250g mushrooms, I quarter mine

salt and pepper

a little fresh coriander and lime juice to finish

4 small corn tortillas

Method

In a frying pan, heat the oil and add the fresh chilli and onion, cook until soft.

Add the chipotle chilli and smoked paprika followed by the mushrooms, cook quickly over a high heat.

Once cooked, spoon onto your tortillas and sprinkle with coriander and a little squeeze of lime juice, serve immediately.

Slow Roast Leg Of Lamb Flavoured With Ras El Hanout and Zatar

I have mentioned before my love of all things slow cooked and this is yet another option that we love!

The ras el Hanout does have a bit of spice to it but the sweetness of the lamb comes through. I serve this with pitta bread, hummus, pistachio and coriander dip, quinoa tabbouleh and a green salad, a veritable feast!

Serves 8.

Ingredients

3kg leg of lamb

80mls olive oil

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons ras el hanout

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 tablespoon smoked paprika

3 garlic cloves

1/2 red onion

2 fire roasted capsicums, skin and seeds removed

salt and pepper

Method

Start this recipe the day before cooking.

Process all of the ingredients, except the lamb and zatar, to form a thick paste.

Place the lamb on a chopping board and stab it all over with a large knife.

Spread the paste over the entire leg and pop into the fridge, covered, for the night.

The following day, preheat the oven to 140 degrees Centigrade.

Place the lamb in a roasting tin and spread over any excess marinade.

Sprinkle the zatar over the top.

Soak a piece of baking parchment in water, squeeze the excess water out and spread the parchment over the lamb, tucking it well in.

Next, cover the parchment with foil.

Place the meat in the oven and roast for 7 hours.

After 7 hours, turn the temperature up to 200 degrees Centigrade, remove the foil and paper, baste the meat with the fat in the roasting pan and return to the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, baste again and bake for a further 20 minutes, you should have a crust forming over the meat by now.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes, covered, before serving with hummus, bread and salads.

 

 

Cajun Salmon

Golly gosh!

This will really knock your socks off!

This is a fab way to make three salmon fillets feed 4-6 people depending on your sides, we have this with a quinoa salad to fill the boys up!

I make a salad base of mixed leaves, avocado slices, coriander and I finish the salmon off with a squeeze of lime juice. By breaking the fillets up it goes so much further in our house!

You can make this ahead of time and just let the salmon sit in the fridge in the rub and leftovers make brilliant sandwich fillings.

Ingredients

3 large skinless salmon fillets, around 700g

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade, line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Wash and pat dry the salmon, check for bones and I like to remove the fatty underside too.

Combine the herbs, spices and salt on a plate.

Turn each salmon fillet over in the spice mix until thoroughly coated, place on the baking sheet and repeat.

Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes depending on thickness.

Chickpeas with Chorizo

 These are lovely as a side dish or part of a tapas meal.

I like the chickpeas to be really crispy but if you prefer them a little softer that works really well too, just cook the onion and smoked paprika first and then add the chickpeas to warm through followed by the cooked chorizo.

Serves 2-4.

Ingredients

60g piece of chorizo

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

1 x 420g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper

A little chopped parsley to garnish

Method

Heat a frying over a high heat.

Add the oil and once hot fry the chorizo on both sides. Remove and set aside.

Add the smoked paprika, onion and chickpeas, stir regularly until the chickpeas are crispy, return the chorizo to the pan and heat through, check for seasoning, garnish with  a little parsley and serve.

Jerk Chicken

The boys love this, possibly because it means they can say jerk without getting in trouble!

There is enough spice mix here for one large chicken but to be honest I normally make triple and keep it in a jar for three months as we use it regularly, it’s so handy when you just need to find lime juice and vinegar and only one spice jar.

As with many of my recipes, this is not authentic, the traditional spicy chillies that should be used are a no no with one of my sons and I use the powdered garlic and onion to save time and allow me to have a stash in the spice drawer.

I like to buy a whole chook and cut it up, I find wielding a cleaver very satisfying at the best of times! It’s a good skill to have as you are left with the spine and neck which I roast along with the pieces and then use this and the bones from the pieces for making stock. Jerk bones make lovely bean based soups!

Serves 6.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground all spice

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground onion powder

1 teaspoon ground garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon brown sugar

juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1.8kg chicken, cut into 10 pieces

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix really well.

Cover and refrigerate overnight, if you have time.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Spread the chicken out on the baking parchment, skin side up.

Bake for 25 minutes and then baste regularly until fully cooked and the skin is crispy, around 50-60 minutes total.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Bacon Meatballs With Spicy Tomato Sauce

If I’m making meatballs I like to make double quantity, one for now and one for the freezer, especially just now as the boys break up from school for two weeks of winter holidays.

To freeze, I use a large foil dish, no washing up one night, and fill it with meatballs  and sauce. Freeze at this stage, defrost and bake as below.

I don’t top these meatballs with cheese, they are rich enough!

Makes 30 meatballs with sauce.

Ingredients

500g minced pork shoulder

500g minced bacon, back and streaky

1 tablespoons dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli p

50mls olive oil

1 large onion diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 chipotle chillies in adobe sauce, diced

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes

1litre passata

50mls maple syrup

salt and pepper

Method

Combine the bacon, pork, oregano, garlic, chilli and a good grind of pepper in a bowl, using your hands, mix it all really  well together. Pop in the fridge for 4-24 hours.

Form the meat into balls, around 3-4cm diameter.

Using a large non stick pan, heat over a high flame  and then brown the meatballs in batches, you shouldn’t need any extra fat as the meatballs will release the bacon and pork fat.

Set the balls aside in a large oven proof dish.

Heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the onion, cook until soft and then add the garlic, cook until fragrant.

Now add the chipotle chillies and adobe sauce, smoked paprika, diced tomatoes, passata, maple syrup and seasoning.

Bring up to simmering point and simmer gently for 30-40 mins until the sauce begins to thicken.

Pour the sauce over and around the meatballs.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade and bake the meatballs for 40- 45mins until the sauce is bubbling and the balls have darkened on top.

Paprika Chicken

This chicken sits quite happily in the fridge for 24 hours to deepen the marinade flavour and darken the outside of the meat. I cook in a preheated oven or it is excellent cooked on the BBQ.

I like to buy a whole chicken and then cut it into 8-10 pieces, that way, everyone gets a bit that they like and everyone gets some crispy skin which is part of the pleasure of this chicken.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1 x 2kg chicken, jointed into 8-10 pieces

60mls olive oil

2 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 tablespoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, cover and leave to marinade for at least 12 hours if you can.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and spread the chicken out.

Bake for 40-50 mins until fully cooked.

Allow to sit for 20 mins if you have time.

Gluten Free Cheese and Bacon Breakfast Muffins

These gluten free savoury muffins are delicious straight out the oven but also freeze well to be warmed again another day.

As usual, a clash of international ingredients, Indian chickpea flour, Mexican masa lista, Thai tapioca flour and Spanish smoked paprika, they all come together to make a light gluten free muffin that I think is hard to tell apart from a regular muffin!

For a vegetarian option, omit the bacon and add 20g chopped fresh chives.

Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients

75g chickpea flour/besan

50g tapioca flour

100g masa lista, Mexican cornflour

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

220g Cheddar, grated

150g bacon, diced, set aside a little for topping the muffins

140mls milk

125g natural yogurt

1 egg

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade, line a twelve hole muffin tray.

In a jug, combine the milk, yogurt and egg, beat well.

In a large bowl, combine the chickpea flour, tapioca flour, masa lista, baking powder, salt, smoked paprika,  cheese and  most of the bacon, combine until the cheese and bacon has a floury coating.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cases, you need to fill the cases to the top, unlike regular muffins.

Sprinkle with the remaining bacon.

Bake for 25-30mins until

Chicken Fajitas

Fajitas are a fantastic quick meal, I make my gluten free corn tortillas, recipe in the blog, to wrap the meat in, along with lettuce, capsicum, and a few slices of jalapeño chilli.

Ingredients

4 large skinless chicken breats, cut into thin strips

2 limes

4 teaspoons dried oregano

4 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli powder

2 jalapeño chillies, finely diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 red onions, sliced

Method

Combine the chicken, lime zest and juice, oregano, smoked paprika, thyme, chipotle, jalapeño and oil in a ziplock bag.

Set aside for 4 hours in the fridge.

Heat a large frying pan over high heat.

Tip the chicken and marinade into the hot pan along with the onion slices.

Cook over high heat until the chicken is cooked through and coloured a little.

Serve with wraps.