Sweetcorn and Blackbean Enchilladas

A veggie enchilada for when himself has a meat based one as happened last night. This recipe feeds two. I cook the full amount, eat half and freeze the other half to reheat on another day. 

Go meaty by adding some shredded cooked chicken at the same time as the sweetcorn to (his) half.
Go vegan with vegan cheese equivalent and coconut yoghurt.
Go Lali with hard goats cheese and coconut yoghurt :) 

Make a tomato sauce from one onion and a tin of tomatoes, and leave simmering

Fry one diced medium onion in 1tbsp olive oil until translucent.
Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 tsp of fajita seasoning, 1/2 tsp of ground cumin and fry for a further minute.

Add drained can/carton of black beans with 100ml of water (I first used the water to swill out the cans of tomatoes used for the tomato sauce) and 1/2 tsp of dried oregano.

Simmer until most of the water has evaporated. Mash, taste and season with salt and pepper. (Depending on the fajita seasoning used you might need chilli powder/more fajita seasoning as well).

Heat oven to 180C

Spread half of the tomato sauce on the base of a small oven proof dish.
Split the black bean sauce between each tortilla wrap (two UK standard size ones or four small ones). Same for sweetcorn.
Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down on top of the sauce
Cover with the remaining sauce and grate over cheddar cheese

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes (until golden and bubbling)

Serve with guacamole, greek yoghurt, shredded lettuce and diced cucumber.

Pineapple sauce to go with ham or gammon

What to serve as a sauce with gammon?
- Cumberland sauce of course.
- Leeks with thyme and cream cheese works well. Especially if with new potatoes and wild garlic butter.
How about Pineapple (especially as had a large tin of rings)? Many American recipes.

My variant today - the gammon was glazed with honey and English mustard powder
In saucepan mix:
- 0.25 pint of pineapple juice
- 0.25 pints water
- 100g chopped pineapple pieces (from tin)
- 50g light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard

Whisk and then bring gradually to boil over medium heat stirring until thickened. Add more water if needed.

Add 2 tsp cider vinegar and salt. Taste and add more of either/both to taste.

For next time, looking at a separate recipe - will look at adding soy sauce and ketchup as well.

Pineapple rings left over (large tin is cheaper than small one)
100g will be used in 'Hairy Dieters' Caribbean Chicken curry
100g will be griddled to go with slices of cold gammon and chips

No pineapple salsa this time

Menu for the week July 9th 2017 incl Leek gravy and Tuscan Bean stew

Roast Chicken today. With:
Leek gravy: two large leeks, trimmed, cleaned. Halve lengthwise and slice into 1 cm slices. Put in lidde frying pan with a couple of tbsp . 400ml of liquid in total. 2 Chicken stock cubes - or 1 if lots of juices from the chicken.

And my own frozen roast potatoes - based on https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1789635/freezeahead-roasties but using polenta or semolina to coat


Using up some of the left over chicken, yet a vegetarian meal for me:

Tuscan Bean Stew. Variant that I will base on https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/white-haricot-bean-tomato-soup.html I have some dried haricot beans that need using (soaking as I type). Some slices of ciabatta and clever crispy chicken bits to go on top for him.

Freeze ahead Roast Potatoes

Needed to use potatoes before heading off for a few days. This is as much a reminder on how to cook them from frozen for myself. Will update when done. But a note for now - I used semolina instead of flour.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1789635/freezeahead-roasties

Thai Satay Noodles with an Asian Fish option

I love vegetarian meals. Mr B has some gene that makes him adverse to any meal that doesn't include meat! He does like fish - whilst I don't. So this is one of many meals I have been cooking where there is a good way of combing vegetarian and fish dishes

The fish element  is based on one from Jamie Oliver 15 minutes recipes 

Fish for 2 portions:
Heat oven to 200C
Oil base of shallow baking dish with about half tsp of seasame oil
Slice 150g skinned salmon fillet and 150g skinned white fish fillet into 1cm strips
Rub gently with half tsp of sea same oil and season with s&p. Place in baking dish.
Scatter half tbsp of seasame seeds over fish along with zest from half a lime and tsp of lime juice
Put in oven to cook for 7 mins.

Thai Satay Noodles for 2 portions:
Roast 15g peanuts (cashew nuts also works well)
Mix 1.5 tbsp crunchy peanut butter with 1.5 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 100ml water and 1tbsp soy sauce to make smooth sauce.
Halve 40g baby sweet corn lengthways. Cut 70g broccoli into florists.
Cook 150g egg noodles according to packet
Heat 1tbsp sesame oil in wok or frying pan and stir fry sweet corn and broccoli with 1 heaped tsp of ginger and garlic paste (or 2.5cm ginger root grated and 1 large garlic clove finely chopped) for 3 mins
Add 25g mangetouot and fry for further 2 mins
Pour over peanut sauce and bring to boil
Drain noodles and add. Stir over high heat for a minute

Serve with peanuts or fish

Spinach soup

In need of a filling tasty soup post a lengthy dentist appointment and combined a couple of recipes to come up with this

In a saucepan put

Half tin of chopped tomatoes
1 large onion chopped
1 medium potato chopped
1 small green chilli roughly chopped
1 rounded tsp of ginger and garlic paste (or 1/4 inch ginger and 1 clove garlic)
300 ml water

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the onions and potatoes are soft

Add 100-150g spinach leaves and leave t wilt (about 2 minutes).

Blitz using hand blender

Season and add 100ml milk. Serve

Green Tomato Banana Chutney

1kg green tomatoes - chopped (original recipe has them peeled as well)
1kg windfall apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1kg onions - chopped
1kg sultanas - chopped
1.5 litres malt vinegar (3 litres in total)

Put all of these ingredients into a stainless steel pan and cook until just soft.

1kg bananas - peeled and chopped
500g crystallised ginger - chopped
1350g (3lb) soft brown sugar
4tbsp sea salt

Add these ingredients to the pan along with another 1.5 litres of malt vinegar. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently until the chutney is smooth and thick. Pot. Seal when cold.