Sunday brunch - cowboy style (huevos rancheros)

These could be made veggie simply by leaving out the bacon but for those of us who are partial to a bit of  meat the flavour can't be duplicated.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 rashers smoked back bacon chopped
1 onion chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 red chilli deseeded and chopped
1 tin sweet corn drained
1 tin kidney beans rinsed and drained
2tsp chilli powder
1/2tsp black pepper
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp smoked paprika
Tabasco sauce to taste

2 wholemeal wraps
4 large eggs
Grated cheddar
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200*C
2. Fry the bacon until any water has evaporated and it has gone golden and crispy
3. Add the onions, chilli and peppers and cook gently until the onions are translucent and soft
4. Add the spices and Tabasco and cook for a couple of minutes
5. Add the sweet corn and kidney beans and cook gently till everything is piping hot through
6. Line two ovenproof bowls with the tortilla wraps
7. Divide the hash mix between the wraps (without overfilling)
8. Top with the grated cheese and crack in 2 eggs on top of everything
9. Bake in the oven at 200*C for 10-15 mins. Keep an eye on them as you want the yolks still runny
10. Serve

Chicken fajitas

My lovely hubby constantly goes on about the chicken fajitas they make at his work and how amazing they are. In his opinion mine are never as good ... Until now!!! He finally explained what mine was lacking was a sauce. So I tweaked my recipe and voila! This one has lots of veggies, lots of flavour and makes one chicken breast go a long way.

Serves 2
1 chicken breast sliced into strips
1tsp olive oil
1 onion sliced
1/2 red, yellow and green peppers sliced
1 clove garlic crushed

Spice mix:
1tsp oregano
1tsp cumin
1tsp black pepper
Pinch salt
2tsp smoked paprika
1tsp chilli powder

Tabasco sauce to taste
Hot water

Accompaniments:
4 wholemeal wraps
Salad
Grated cheddar
Natural yoghurt

1. Fry the chicken strips turning once till sealed
2. Add the onion and cook down a little
3. Add the peppers and garlic and cook till softened
4. Sprinkle over the spices and cook gently stirring often
5. Add the tomato purée, Tabasco and water to make the sauce. You want to add what looks like a little too much water as it will reduce down to make a rich sauce
6. Warm the wraps in foil in the oven
7. Serve as a build-your-own

Turkish style pizza

Rightio, first off, the original recipe used lamb but I don't much like it so I switched to beef. Nothing to do with ethical issues, I just never had it as a kid (excuse the pun) and never acquired a taste for it so it's a bit strong for my liking so I always just swap beef for lamb. Secondly, as I got part way through this I realised something was missing -salt! The original recipe I found was just spiced meat in a tomato paste on the wrap and while that's good and healthy it meant the dish lacked balance. So I made a last minute addition of some crumbled feta, giving it the creamy, fresh saltiness that balances the dry, spicy meat and the crispy nutty wholemeal wrap.


Ingredients:
2 wholemeal tortilla wraps
250g extra lean beef mince
1/2 ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
Pinch cinnamon
2 cloves garlic crushed
4tbsp tomato purée
1tsp lime juice
10-15 drops Tabasco sauce
6-8 chopped cherry tomatoes
1tbsp chopped fresh mint
1tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 pack feta cheese crumbled



Method:
1. Preheat oven to 220*C
2. Dry fry mince in a non stick frying pan breaking up into crumbled bits
3. Add the spices and cook out on a low heat
4. Add the tomato paste, lime and Tabasco
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and mint. Cook gently until the tomato juices evaporate
6. Spray foil with fry light and lay on a wrap
7. Divide the mince between the two wraps and spread out
8. Bake for 10 mins
9. Crumble over the feta and sprinkle with the chopped basil and serve

Nandos style lunch

When is a Sunday lunch not a Sunday lunch? When it's a nandos style chicken and sides.

Sometimes a Sundays dinner is just a bit too much of a chore so I tried this instead. You could easily do this with a whole roast chicken by spatchcocking it but for two of us I opted for a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I served it with corn on the cob, green salad and jalapeño coleslaw (I didn't make the coleslaw but imagine it wouldn't be too hard to do a healthier version using natural yoghurt and puréed chilli paste instead of mayo).

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts in a food bag
1tsp olive oil

For the dry rub:
1 chicken oxo cube
2tsp chilli powder
3tsp smoked paprika
2tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground black pepper

Sides:
4 mini corn on the cobs
Green salad
Jalapeño coleslaw

1. Open the top corner of the food bag so the air can escape. Using a rolling pin etc, bash the chicken in the bag until it's flattened out. The thinner it is the faster it will cook and the greater the surface area to soak up the rub and have contact with the pan to go crispy.
2. Put the corn in a pan of boiling waster. Bring to the boil again and boil for 10 minutes until tender.
3. In the meantime preheat the frying pan on a low heat
4. Mix the spices in a bowl along with the oxo cube crumbled up.
5. Pour the spices into the bag and scrunch around until the chicken is totally coated.
6. Add the oil to the pan and add each piece of chicken carefully ensuring it's fully opened out.
7. Fry on a medium heat turning occasionally until the chicken has a dark spice crust but is cooked and tender inside.
8. Drain the corn and serve with the chicken and the other sides.