Mmmm Mmmm Nachos!

Beef Chilli Nachos.

My favourite type of food is probably Mexican, and some thing that I make really well is Nachos. I eat them when I’m out a lot, but nowhere seems to do them well.  So I thought I would show people how I make them, and then people can tell me how they like them/ if they have other ways of making them.

Friday night’s nachos were, Beef Chilli Nachos.  My favourite is definitely Chicken, but it’s always good to have some variety!

Ingredients:

400g Beef mince   1X Onion

2 X Chilli  1 X tinned tomatoes

2 X avocadoes  Zest of 1 lime

1 X large bag of tortilla chips
1 X Tin of Kidney beans

Cheese Soured cream

 To Make:

Start by making up some chilli. Brown the onions, add mince, add the chilli, add the tomatoes, and leave to bubble away for 20-30 mins (more time if you’ve got it).

Guacamole: So easy to make. Put some chopped avocado in the blender, along with chopped chilli, lime zest, squeeze the lime to add in a bit of juice, crack black pepper and it’s made!

Nacho construction (where people go wrong!):

For starters you’ll need a big roasting dish. Lay out a generous portion of tortilla chips, and dollop of guacamole, and chilli along with a handful of cheese. Place more tortilla chips over everything, dollop the rest of your chilli and guacamole

On the top, along with a huge helping of cheese. Place in the oven at 200 degrees for 8-10 mins. When you take it out, start throwing soured cream wherever you desire!

What I think: I think I make better Nachos then any I have bought, anywhere! With the main differences being: cooked in the oven, and guacamole/ salsa is also cooked with everything.If you drain any excess tomato juices before slathering them over your nachos, it will make for a better feast! Easily one of my most favourite things to ever eat. Too much love for nachos. 

I love a good bowl of soup.

Carrot, Ginger & Orange Soup

I absolutely love fresh soup, so as it’s my day off and I have plenty of vegetables in my fridge I thought I’d treat myself. I have an amazing soup book, “A Soup for everyday”, Written by Covent Garden Soup Company. It has a huge amount of soups, but sadly not the one I had decided I was going to make! Maybe I’ll write to them and tell them the recipe so they can put it in their next book teeheehee!

Ingredients:

1x chopped onion
1x diced garlic clove

2x (absolutely huge) carrots

20g chopped, fresh Ginger

Orange zest from one Orange

½ Orange, chopped

200ml Chicken stock

On to the making!

Gently heat through (not brown) onions & garlic in olive oil over the hob. Leave for about 5 mins.

Add in carrots, ginger, orange & orange zest, Chicken stock. Cover and leave for a about 20 mins.

Blend until everything runs smooth.

Season to taste.

Chicken, roasted Peppers & Pesto Pasta.

Chicken, roasted Peppers & Pesto Pasta.

This meal is most probably top of my list for “comfort food”. I adore it! It’s one of those meals where you can tuck in, and continue to eat until it’s all gone (enough to make you feel like a labrodor!). It’s easy to make, looks good and isn’t as fatty as most other comfort food dishes.

Ingredients:

1 x Red onion, sliced

3 x peppers (more colour variety will of course make it look more appealing!)

2 x Chicken breasts, chopped.

2x tablespoons of pesto

180g Pasta

A good glug of olive oil

Start by slicing both peppers and onion, and place in a roasting dish, with the addition of a glug of olive oil.  Roast for about 20-25 mins (but keep an eye on it and give it a mix half way though.).

Begin to boil pasta.

Gently fry chicken breasts in a pan- try not to cook in too much oil as there will be plenty in the dish when everything I added together.

Rinse pasta.

In the roasting dish add your pasta, chicken and mix in the few tablespoons of pesto. Viola! Dinner is made!

What I think: I think I’ve already made it clear how much I adore this meal. Easy and tasty, and relatively effortless. 

Eating out in Edinburgh- Café Cassis

Eating out in Edinburgh- Café Cassis

The last weekend I went out for lunch with The Boyfriends family to celebrate his Mum and Sister’s birthday. Wooo! We headed to, Café Cassis, (part of The Salisbury Hotel) A French restaurant in the Newington area of Edinburgh.

The restaurant offers a very nicely priced lunch menu, with the option of having specials on a board. We all opted for the lunch menu, which offers two courses £8.95 with the option to add on £1.95 for a dessert.

I opted for a bowl of Moules marinière with cream, garlic and parsley, in a delicious sauce, served with a few baskets of bread for the table to share.  I was so happy with this starter. Having the bread also meant I could soak up all of the juices to leave a clean bowl! The portion size was pretty generous, especially for a starter, and to my delight I didn’t have to throw any muscles away as they were all opened, woo wooo!

For my main course I had, beef bourguignon, which looked like a small portion when it came out, but it was deceptive as it was actually the perfect portion size! The meat was wonderful, very tender, and the whole dish had plenty of flavour.

For dessert I chose Homemade nougat ice cream terrine served with crème anglaise and

Raspberry coulis. It wasn’t the most impressive looking desert, but it tasted good and was a lovely way to finish the meal.

What I think: The service was excellent. We had one waitress to take all of our orders, and two waitresses to serve everything, so food came out very swiftly! The quality was wonderful throughout and I don’t think there is anyway you expect more, especially with such a small price tag on the set meal. The restaurant itself looked for clean and fresh. I expect I will go back for more. All things considered I don’t think I can give it any less than 9/10 (an upgrade on desserts and it would be a very easy 10).

Restaurant website:  http://www.cafecassis.co.uk/index.html

Red Lentil and Apricot Påté

Red Lentil and Apricot Påté

100% that it tastes so much better than it looks!

When I was vegetarian I always used to eat lentil påté, made by cauldron, but recently I’ve not seen it anywhere! So with the knowledge that lentil works will as a pate I have decided to try and make some for myself. I spent a while mumming and ahhhing into my cupboards deciding what ingredients to throw into the mix, and finally decided on a few spices and apricots.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 180 g dried red lentils
• 800ml vegetable stock
• 5 dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons of sunflower spread
• 2 teaspoons of ras-el-hanout
• 1 teaspoon of garma masala
• 1 teaspoon of cumin

Directions:

Brown onions and garlic in oil.

Add in spices.

Add the dried red lentils, along with 800ml of vegetable stock.

Leave to cook, stirring occasionally for 15-20 mins

When the lentils have absorbed the majority of the water, get a sift and squeeze away excess water

Add 2 teaspoon of sunflower spread/ marge

Using a hand processor, blend the mix until it forms a smooth paste

Put mix in greased tin

Cover, and cook for 30-40 mins at 180 degrees.

What I think:

It’s not the most attractive thing I’ve ever concocted in the kitchen, but it is high up there on my list of tasty things. Especially tasty things that I can eat at breakfast! I was hoping the lentils would hold their colour a wee bit more, but that is my only disappointment.  The texture is spot on and it’s easy to spread.