NACHOS CON POLLO – nachos with chicken :) mmmm

NACHOS in the oven

My sister in law Sara introduced me to this wonderful dish of nachos with chicken and mushrooms and it is just so delicious that my husband has been asking me to make it over and over again! It is really THAT good.
I never used to be a nachos fan but now I love it very much and have since put my own spin on it adding different spices and making my own tomatoe and onion spicy sauce 🙂 And it tastes so much better than it looks in the photos.

INGREDIENTS
4 or 5 medium/large tomatoes
2 medium to large oinions
1 red pepper
half a green pepper
1 or 2 chillies
salt and pepper (black and cayenne)
2 – 4 tablespoons sugar
1 packet of Nachos corn chips
1 and a half cups grated cheddar cheese
3 or 4 fresh pepperdews (if available)
4 chicken breasts cubed or sliced into strips
4 table spoons of sweet chilli sauce or chutney
1 punnet of button mushrooms sliced
10cm length of cucumber diced onto cubes
6 table spoons sour cream
half and avocado
2 teaspoons brown vinegar

SPICY TOMATOE SAUCE
Dice the onion and fry in a little oil till light brown with some salt. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, then peel off the skins and dice and add to the onions. let simmer for 3 min then add diced red and green peppers  and finely chopped chillies – add as little or as much to taste – mild to burny. Add finely chopped and deseeded pepper dews if available. Simmer and add sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Let the mixture simmer until nice and thick.

CHICKEN
In a separate pan fry the chicken breasts in a little oil and sweet chilli sauce or chutney (which ever you prefer) and set aside in a once cooked through.

MUSHROOMS
In a separate pan or pot fry the mushrooms in a little oil and set aside.

AVOCADO
remove the avocado from the skin and mash till soft and mix in the vinegar and a little salt

ASSEMBLY
turn on the grill of the oven to Hot/ 220 degrees celcius. On a large oven proof dish/plate lay out a  medium to thick layer of nachos chips. Spoon the spicey tomatoe sauce over the chips taking care not to put to much on, roughly a no thicker than your little finger thick of sauce all over. Now layer as follows: spread the chicken then the mushrooms then the cucumber and then the grated cheese all in nice even layers.place under the grill and brown until bubbling and melted all over.

take out the oven and spoon sour creamin the middle topped with the avo and serve while hot.
eat while warm as it will go soggy.

enjoy  – very delicious

Betty

Lamb Shank and the Husbands Birthday

So when making plans for my husbands birthday weekend one of the things he requested was a 3 course meal with 2 of our friends – and i was happy to oblige 🙂
so the 3 course meal he requested was:
Starters – Roasted butternut soup with cream and pumpkin seeds
Main course – Lamb shank on a bed of mash potatoes with a side of garden salad
Dessert – Decadent Chocolate Mousse with a Vanilla Marscapone and cream topping

well he didn’t quite ask for the vanilla marscapone and cream topping – that i added myself but he did ask for the chocolate mousse 🙂 and the soup and lamb shanks with mash and salad. My man has such good taste 🙂

So I proceded to cook my day away friday to complete all the food for friday night. This sounds so much more dramatic than it really is. It wasn’t that hectic and I did manage to pop down to the market in the afternoon and come home and bath, wash my hair and blow dry it – so you see it didn’t take me to long to cook otherwise i wouldn’t have had time to do all those other things 🙂 Our lovely guests were  fellow blogger Brazen from being brazen and her Boyfriend – take a look at her blog here.

so for this post I’ll put up the recipe for the Lambshank.I have done a post/recipe for the butternut soup a few months ago so please look for it here

LAMBSHANKS ON A BED OF MASH WITH A GARDEN SIDE SALAD

yes i really did make this myself 🙂

INGREDIENTS

4 lamb shanks (i used free range lamb)

2 onions finely diced

2 tins of peeled italian organic tomatoes or 8 large fresh tomatoes peeled and cubed

1 glass good quality red wine

1 cup beef or roast onion stock

3 medium sprigs of fresh rosemary

half an organic lemon cut in 3 chunks

salt and pepper

sugar

METHOD

1) Season shanks with lots of salt and black pepper to taste then fry shanks in batches in a HOT frying pan with some olive or sunflower oil. Brown on all sides and then set aside in an oven dish that all 4 shanks will fit in together. 

2) in the same pan that you browned the shanks cook the finely diced onion until soft and light brown -use more oil if needed then place ontop of the shanks.

3) then add to the dish of shanks and onion the tomatoe, wine and stock with the rosemary and lemon nestled inbetween – lightly sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar and cover and place in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for roughly 2 hours – check randomly and turn.

4) uncover for the last half an hour and spoon the tomatoe sauce over the shanks and let the sauce thicken while cooking. If you are preparing the shanks in advance then take them out at this stage before the sauce thickens to much and leave covered in the fridge until half an hour to 45 minuted before serving place in a prewarmed oven of 180 degrees celcius and serve on a bed of mash potatoes and a side salad or veg of your choice

Bon apetit 

It’s Friday – time for Weekend food :) BURGERS mmmmm

So I am finally finished with my major deadlines and my daughters show is over 🙂 YAY! [jumping up and down]. She was a beautiful flower in a ballet piece in a dance show. She loved every minute of being on stage and every night it finished she wanted to be back on stage to dance some more (it ran for 3 nights). Which sounds so lovely and glamorous but running around doing hair (scraped back with gel) and making sure her costume is clean and being on time back stage. took it’s toll on bed times and supper routines and with my deadlines i am so happy it is over. Thats not saying i didn’t enjoy watching her perform – she was beautiful 🙂
So I now feel like i’m on holiday, the sun is shining and i still have lots of odds and ends to tie up but it’s friday and i just can’t shake this amazing feeling of summer and braai and fun 🙂 I think i will make some super delicious lamb burgers tonight with chips – I made them a while back but had no chance to post the recipe… so here it is.
Hope you have a super fun weekend.

Betty Bake

LAMB OR BEEF BURGER AND CHIPS

500g Beef or Lamb ground mince
1 medium onion (peeled)
1 clove of garlic (peeled) OPTIONAL
1 – 2 Tablespoons chutney
1 teaspoon worcester sauce
1 free range egg
salt
pepper
fresh basil leaves (2 or 3) or parsley
a sprinkle of sugar

In a medium bowl add the mince then grate in the onion on the fine side of the grater. Then finely chop or crush the garlic and add – i didn’t bother this time – i only use when i really feel like garlic. Then add ample salt and some black pepper. Mix and add the egg, chutney and worcester sauce. Then add the basil or parsley leaves roughly chopped. Mix all together with your hands and shape into 8 to 10 burger patties. Fry a little piece and test for saltiness – add more if needed and a sprinkle of sugar. Then Fry up your Patties.
Serve your hamburger patties on a nice fresh wholewheat roll and top with a homemade tomato and  onion relish.
*this mixture can also be rolled into small balls and fried for cocktail snacks – serve with a nice sweet and tangy dipping sauce*

RELISH
4/5 tomatoes peeled (place in boiling water then peel). Finely chop 1 to 2 onions then fry in some sunflower oil until lightly golden and add the peeled and chopped tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, basil and oregano and some sugar. Keep adding sugar until the sourness of the tomatoes has been balanced out. lightly simmer for roughly 20 min. And serve on your burgers.
*Goes nicely on boerewors rolls too.*

Spaghetti Bolognese (my version)

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

1 x  500g pack of free range beef mince
2 x medium onions
1 x 125g button mushrooms
2 x garlic cloves
1 x tin of tomatoe paste concentrate
1 x large jar of organic tomatoe puree or 2 x tins of whole italian organic tomatoes
6 – 10 tablespoons sugar 
basil dried or fresh
oregano dried or fresh
salt
pepper
Spaghetti pasta ( i use wheat free – king soba noodles)

1) Place the mince in a large frying pan and over low heat fry (stirring occasionally) until cooked and changed colour to brown
2) while mince is browning finely dice the onions, thinly slice the muchrooms and peel and crush the garlic
3) when the mince is brown add the onions and cook until onion is translucent
4) add mushrooms and garlic and stir, cook until mushrooms start to soften
5) add the tin of tomatoe concentrate, stir in
6) add the jar of tomatoe puree (if using the whole tinned tomatoes push them through a sieve mashing until all juices are extracted and add to mince mixture)
7) add a little salt and pepper
8) add roughly a teaspoon of basil and a teaspoon of oregano (dried) or a half a hand ful of each chopped (if using fresh)
9) add 2- 3 tablespoons sugar
10) stir and let simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes
11) taste, add more sugar if the mix is still to sour and a little salt of it needs
12) simmer until nice and thick and not to runny then add a bit more oregano and basil to taste
13) cook pasta as instructed on the packet
14) drain pasta and put into bowls – dollop mince on top and grate over a good parmesan cheese

serve warm with some nice soft fresh bread and a salad – or enjoy on its own

Enjoy

Roast Chicken

MMMM the smell of roast chicken is sooo good. It has this nice homely smell that is just so comforting.
So for a Dinner or lunch that takes very little prepartion but a bit of waiting – here is the easy roast chicken and little potatoes.

For the Quickest Roast chicken and potatoes

Ingredients
1 x medium/large freerange, hormone free chicken
5 x medium carrots or parsnips
1 x packet of whole baby potatoes with garlic butter
 a little butter
salt

Method
1) Turn you oven to 180 degrees celcius
2) Wash your chicken inside and out under running cold water and then shack off to dry.
3) place in a oven proof large dish or roaster and season with lots of salt all over the skin
4) open the bag of baby potatoes and place all around the chicken and put a few in the body cavity
5) Brake the garlic butter that came with the potoes in half and place a piece on either end of the dish on top of the potatoes
6) Dot blobs of butter all around the dish
7) scrub and wash the carrots and then cut into long sticks and place on top of the chicken and potatoes
8) Spoon the butter back over the potatoes from the dish at 15 to 20 minutes intervals 
9) Place dish in the middle of the oven and roast for roughly an hour – check on the chicken at 40min and adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Chicken is cooked when crispy and brown on the outside and clear juices run out when inserting a knife into the thick part of the meat.

Serve you chicken, potatoes and carrots with a nice crisp salad for a nice lunch or dinner

enjoy
Betty Bake

 

POTATO BAKE :) the humble potatoe

Potato is my favorite vegetable! Butternut comes a close second, but potatoe smothered in butter cooked in all sorts of ways there is no beating it! Roast potato, baked potato, mashed potato, potato salad, potato bake, potato chips… potato, potato, potato 🙂

Ingredients
6 to 8 medium potatoes
half a tub (125ml) cream
half a medium onion (very thinly sliced in half rings)
6 button mushrooms
butter (roughly 5 tablespoons)
garlic & herb spice
half a round of feta
a little bit of cheddar or parmesan
salt

Method

Peel and very thinly slice the potatoes.
Butter the bottom of an oven proof dish and line the dish with some of the potato until you have just covered the base.

Dot the layer of potatoes with small blobs of butter and then add some very thinly sliced onion pieces.
Sprinkle with garlic & herb spice and some sliced mushrooms.
Layer with another layer of potatoes until all is covered over and repeat the butter, onion, spices, mushroom layers.
Keep layering until you finish up with potatoes.
On the top layer add blobs of butter, some garlic & herb spice and then crumble parmesan cheese and grated parmesan or cheddar.
Pour cream over the whole dish and season well with salt and garlic & herb spice.

Place in the oven at 190 degrees celcius and bake until soft in the middle (test with a knife inserted into it) and crispy and golden on the top.

🙂 enjoy
Goes nicely with a garden salad and meat of your choice.

weekEND food

CREAMY BUTTERNUT, FETA AND WALNUT PASTA

so it isn’t only weekend  food but anyday of the week food – pasta is one of those great staples that you can dish into a bowl and just spoon into your mouth while watching a movie or reading a book – you don’t have to think about it – it just tastes good 🙂

Ingredients
1 x packet of pasta – preferably the spaghetti or tagliatelle kind- i used King Soba Brown Rice noodles but regular noodles will do too
1 x medium butternut
1 x tub(250ml) cream
1 x round of feta
1 x medium onion roughly diced
1 or 2 cloves fresh garlic peeled (kept whole)
1 x handful of walnuts or cashew nuts
some olive oil

Method

1) Peel and dice the butternut into medium to small cubes then put in a roasting pan with diced onion and the garlic and drizze with olive oil.
2) Roast in the oven at 190 degrees celcius until soft and and lightly browned.
3) Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook your pasta according to the packets instructions.
4) In a large frying pan or pot place the roasted butternut and onion, add the tub of cream and bring to a simmer.

5) Crumble in half the feta and season with salt.
6) Once the pasta is boiled rinse and mix in with the butternut cream mixture and crumble feta on top and stir on most of the nuts.

Dish into bowls and sprinkle a few extra nuts on top

🙂