Mexican food & such

My husband is currently having a love affair with chorizo and I am having a love affair with Mexican food. Actually, Tex-Mex food... But I suppose I should call it Oz-Mex as I am here in Australia and am constantly finding replacements for ingredients. Being in a smaller town also makes it challenging but that is all part of the adventure.  Last night, we had some left over chorizo from a meal last week so I decided to make Tenina's Chorizo Quesadillas (I also made her Flour and Duck Fat tortilla and her tomato and avocado side salad). Before Christmas, I treated myself to her second cookbook called Keeping It Simple - Recipes for a Thermomix. It had only just come out so I ordered it from her website. You can purchase it in Dymocks but I am not sure if it is for all of Australia or just in Perthy. I decided that while I was being a lady of leisure, I would cook my way through my cookbooks (which I have many) and this was the first one I decided to conquer.

I love Tenina's recipes. I find them full of flavour and very simple. I will be upfront and say that they aren't exactly low in calories but I cut back on the cheese or eat smaller portions with bigger servings of salad! She has 2 cookbooks, a few eBooks and a great phone app called "Spin a Dinner." She is also on Facebook and the great thing with that is that she answers any questions you might have. It is called Cooking with Tenina. She is also on Pintrest, my other favourite site!

Below are some photo's of my meal last night... I am not sure how Tenina managed to flip them without them falling apart as mine just went every where. 

Chorizo Quesadilla's

Ingredients

Handful of coriander and oregano
120 - 130g each parmesan and chedder, cubed
140g Chorizo sausage, chopped in large pieces (I also added left over spicy pepperoni)
1/2 red onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves
3 spring onions, chopped
3 cherry tomatoes per quesadilla, halved
1 green capcisum, diced
1 avocado
Kernels cut from 1 ear of corn (I used frozen corn)
200g crumbled feta (I used only 100g)
Olive oil for frying
8 - 10 flour and duck fat tortillas or purchased tortilla

In the Thermomix

Place coriander and oregano into TM bowl and chop 3-4 sec/speed 7
Place cheeses into TM bowl and grate 10 sec/speed 7. Transfer to a bowl and set aside

Place sausage, onion, garlic into TM bowl and chop 5 sec/speed 6. 

Cook for 7 min/Varoma/speed soft (the one that looks like a spoon mixing).

Prepare the remaining toppings and set aside

Layout each tortilla and spread with the avocado, grated cheese with herbs, sausage mixture, and a little bit of the other toppings finishing with the feta. Top with the second tortilla.

Meanwhile heat a large frypan on medium heat for around 6-7 minutes. The pan should not be smoking but fully heated.

Drizzle a little olive oil and place the quesadilla into the pan, cover and cook for around 2-3 minutes... Turn over carefully and repeat.

Note - I did not have a cover for the frypan and it still worked

Slice into quarters and serve with fresh lime wedges and additional coriander leaves.. You will notice that I did not... I served it with a tomato, avocado and spring onion salad. You could also add a dish of sour cream, guacamole and fresh red chillies.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. It made a total of 4 tortilla's so there was enough for lunch the next day!

Next time I think I will try it without the feta as it made it a bit salty.

One pot meal and other things

I recently moved from Brisbane to Central Queensland with my husband and 2 beautiful cocker spaniels. It has been a quite an adventure, and after 1 week, I am starting to enjoy this lady of leisure business. I am spending time walking my dogs, meeting new people and cooking... Lots of cooking!

It has taken me a while to get internet connection, but now that I have it, I should be able to post more frequently, until I decide that I need to start working...

Anyway, last week I made this amazing meal that I found on Pintrest. I LOVE Pintrest and just love browsing through the site... I found this recipe through Pintrest (a blog called apron strings) and it is called, "One Post Wonder Tomato Basil Pasta." It is so easy, almost too easy and the results YUMMM!

Ingredients are as follows (serves 4 - 6)

500g linguine (I used fettuccine)
1 can diced tomato and liquid (I used organic)
1 onion (the original recipe suggested a sweet onion but we don't have that here so I used spanish) cut into julenne strips
4 (or more) garlic very thinly sliced
1/2 chili flakes (or more if you like it hot)
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
4 1/2 cups stock (I used chicken) NOT the low sodium variety
2 tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 bunch fresh basil, diced
Parmesan cheese


Place pasta, tomato, onion and garlic into a large stock pot

Pour in stock and sprinkle on top the chilli flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and bring to a low simmer, keeping it covered for 10 - 14 minutes (testing the pasta until it is cooked to your liking), stirring every 2 minutes or so to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan. (I know..it isn't covered but I wanted to show it simmering)..

Cook until the liquid is almost evaporated.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the basil leaves and stir the pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the pot evenly through out the pasta as you are serving...

Add the parmesan cheese and vola! A pasta meal in less then 15 minutes!!!

I personally would wait about 10 minutes for it too cool.. I ate it too quickly and burnt the roof of my mouth..

I hope you enjoy it like we did. I am sure you could probably add some sliced chorizo, bacon, pancetta or anything else that strikes your fancy!