Thursday, September 05, 2019

Bake Your Tacos - A Different Way to Consume Them

Got the inspiration for this dish from the Hello Fresh people
Instead of making Chili and the condiments and wrapping them up in Tortillas 

How about...you bake them in the oven instead?
This looks pretty and was very popular with the family 
To feed 4- 6 people, I used
25 x 22 x 6 Deep baking dish

1 packet x 8 mini tortillas 
Homemade Chili (recipe below)

For the salad
2 large tomatoes chopped 
3 spring onions chopped 
3 tablespoons Coriander chopped 
1 Cos lettuce sliced 
French dressing (enough to dress your salad )

1 small tub Sour cream
100 gms grated cheddar cheese 

First make a batch of Chili
 
This is my favourite
 
Gilli's Chili
500 gms mince
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili flakes

1 more tablespoons olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 small carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
1 tin Mexican beans
1 tin cherry tomatoes in juice

First
Brown the mince in olive oil
Season with spices
Cook for a couple of minutes
Remove from pan set aside
Saute onion, garlic and carrot till soft
Add back the mince
Plus beans and tomatoes.

Check seasoning and adjust if necessary
If the beans are not hot enough some more chili flakes would be good.

Cook gently for about 30 minutes
This improves on hanging about but you can eat it straight away

To assemble The Baked Tortilla
Grease the casserole dish with olive oil
Line it with the tortillas
Fill with the hot Chili
Sprinkle with grated cheese
 
Bake at 180C fan oven for about 30 minutes 
So the filling is bubbling and cheese is melted 
And the Tortillas are crisp

To serve 
Divide into 6 and slide into plate
Dress with sour cream and place serving of salad on the side
Dinner is served 

Eat Your Greens!!!

Sometimes it's hard to get kids to eat the leafy greens
But if you disguise the one that they really turn their nose up at like Silverbeet (Chard)
Just mix the sliced leaves with some other greens that kids seem to love
i.e.Broccoli,  Courgettes,
Add a shallot for flavour
Some peas
And Voila...Gorgeous bright green vege, who can resist this
Olive Oil
1 shallot peeled and sliced
1 head broccoli
1 courgette sliced
1 bunch silverbeet (chard)
1 cup frozen peas (blanched)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Remove stalks from the broccoli
slice into matchsticks

Cut broccoli head into "Trees "
Slice courgette

Remove stalks from silverbeet and  slice thinly
The slice leaves

Into a pan add good dash -(2-3) tablespoons Olive oil
Add sliced shallots
saute till soft
Add the broccoli stalks and silverbeet stalks
Meanwhile blanch Broccoli (trees) and courgettes slices in boiling salted water
 for 1 minute,
 drain and add to pan
Slice silverbeet leaves and add to pan
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
saute until soft
While this is happening
Blanch frozen peas in boiling salted water
Then add to  pan
taste and adjust seasoning if needed
An excellent side dish of vege for your dinner
Pair with your protein of the day and if you want some carbs
Mashed potato perhaps, always a favourite