Red Kite
I went for a walk with the camera today trying to bring back a few shots of either a red kite or a common buzzard. The Red Kite delighted me by circling around, never quite overhead but close enough to get a few shots.
I missed a shot of a heron flying past with great wings flapping like some lost creature from the age of the dinosaurs. Not my favourite birds, they have raided our fish ponds too often.
The chicken fajitas have gone down and I think went well. They are a bit of work but organisation is the key. I did get to use my left over egg yolk todays at risk in the fridge item.
Decide you want the chicken fajitas and allow a day for marinading the chicken. It needs as little as half a day but if you’re a busy home then do the preparation the night before. This is a big meal for two adults. If you add another chicken breast and juice of a lime it will stretch to 2 adults and 2 children.
Chicken marinade
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon mild chili powder for us – if you like chili try it with half a teaspoon normal chili powder
half teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon olive oil
a clove of garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped.
2 chicken breasts or the equivalent in boned chicken thighs or legs (as we used from the last of our £4 chicken from co-op where they don’t purchase the crammed in chicken rearing types)
Chop the chicken into bite sized chunks. Put all the other ingredients in a bowl and stir in the chicken until coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and put in the fridge to marinade.
Flour Tortillas
If you are cooking the potatoes put them in the microwave for 10 minutes while you make the dough
You can buy these ready made to cut down the work but it’s fun to make them. I got this recipe from a friend – Aura.
2 cups of flour (I used self raising)
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Three quarters of a cup of milk
2 teaspoons olive oil (the cheap stuff not extra virgin as it tastes too strong).
Either use a food processor or a hand whisk with the dough hooks on – or you have to knead the dough for 15 minutes by hand!
Put the flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of the mixer or processor. Start the motor and add in the oil then milk. Allow it all to come together and then let it run for a couple of minutes. The dough should have some elasticity to it.
Put the dough in a plastic food bag or wrap in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. While this is resting put the potatoes in the oven then cook the veg and chicken.
Potato skins with bacon and cheese
Oven to 180 degrees C/ Gas mark 4
4 egg sized potatoes
2 slices of bacon, cut up into little pieces and fried.
2 ounces of grated cheese
an egg yolk
salt and pepper
paprika
a dribble of sour cream
Take one egg sized potato per person, flick a bit of salt over them and microwave until cooked through (I did 4 for 10 minutes on high).
Put the potatoes on a baking sheet covered in foil. Cut them in half and scrape out some of the cooked potato from each. They need to stand on their own still. Put the scraped out potato into a bowl and add half the grated Cheddar, the eggyolk, half the bacon bits, a pinch of salt. Mash up with a fork and add a dribble of the sour cream.
Put the potato mash back into the skins
put the bacon bit over the top and the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle with paprika
Put in the oven for 25 minutes -while it’s cooking fry the veg and then the chicken
Vegetables
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 onion
1 clove garlic.
a knob of butter
Peel and slice the onion as thinly as you can. Peel and chop the garlic into little bits.
Chop off the tops of the peppers and take out the seeds. Slice the peppers as thinly as you can.
Heat the oil in a frying pan until melted.
Pop it all in and sizzle on a medium heat for about 14 minutes. Put them in an oven proof dish at the bottom of the oven to keep warm.
Dips and sides
Put some sour cream in a bowl to use as a dip. Also grate a bit of cheese and put that in another bowl
Fry the chicken
Using the same pan as you did the veg in drop the chicken in and allow it to sizzle on a medium heat giving it a stir every now and then for about 15 minutes.
To make the Tortillas
split the dough into 10 and roll them into balls. Flatten each ball.
Take each ball and roll out until a very thin roundish shape. Store wrapped in a clean tea towell.
Heat a thick based frying pan (no oil). When it’s hot cook a fajita for 30 seconds on each side. The pan needs to be hot and the surface should bubble a bit.
You need a clean tea towel on the side and a piece of foil over it. Get another piece of foil and each time a tortilla is cooked pop it between the foil and fold over the tea towel.
Once it’s all cooked assemble on a plate – veg, chicken, potato, sides and add a couple of tortillas folded up on the side of the plate.
Also if you keep the Fajitas wrapped and don’t eat them all you can freeze the left overs for next time.
