Avocado, Cheese and Tabasco Toasties

Spicy avocado paste with tomato slices, cheese and Tabasco sauce toasties

Ideas for recipes can come from a virtually endless number of different sources. I couldn't even guess how many different ways I personally have come up with ideas for preparing and serving food. This recipe is one which I adapted from a very appealing creation I happened to see on Twitter, shared by the sports' journalist and broadcaster, Eilidh Barbour. What she had done was spread some mashed avocado on toast, melt cheese over the top and sprinkle with some Tabasco sauce to finish off. Although I loved the idea as it was shared, I decided to play around with it a bit and this creation is what I developed.

Vegetable ingredients for toastie

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 large, ripe hass avocado
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
1 mild green chilli
1 large garlic clove
2 teaspoons freshly chopped coriander (cilantro), plus extra to garnish
1 medium tomato
Slices of cheddar cheese as required
2 cheesy bread rolls (or rolls of choice)
Tabasco sauce

Stoning the avocado

Directions

Sit the avocado on a chopping board broad end down. Take a large sharp knife and cut down through the top centre just until you hit the stone. Carefully turn the avocado away from you until you have cut all the way around the circumference, right through to the stone. Set the knife aside and twist the two halves in opposite directions. They should separate easily, leaving the stone embedded in one half.

Protect your weaker hand with a thickly folded over towel and sit the half with the stone, cut side up, in your palm. Sit the knife blade on top of the stone and moderately firmly lift the knife and bring it down to embed it in the stone. Twist and remove the stone.

Avocado is mashed and seasoned

Scoop the flesh out of the two avocado halves with a teaspoon and add to a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice (to stop it oxidising and browning) and mash with a fork. Season with salt and pepper.

Preparing green chilli and garlic

Cut the top off the chilli, half it and remove the seeds and membrane. Peel the garlic clove.

Green chilli, garlic and coriander added to avocado

Finely dice the chili and add it to the avocado along with the coriander (cilantro). Grate the garlic clove in to the bowl and stir well.

Cheesy bread roll

Cut your cheese rolls in half horizontally.

Avocado paste spread on roll halves

Divide the avocado combination evenly between the four roll halves and spread out to even thickness with a knife.

Tomato slices laid on avocado

Slice the tomato moderately thinly and cut each slice in half. Lay on top of the avocado as shown.

Cheese slices laid on top of tomato

Lay cheese slices on top of the tomato to fully cover.

Tabasco sauce is added to melted cheese

Lift the assemblies carefully on to a grill (broiler) tray and place under a high heat just until the cheese is melted. Use a spatula to carefully lay two portions on two serving plates and sprinkle with Tabasco sauce. (Important note - this stuff is hot, so be careful!) Garnish with the last of the coriander.

Coriander garnishes avocado, cheese and Tabasco toasties

Kangaroo Burgers with Bacon

Kangaroo burgers with bacon and spicy mango chutney served with tortilla chips

A few months back, one of my local supermarkets was selling kangaroo leg steaks. I had a great time devising a number of different kangaroo recipes using these steaks and when I saw kangaroo burgers for sale in the same supermarket, I knew I had to give them a try. I wasn't disappointed.

Kangaroo burgers

Ingredients (Serves 1)

2 kangaroo burgers
Vegetable oil
4 strips smoked streaky bacon (standard bacon, USA)
Generous handful mixed green salad leaves of choice
2 soft bread rolls
2 teaspoons spicy mango chutney
Hot and spicy tortilla chips to serve

Starting to griddle kangaroo burgers

You can cook the burgers in a frying pan over a fairly high heat for four or five minutes each side but I prefer to use a cast iron, ridged griddle/grill pan like the one shown above. Put the pan on to preheat on the highest setting until it is literally smoking hot. This will take at least two to three minutes. Lightly oil the burgers (not the pan) and fry for three to four minutes each side, turning once. Lift to a plate, cover with foil and leave to rest for five minutes.

Starting to fry bacon

Pour a little oil in to a non-stick frying pan and fry the bacon for a minute or so each side until done. Lift to the plate with the kangaroo burgers.

Rested kangaroo burgers and bacon strips

Wash the salad leaves through a colander under running cold water and shake dry. Cut the bread rolls open and lay the salad leaves in the form of burger beds on the bottom halves. Lay a burger on each salad bed and top with a teaspoon of spicy mango chutney.

Spicy mango chutney is spread on kangaroo burgers

Lay two bacon strips on top of each burger.

Bacon strips are laid on kangaroo burgers

Close the rolls over and add a generous handful or so of tortilla chips to each plate to serve.

Kangaroo burgers with bacon ready to serve

Wings in Black Bean Sauce with Noodles

Chicken wings meat and bell peppers in black bean sauce with egg noodles

Just like many millions of other people, I love wings simply roasted or fried and eaten straight off the bone. What I love even more, however, is experimenting with different ways of cooking and particularly serving wings. 

Black bean stir frying sauce

Ingredients (Serves 2)

8 to 10 whole raw wings
6 ounce foil pack black bean stir frying sauce
8 ounce pack fresh egg noodles (or two single serving nests of dried noodles)
6 ounce pack mixed sliced bell peppers
Vegetable oil (or similar) for frying

Chicken wings in black bean sauce ready for roasting

Directions

Start by getting your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Put the black bean sauce in to a large glass or stone bowl. Add the wings whole (removing the tips is optional) and carefully fold them through the sauce to fully and evenly coat. Lay them out on a roasting tray, skin sides up, in a single layer.

Roasted chicken wings in black bean sauce

When your oven is ready, put the tray in to roast the wings for half an hour. At this stage, remove the tray and set aside until the wings are cool enough to handle. This time period will vary person to person but do be careful not to burn yourself as particularly the inside flesh of the wings against the bones will stay very hot for at least fifteen minutes.

Meat is plucked from roasted wings

Carefully pluck all the crispy skin and succulent meat from the bones and add temporarily to a small holding dish. If you want to discard some or all of the skin on healthy eating grounds that's fine but do remember it is the skin which contains most of the black bean sauce flavour.

Reheating egg noodles

These fresh egg noodles required simply to be added to a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes to reheat. If you are using dried noodles, refer to the instructions on the pack.

Starting to stir fry bell peppers

Add a tablespoon or so of oil to a deep frying pan or wok and bring up to a high heat. Add the bell peppers and stir fry for a couple of minutes until they are just starting to soften.

Draining egg noodles

Drain the noodles through a large colander or sieve.

Wings meat is added to pan with stir fried bell peppers

Add the chicken pieces to the pan and carefully fold through the peppers over a medium heat for a minute or so just to fully reheat.

Lay the egg noodles on two serving plates and arrange the chicken and peppers on top/alongside.

Noodles are arranged first on serving plate

Spicy Mackerel and Roasted Mixed Veg

Pan fried mackerel fillets are served on a bed of spiced roast vegetables

On Monday, a couple of my friends were away on a sea fishing trip out of Oban in Argyll, on the West Coast of Scotland. I was disappointed not to be able to go on the trip but at least they dropped me off a couple of fresh mackerel on the way home. I absolutely love mackerel, especially as fresh as this, and after a quick think and trip to the supermarket, this was the simple, tasty and nutritious dish I came up with for a late dinner.

Roasting vegetable ingredients

Ingredients

12 ounce tray of mixed Mediterranean roasting vegetables
1 medium red chilli pepper
1 large clove of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 fresh mackerel
2 tablespoons plain/all purpose flour
Generous shake of medium chilli powder
Vegetable or sunflower oil for frying
2 or 3 basil leaves, rolled and thinly sliced, to garnish

Vegetables prepared for roasting

Directions

Start by getting your oven on to preheat to 220C/450F/Gas Mark 8.
 
Deseed and slice the chilli and peel and slice the garlic clove. Add them to the tray of vegetables along with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir carefully but well. Cook in the oven for half an hour.

Fillets removed from freshly caught mackerel

When the vegetables were in the oven, I filleted my mackerel. I simply sliced off the two side fillets before carefully using a v-shaped double cut to remove the central ridge of bones. The dark skin and side bones can carefully be scraped away with your filleting knife.

Boning mackerel fillet

It's not essential but I like to remove the vegetables from the oven half way through cooking and give them a bit of a stir with a wooden spoon.

Vegetables are stirred half way through roasting

The mackerel fillets take literally only two or three minutes to cook in this way, so around five minutes before the veg are due to be ready, scatter the flour on a plate and season with salt, pepper and chilli powder.

Seasoned flour for dusting mackerel fillets

Pour a little oil in to a small, non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a fairly high heat. Pat the mackerel fillets on their skin sides only in the seasoned flour and lay them skin sides down in the pan. Season the flesh sides with more salt, pepper and chilli powder.

Starting to pan fry mackerel fillets

Keep the heat under the pan moderately high. The skin will protect the flesh and ideally crisp up that it is easier to remove. When you can see the mackerel flesh is cooked almost all the way to the top, turn the heat off under the pan, turn the fillets and leave them to complete cooking in the residual heat while you attend to the vegetables.

Mackerel fillets are turned

Take the tray of vegetables from the oven and use a slotted spoon to arrange them in a serving dish.

Roasted vegetables form bed for mackerel fillets

Lift the mackerel fillets on to the vegetables and garnish with the basil to serve. The crispy skins are edible but can be easily lifted off and discarded if preferred.

Mackerel fillets are laid on vegetable bed

Roast Chicken and Fingerling Potatoes

Roast whole chicken legs and fingerling potatoes with chantenay carrots

Fingerling potatoes are perhaps most often boiled and served with a salad rather than roasted in the oven in this way. This idea did, however, work extremely well and I will definitely cook them again in this way. They took on the full flavour of the chicken and crisped up really nicely.

Fingerling potatoes are firstly halved and boiled

Ingredients per Person

3 medium sized fingerling potatoes
2 whole chicken legs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 chantenay carrots
Little bit of butter
Little bit of freshly chopped coriander/cilantro

Whole chicken legs ready for roasting

Directions

Wash or if necessary scrub the pottoes but don't peel them and cut them in half lengthways. Add them to a pot of cold, salted water and bring the water to a simmer. Continue to simmer for about ten minutes or until the skin is just beginning to separate from the flesh at the edges. Drain, allow to steam off for five minutes then cover and allow to cool while you cook the chicken legs.

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. Season the chicken legs on the flesh side with a little salt and pepper. Rub the skin sides of the legs with olive oil and wipe a roasting tray with a little more oil. Lay the legs skin sides up on the tray and season with a little more salt to help the skin crisp up.

Roasted whole chicken legs

Cook the chicken legs in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the juices run clear. Lift to a plate, cover and leave to rest.

Fingerling potatoes are roasted in chicken juices

Turn the oven up to 450F/220C/Gas Mark 8. Turn the fingerling potatoes carefully in the hot chicken juices in the tray with cooking tongs and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes until nicely crisped.

When the potatoes are in the oven, add the washed chantenay carrots to a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a simmer for about ten minutes or until just softening. Drain and return to the pot. Add a little butter and chopped coriander, swirl to coat and plate up the various components of your meal.

Fingerling potatoes removed from the oven

Spicy Beef Pasty and Curry Sauce

Half a spicy beef pasty is served on a bed of thick, homemade curry sauce

If you think about it, the pasty is every bit as variable a concept as the pie. This recipe came about simply because I had half a pound of minced/ground beef in my fridge which needed to be used up before it spoiled. All the other ingredients I already had in the house, bar the pastry which I quickly obtained from my small local supermarket.

Flavouring herb and spices are added to beef

Ingredients (Serves Two)

1/2 pound minced/ground beef
1 small red chilli pepper, finely diced (seeding is optional)
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely diced
1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander/cilantro (half for pasty and half for sauce), plus extra to garnish
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound premade puff pastry
Flour for dusting pastry rolling surface and rolling pin
1 small beaten egg
Small (8 ounce) can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 teaspoon medium curry powder

Large dinner plate is used to cut a pastry circle to form pasty

Directions

Add half the tablespoon of coriander, the chilli pepper and the garlic to the beef. Season with salt and pepper. Use your hands to mash it all up and mix it thoroughly together.

Spiced beef is added to half pastry circle

Roll the pastry out on a clean, dry, floured surface to a square just large enough that you can use a 13-inch dinner plate to cut a circle from it. Carefully arrange the beef filling on half the circle, leaving a one inch or so border. Glaze the border, fold the empty half of pastry over and crimp all the way around.

Glazed spicy beef pasty is ready for the oven

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Lay the pasty on a lightly oiled baking sheet and glaze all over with beaten egg. Cut a steam vent in the centre and place in to the oven for half an hour.

Curry sauce is stirred frequently as it simmers

Just before the pasty is due to come out of the oven, empty the tomatoes in to a saucepan. Season with the curry powder and add the second portion of coriander. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer.

Baked and rested spicy beef pasty

Take the pasty from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Leave it to rest for ten to fifteen minutes. While the pasty is resting, continue to simmer the sauce as gently as possible, stirring frequently.

Spicy beef pasty half is laid on bed of curry sauce

Divide the curry sauce between two deep plates. Cut the pasty in half and lay one half on each curry sauce bed. Garnish with the last of the coriander.

Tucking in to spicy beef pasty with curry sauce