Showing posts with label chilli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chilli. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Beef Tacos

Taco Tuesday


After spending two days listening to the endless drones of a man-flu victim, there was nothing else for it. If it kept him quiet for half an hour, I was going to slave away at the stove for twenty minutes to prepare his fave dinner - Cheesy Beef Tacos.

This recipe is SO quick and easy, looks the part and tastes restaurant quality! If you want to try it, here's what you'll need:

  • 500g beef mince
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2tbsp tomato puree
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1tsp ground Cumin, 1tsp Chilli flakes, 1tsp hot Paprika
  • 2 large tomatoes, chopped into small chunks
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • Lettuce
  • A load of grated cheddar cheese
  • Ready made taco shells, I use Old El Paso, below



For the lettuce, I use baby gems as the leaves fit perfectly into the little taco shells...

 
Firstly, fry your onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the mince and brown all over. Then add your Cumin, Paprika, Chilli flakes, tomato puree and give it all a good stir.

Allow to cook for a few minutes to let the Mexican spices flavour the meat.

Meanwhile, prepare your taco shells so they are standing upright in an oven proof dish. Add the lettuce leaves something like this:


Pile the mince meat mixture into the taco shells. Sprinkle OVER-generously with your grated cheese, and pop in the oven till cheese is melted, glistening, and screaming out your name.


Add the chopped tomatoes and spring onion to the top of the tacos and stuff any gaps you can around the sides with spare tomato.


Grate on a little more cheese (one can never have too much). Place delicately on a plate with a lettuce leaf to make it look like a Ramsey creation and serve!


Oh, and don't forget to summon the flu patient before you polish them all off!

Monday, 29 October 2012

MEATliquor

MEATliquor


The best thing about a restaurant located just off of Oxford Street is that it is located just off of Oxford Street. The perfect face-filling location after a full-on day of high street trawling.


Not only is it located within spitting distance of Topshop, H&M and Zara, but MEATliquor also offers the PERFECT dinner when you've worked up a huge appetite after being on your feet all day. Full fat, cheesy, chilli burgers, chips, deep fried whatever-takes-your-fancy and a menu full of tasty desserts too!

I must say, if you don't want to be queuing round the corner of the street for (yes) around 2 hours, then you should definitely arrive early. MEATliquor is a popular place and they don't take reservations - its a first come first served kinda place!

Decor is Gothic; blood, werewolves, bears, strange smiley pigs and a lot of black, red and white sprayed all over the place, with graffiti messages like "I do not live in the world of sobriety."


To start, Sophia ordered some extremely naughty deep fried pickles that came with a tasty dip. Apologies for the darkness of the pictures... low level lighting would be an understatement... 


Sophia AKA Meat Madam / Chief Burgerette sucking on a Battered Pickle
Deep Fried Deliciousness!


There's also a variety of cocktails which had to be sampled - it would have been rude not to! I went for the 3 rum Grog on recommendation!




For main courses, I went for the bacon cheeseburger, Sophia had the philly-cheese-chilli-steak-heartattack-mountain and we both opted for some chilli cheese fries... just in case we'd under-ordered!



Perfectly timed as we finished dinner, one of the waitresses appeared with a tannoy announcing the bravest man of all men, Will, who was about to take on the 10 minute challenge! Managing to overcome paralysis-by-over-indulgence, we scooted over to join in the cheering as the restaurant accompanied Will's friends in banging fists and shouting 'You can do it Will!!!'



The challenge is that the contestant must polish off 3 hot chilli dinners in under 10 minutes. If they manage it, the £20 meal is free, and should they finish the platter in close to 3 minutes, they're added to the leader board just to prove their utter eating amazingness!

 I was also thoroughly impressed with the toilet signage - because everyone loves a naughty word...




























On top of the excitement of Will coming in at under 10 minutes and getting his whole meal for free, there's also a photobooth for hours of fun at the end of the evening, when one has over-indulged in rum cocktails!





MEATliquor on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Easy Chicken Noodle Stir Fry

This fragrant stir fry dish takes about 20 minutes from start to finish - perfect if you're home late and just want a tasty dinner on the table as quickly as possible. It's really healthy but the best bit is that it tastes like it's straight from the Thai local take away!

These Thai flavours certainly pack a punch so if you're not a fan of spice go easy on the ginger and chilli.

 

To make this you'll need:

  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 1 clove garlic,sliced
  • 200g egg noodles
  • 1 limes, juice and zest
  • 4 spring onions , sliced
  • 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced with the peeler
  • 1 tbsp mint
  • 2 tbsp coriander
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 3 cm root ginger, peeled and finely grated
  • 1 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 chicken breast fillets , skinless, sliced
  • 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce 

Mix your lime zest and juice with the sugar, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, chilli and 1 tbsp of the Sesame oil and set to one side.


Heat a couple of tablespoons of the Sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok and stir fry the chicken for 4-5 minutes until golden in places and cooked through.

Add the carrots, spring onions and noodles and stir fry until piping hot.

Using a peeler to slice your way through the carrots gives the perfect stir fry result!

Remove from the heat add the dressing you made earlier, the mint and the coriander then toss to mix and serve.  Delicious!