Spanish eggs

There are not enough eggy main meal recipes out there apart from maybe ham, egg and chips or egg-fried rice. I decided to give this interesting yet easy recipe a try but I was not expecting it to be quite so filling. 

Serves 2

• 1 onion, chopped
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 50g frozen peas
• 250g sliced potato, cooked
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 150g chorizo, sliced
• 4 eggs

Fry the onion in a saucepan until soft and then stir in the tomatoes, peas, potatoes and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes and then stir in the chorizo.

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and make four indents. Break open an egg into each indent and bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 5 minutes or until eggs are cooked.

A dish for a spice loving student

This dish is cheap to make, spicy and even has crisps in it. It’s the perfect budget friendly meal for a spice-loving student and I call it the Crispy Spicy Pie.

Serves 2

• 6 sausages
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp Fiery Chilli ketchup
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 400g can of baked beans in chilli sauce
• Tortilla chips
• Grated cheese

Grill the sausages until cooked and then cut them into chunks. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the sausages, onion and peppers for five minutes.

Add the vinegar, ketchup, cayenne pepper and oregano. Stir and cook for a further two minutes and then stir in the beans.

Pour into an oven proof dish and put a layer of tortilla chips on top. Then sprinkle over the grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180C. Serve with salad.

Spicy pork fillet

I find pork so boring. It’s probably my least favourite meat but when I do eat it, it has to be marinated or covered in sauce. Here’s a simple marinade recipe for pork.

Serves 2

• 250g pork fillet, cut into slices
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• Juice from half a small orange
• 2 drops of Lea & Perrins sauce
• Pinch of paprika

Mix the honey, soy sauce, orange juice, Lea & Perrins and paprika in a bowl. Add the pork fillet and coat in the marinade. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Keep the left over marinade and cook the pork under the grill. Put the remaining marinade in a pan and add 2 tablespoons of water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pour over the pork and serve with mash and veg.

Spicy sausage curry

The ingredients I use in this curry make it quite spicy but it’s easy to adjust the level of spice to make it hotter or milder just by changing the curry paste or the ketchup.

Serves 2

• 6 sausages
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 300g new potatoes, cooked
• 100g green cabbage, chopped
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp curry paste (I used Balti)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup (I used Tomato Ketchup Fiery Chilli)

Cook the sausages under the grill and then cut into chunks. Stir fry the sausages, potatoes and cabbage for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry for a further 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

Seeds for my Chilli Farm 2014 selected

I know it’s early days but yesterday I was at a garden show and found a man selling many different types of chilli seeds.

So I bought Cayenne, Habanero, Jalapeno, Scotch Bonnet and the feared Dorset Naga. I’ve been warned to wear gloves when planting that one but I have a whole year to prepare for that.

Moroccan-style lamb chops

Serves 2

• Spoonful of butter (melted)
• 1tbsp olive oil
• Pinch of cumin
• Pinch of coriander
• Pinch of paprika
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Zest and juice of 1/4 lemon
• 1 tbsp harissa
• 2 lamb chops

For sauce:

• 1/2 tsp harissa
• 1 tsp coriander
• 100g Greek yogurt

Mix butter and oil in a bowl. Stir in spices, garlic and lemon. Then add harissa and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Put the chops in a dish and spook over the marinade. Cover with foil and leave for 2 hours.

Cook in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Take out and cover with foil. Leave for 15 minutes.

Combine all sauce ingredients well and serve with the chops and couscous.

Growing chillies: Part 2 (tidy up)

Following my update two weeks ago, my chilli plants are still alive.

I recently went to a garden show and decided to pick up some tips on what I should do next. I ended up buying some bamboo sticks, wire and two more pots.

The sticks and wire were mainly for the ones that were doing well and needed some support. I decided to move the weaker ones to the new pots to give them some more room and a better chance of survival. With all three pots (20 surviving chilli plants in total) my kitchen windowsill has officially become my chilli garden.

Part 1 (the sow)