McFilter: Recipes

Non E Carbonara

As the title suggests, this recipe isn't for carbonara. However, it's pretty similar and makes a quick, easy, tasty pasta supper.

Serves 1

• 1 clove garlic
• a few mushrooms
• some ham or bacon
• 150ml creme fraiche
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• roughly a thumb-sized piece of grano padano or parmesan, grated
• pasta (I tend to use tagliatelle or linguine but whatever you prefer)

Fry some garlic and mushrooms in a little oil while the pasta water comes to the boil. Throw in some ham or bacon as well, if you've got it to hand. Once the mushrooms and garlic have softened, add the creme fraiche. Add the pasta to the water

As the creme fraiche warms up, add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Once the sauce starts bubbling, mix in the cheese.

By now the pasta should have cooked, drain it and toss it in the sauce. Enjoy.

Fajitas

Note to self, when posting entries which have been in draft for ages, remember to update the posting date when you publish!

Stolen from the Sainsbury's Magazine, April 1998 and finally posted up - I've only been promising to do so for over five years now! It's a really good marinade for making fajitas, one of my favourite Mexican dishes, and not just because it contains alcohol. Of course, tequila generally comes in bigger bottles than 50ml but if you buy more limes than are strictly necessary then the tequila oversupply often solves itself...

Ingredients

• Juice 1 lime
• Juice 1 orange
• 2 fl oz (55ml) Tequila
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 rounded teaspoons mild chilli powder
• 1 rounded teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 rounded tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped
• about 1lb 10oz (740g) sirloin or rump steak, or similar amount of chicken
• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparing the Meat

Combine the lime and orange juice, tequila, garlic, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, a teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste and place in a double plastic bag or a covered bowl with the meat. Leave to marinate in the fridge for about two hours.

The original recipe said to drain the marinade before frying up the meat, but I usually just tip it all into a big frying pan and reduce it down, along with some thickly sliced onions and/or peppers.

Assembly Instructions

Now comes the fun part, building your fajitas and eating them! The following method of assembly doesn't manage to fit quite as much filling in as other methods, but in my experience manages to keep virtually all of its contents inside the tortilla whilst being consumed, making it much less messy.

The cooked meat should be served with warmed flour tortillas (for wrapping) and a selection of sauces and the like (for additional filling). I'd usually provide some lettuce, soured cream (or creme fraiche), salsa, guacamole, and grated cheese.

1. Place your choice of fillings in the middle of the top half of a tortilla
2. Fold the bottom half of the tortilla toward the top
3. Now fold in first one side...
4. ...and then the other
5. Enjoy.

Gumbo Recipes

Ah, the wonder of the Internet. I decided to make a big pot of gumbo for the distance-travellers on New Year's Eve, but didn't have a recipe. A quick google for "gumbo recipes" soon netted this list of Gumbo Recipes and Basic Roux.

I didn't follow any of the recipes to the letter, but used them to concoct my own version, including improvising some of the ingredients of which Sainsburys had run out.

The recipe, which would serve around 8-10 when served with rice, was...

1/3cup vegetable/olive oil
1/3cup flour
4 chicken breasts, cut into strips/chunks
12 kabanos, in ~1/4in slices (or any other spicy cooked sausage)
1l chicken stock (I used 0.5l of vegetable stock, and a pint of chicken broth, which turned out to be cream of chicken, which, when combined with the tomatoes turned it all a strange orange hue... it still tasted okay though :-)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Okra (two and a bit of the packets that Sainsburys sell them in, I can't remember how much that was by weight), chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green pepper, chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
Chilli powder (Not sure how much of this to add, seeing as I forgot it from the gumbo I made - definitely needs something to add a bit of a kick, as it's rather bland otherwise)
salt and pepper to taste

Blanch/parboil the okra.
Brown the chicken, and the onions in some oil.
In a large stockpot, make a roux with the 1/3 cups of oil and flour - basically, over a low heat, add the oil and then stir the flour into it until it makes a smooth paste. Once you have the paste, add the rest of the ingredients. Then cover the pot and leave in the oven, on a medium heat (gas 4 or 5) for at least three hours. After that, I turned it down to the lowest heat, and just left it slowly cooking away until people arrived.