June 6th 2008

Hi all...... Well I am still here.... and still blogging. They say that most blogs don't last more than a few months.. Well mine is now a few days over a year old!!! I have met alot of lovely new friends in this past year and we all have at least one thing in common, our passion for food. So hopefully this blog will be here again in another year's time with more recipes and more new friends.

The past few weeks have been not very adventurous in the cooking department. Although I did make flour tortillas from scratch....

My Mexican cookbook says to take 2 cups (250g) of sifted plain flour and with 1/2 teaspoon salt place in a mixing bowl. Rub in 60g margarine or butter(traditionally you would use lard)with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs. Add enough water to mixture to for a soft dough. About 1/3 to 2/3 (80 to 160ml) warm water. Knead lightly on a floured surface until smooth. Divide into 12 equal portions and shape into balls. Brush each ball with a little vegetable oil to coat and place in a bowl. Cover with a dry cloth and allow to stand for 15 minutes. (This is an important step in it allows the dough to relax.) Roll out dough portions on a lightly floured surface to form tortillas about 20 cm in diameter. (the size will depend on your frying pan)

Preheat a dry, heavy-based frypan over a medium heat. Cook tortillas for about 30 seconds each side or until speckled and cooked through. I think mine took a little longer. Stack cooked tortillas into a basket or bowl lined with a cloth to keep warm and flexible. I only did 8 tortillas so mine were a little larger in size which I wanted to use as Wraps for sandwiches later on.

But 4 of them made these lovely Burritos.


How I made my burritos was take some butter nut squash and pan fry along with some chopped onion. Mix into 1 tin of chili beans in a sauce pan and then fry up some chopped halloumi cheese. You can add some herbs and spices to taste. I used a bit of garlic chopped, oregano, chili powder and fresh ground cumin seeds.

The rice was easy to fix too.
Cook long grain rice in Chicken stock along with a tin of chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, some frozen sweet corn and frozen peas. Add a few spices and herbs and when rice has cooked serve with some grated cheddar cheese.

This was a really quick and yummy meal. The leftover tortillas make great wraps for any sort of sandwich filling you desire. We just had salad and sliced ham in ours.

I may experiment a bit more with the tortillas and make my own tomato and possibly spinach ones.

I did come across a new product at the grocery store a few weeks ago...

sorry for the lousy photo..... The camera decided not to play ball that day. Anyway it is Maldon Smoked Sea Salt....... Ohhhhhhh the smell is soooooooo lovely. The only problem I have had with it is if you cook with it, you loose the flavour of the smoke. I just love the smell..... like a campfire on a lovely autumnal evening. I have been having fun trying it on all sorts of dishes. But personally, I think if you are to use it I would use it sprinkled onto the food at the table. Brian and I don't salt our food at the table so seems a bit of a waste. Although it says it is a good seasoning for fish. Any way I can recommend just getting a box to have a good sniff occasionally.
Hmmmmm wonder what it would be like on a baked potato.....