Kharcho

Roll up, roll up for my second favourite Georgian dish. It's an amazing and filling meaty soup. There is a chill in the air, the internet is full of pumpkin spice lovers and people who make fun of them, so I think we can say it’s coming into autumn. And this soup is a perfect autumnal soup.

I have mentioned my love of Georgian food earlier, and this is another gem from the Georgian cookbooks. It’s a strong, herby, beefy soup with rice. Mine turned out a little bit more like a stew than a soup but it’s still delicious. Could be fixed with less rice or more water, but I liked it just the way it was.

Slow Cooker Coconut Beef Curry

This is my new absolute favourite.

I love slow cooker meals that take like 8 hours. The main benefit for me is that I can put one on in between night shifts and wake up to the smell of a delicious dinner that’s all cooked and ready to go. It’s the one time in my life I feel like an adult.

Beef is great for that. 6-8 hours on low and you have chunks of beef that are falling apart. They can literally be cut with a spoon. You need that in your life.

This curry is an insanely delicious meal. I felt LUCKY to wake up to this meal. I’m not going to say it made night shift worth it, but I wasn’t mad at it.

The other great thing is that the spice paste makes enough for 2 curries, so you can either halve it or make the full amount and store some in the fridge for a week or two so you can have yet another delicious meal.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Oh, hurry up Spring! Yes. technically it's March, but it's still cold.

This is the kind of dinner that is a great big hug on a plate. It’s healthy and wholesome and packed of lovely veggies. And the sauce! Amazing.

I really love finding new delicious things to make in my slow cooker. I made this a little while back. I put it in the slow cooker in the morning before getting into bed post-night shift. When I woke up at 6pm, my dinner was cooked and ready to eat, and that stuff matters when you’re running on 5 hours sleep – I could have cried with happiness!

This ticks all my boxes-  simple, quick (relatively speaking, the work/prep involved to make it only takes minutes), tasty and healthy. A total winner.

Slow Cooker Chili Con Carne (and Cheeky Enchiladas!)

OH MY GOD. I've not posted in ages. I was on night shift and I just forgot to update. To make it up to my poor, neglected blog, I will post my absolute favourite recipe that I've made recently. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and be happy. NO JOKE.

I have always been put off the recipes for chili that call for big hunks of braising meat, preferring to cook with the safety of my minced meat. The cooking times just seemed too daunting – I never start dinner so early!

However, with my trusty slow cooker on board, I don’t think that there is anything we can’t do. So the second thing I ever made in it was my absolute favourite meal in the world. I think a good chilli con carne is probably my favourite meal, because of the flavours and versatility. You can serve it with beans, with sweet potatoes, with rice, ensconced in a tortilla wrap, atop nachos, and I’ve even been known to smother it on a half baguette, top with cheese and bake in the oven! I mean, you could easily double this recipe and dine out on leftovers for days without getting bored!

Good old chili – is there anything you can’t do?

Side note – I’ve lamented about this before I’m sure, but my darling boyfriend doesn’t like chili. Now, I only realised this for real when we were a few years in, so I couldn’t just ditch him for his poor opinions. His only saving grace is that he likes enchiladas. What I have done here, therefore, is to whip up a chili for me (yum) and then make that into a filling for enchiladas for him. This is delicious on its own, but I’ve added the ingredients and method for if your loved ones are also wrong and hate chili.

Christmas Samosas

That time period between Christmas and New Year’s is so weird. It interrupts your Christmas days off, with a few half hearted days in work with leftover turkey sandwiches. And I never know what to make for dinner. Everyone still has the memories of being stuffed from the lashings of food for Christmas dinner, and the bright tins of sweets are still piled enticingly high by the Christmas tree.

I think I’ve found the perfect little nibble-y meal for this weird in between time of the season, which also makes a welcome addition to the Christmas dinner table (it did on mine!) or as part of your party table for NYE.

These are meaty, with a sweet spice which is warming and delightful. Perfect dipped in some sweet chilli sauce, or alongside a veggie curry!

Pizza Topped Burgers

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

Mmmmm, hello weekend!

What is a girl to do when she has some pepperoni which is about to go past its sell by date and she bought too much mozzarella?

Well..

Pizza burger time!

I’ll confess, I’m not a big cheese fan. I don’t like the texture of it when it isn’t cooked, and I really don’t like cheese that is strong smelling/tasting. For me, mozzarella is the perfect cheese – it’s got that classic “stringy” cheesey texture and it doesn’t taste overwhelmingly cheesy. I have tried to incorporate it into my life as much as possible.

The secret to the mozzarella here is to keep the heat trapped in to allow it to melt all over the burger. Unfortunately it doesn’t get crispy on top, I think I’d probably need a working grill for that! Everytime I put the grill on, the fire alarm also goes off..

Serves 4

Lamb and Beef Koftes with Roasted Veggies

Okay, shall we do something savoury? I think this is a perfect meal for the start of autumn, with lovely rich flavours and a lighter side.

I know that I tend to skew a lot towards the Mexican food angle, and this recipe actually came about because I was wanting to cook something with mince and wasn't really feeling the idea of chilli con carne. Then all of a sudden, a little lightbulb lit above my head: koftes! Of course!

This is an incredibly simple recipe and completely different from the flavours that I normally cook with. This will be going on my standard rotation of meals, because it was a taste sensation! Feel free to serve it however you like – in flatbread with veggies, or with rice, or like I have, with some roasted veg and couscous.

Beef Burgers and Beer-Battered Onion Rings

I kind of love that the onion rings are about the same size as the burger..

Om nom nom.

This is just food that people want to eat. No one can turn down a homemade onion ring. And batter it in beer? You’ll have a queue outside your door! The absolute key to delicious onion rings is to soak them in buttermilk before cooking, it takes away a lot of the sharp taste that onions can have and both sweetens and softens them. They have a crunchy, yet melt in the mouth quality that I’ve just never gotten from any other onion rings.

Now, I know that I have made burgers before on this blog, but I am always looking for ways to improve recipes in my repertoire. The addition of cream crackers is, I suppose, a substitute for breadcrumbs found in other recipes. I feel like it added an interesting texture element but didn’t really alter the flavour. If I had crackers on-hand in the future I’d definitely add them to my burgers.

Chilli Beef Noodles

So, I received a book voucher for Christmas, and immediately went and bought cookbooks (fiction? I don’t need no stinkin’ fiction). One of which was an Asian noodle cookbook, full of recipes for stir fries and curries with a range of meat and veg. I have to admit, I have never been the biggest fan of a stir fry, because I love a bit of sauce in my meal, which is why this noodle dish is perfect! Feel free to change around the vegetables to your favourites or whatever you have on hand. I just love broccoli.

Every once in a while I find myself a little bit bored of chicken, but there is something very intimidating about all the cuts of beef you can get. So, I chickened (HAH!) out for this recipe and bought some stir-fry beef strips. Convenience!

Beef and Chorizo Enchiladas

Mexican food is kind of my spiritual savoury cuisine. I only started making and eating it for reals a little while ago, aside from the Ol Del Paso fajita kits of my childhood. I am in a bit of a chorizo phase at the minute, and the only Mexican food that my boyfriend really likes is enchiladas, any rational brain would therefore come up with what follow. 

An aside, I don't measure out cheese ever, hence just calling it a handful here or there. Just listen to your heart (if it sounds clogged and like its begging for mercy, maybe hold back on the cheese).

The sauce is thick and delicious, and the addition of a touch of orange peel really makes it tasty and zesty. My mostest favourite ingredient, however, is the Sriracha rooster sauce. This is so delicious and versatile, it’s spicy with a depth to the heat and goes well on EVERYTHING. Makes grown men cry. And should be easily located in your local Asian supermarket. It will change your life.

One thing: you need a bigger rectangular dish for this than the one I used. I'm on it, the scouting mission for cut price Le Creuset has begun!