Chorizo, Corn and Red Kidney Bean Salad Tortillas (by Biggs)

This is the first time I've been responsible for cooking on Tortilla Tuesday and I was definitely feeling the pressure. I was in a bit of a frazzle not knowing which direction to go in with the tortillas but did quickly decide I was going to rely on packet tortillas for my first try.

I stupidly said that if Morimoto has a tortilla recipe I'd make that. Turns out, of course, Morimoto has a tortilla recipe. Saga Wagyu tortillas to be precise. You may note that we're not eating Saga Wagyu tortillas this evening and the excuse I'm using is that the recipe came with a warning...."consumption of raw or undercooked meat may substantially increase the risk of foodborne illness". I'll leave that for a time when our kitchen is in a more orderly state and we don't have to go to work the next day.

When I was thinking what to make I remembered that chorizo is quite a delicious thing and we've never had sausage tortillas, regardless of G's deep love for them, so went in that direction. Stuffed into the tortillas tonight was chorizo sausages, red kidney beans, fresh corn, tomatoes, red onion, coriander and avocado. I dressed the mix with oil, lime zest and juice, red wine vinegar and cumin.

I was pretty happy with my first tortilla effort, they were pretty fresh and tasty, G ate seven of them. I was hoping for a bit more flavour from them but we quickly fixed this by adding magic savoury Koon Yick Wah Kee chili sauce.

Salmon Wellington with Mash and Veg (by G)

Somewhere or other (possibly 'The Great British Bake-off'), I saw someone make a salmon Wellington. Initially it disconcerted me a bit because it sounds like a terrible rip off of a classic recipe then, festering in the 42 degree heat, I thought some light with salmon and perhaps a nice salad could be a good thing.

Today, however, I got stuck in a thunder storm and froze my nips off in the cryogenically refrigerated supermarket and decided that mashed potato and some veg would be a better option. Then I spent ages trying to find leeks and was ultimately unsuccessful and then I thought it would be better to just give up on life and go to bed - but didn't.

Instead of fried leeks and garlic I fried a brown onion and shallot and added mirin instead of white wine. Then I added some vinegar because the mirin was too sweet.  Then I wrapped a couple of skinless salmon pieces in puff pastry along with the onion mix and baked them in the oven for about half an hour.

I over cooked the snow peas and carrots - and also the potatoes for the mash. I thought it was all okay - the mash tasted a bit weird, possibly because of the white pepper I added, or perhaps the tasty cheese.

Hot English Mustard and Coleslaw Chicken Burger (by Biggs)

Well, I've had a pretty good run and was bound to fail at some point. Tonight I failed. I feel like G might regret this cooking equity thing we've got going.

We've been watching a feckload of cricket over the past few weeks and have therefore seen a feckload of advertisements from the sponsors. One particular sponsor has been selling chicken burgers.....an Aussie Burger vs an English Burger. Whist it didn't make me go and buy one it did make me decide to "cook" one.

Every time I saw the ad I mentioned that the hot English mustard and coleslaw burger really appealed to me. I knew I should have made it properly....make my own coleslaw, batter the chicken myself and perhaps even bake some bread.

Instead I bought white bread rolls, chicken in a box (41% chicken), packet coleslaw, mayo and mild English mustard (because G didn't handle the hot English mustard very well last time I used it and I'm guessing that's what the cricket sponsor uses also).

G was initially excited because he could smell chicken nuggets which he's a fan of. But, I have to admit this burger was a bit average. It was fairly tasteless and all a bit soft and texture-less.

Oddball Curries (by G)

For some reason (I don't recall why), I decided I wanted to make a selection of curries for dinner tonight.  I was searching on the web and came across an Egg Curry recipe which looked pretty interesting (and I think eggs complete a meal) so I decided to look for another oddball curry. Crab Meat curry - check.  I thought I should also do a starch - not rice - as filler so decided on devilled potatoes.

The Egg Curry was the easiest.  Boiled eggs with a curry sauce of onion, commercial curry paste, tomato, peas and yoghurt. Easy-peasy - oddly sweet given the ingredients.

The devilled potatoes were a variation on something I've cooked a couple of times before - boiled potatoes fried in ghee with red onion, green chilli, mustard seeds, garlic, chilli flakes, Maldive fish, turmeric and tomato. That was the plan anyway but I couldn't find curry leaves, I was going to substitute the Maldive fish (which I believe is dried tuna) with shrimp paste but forgot, I also forgot the turmeric and garlic and added some left over coriander - it was pretty good regardless.

The Crab curry was a bit more involved - not too much - the sauce was a mix of fennel seeds, mustard seeds, cardamom, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic (I remembered for this one), red chilli, turmeric (remembered), lemon juice, coriander and coconut milk. That is then simmered with the dark crab meat. Five minutes from the end the white crab meat is added... the crab bit is a bit theoretical because I couldn't find any fresh crab so I got the tinned stuff.  It was not too bad, it would have been handy if I'd also bought a can opener because I broke our only one a couple of weeks ago trying to open my money box - a couple of forceful knife jabs to the top did the trick though.  This was my favourite of the curries. I didn't tell Biggs what it was until after she'd tried it - from out of the corner of my eye I could see she was pretty suspicious while eating it - like I might have cooked up her 'My Little Pony' collection and fed it to her.

Ginger Chicken (by Biggs)

Tonight I made a version of ginger chicken. I figured the ginger, white meat and vegetables might be marginally more healthy than what we ate throughout the festive season.

I fried off some chicken, then fried off a lot of ginger, a lot of garlic, a lot of spring onion, some capsicum and broccoli. 

I added some hokkien noodles as well as a sauce of fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and a couple of bird's eye chillies then mixed in some chopped coriander. 

My friend Fi makes an excellent ginger chicken but this one really didn't compare. The ginger tasted raw and the whole thing wasn't very balanced but, it was okay.

I bet G is already regretting letting me cook every second night.

Lamb (by G)

What can I say about this one - other than, it looks fucking delicious!  Okay, it didn't photograph well but it was pretty good.

I seasoned and sealed a lamb loin then put it on a bed of cubed packet vegetables and some mushrooms that had been lightly fried in butter - then put that in the oven to cook the meat and the vegetables through.

For a sauce I fried shallots (also in butter) added the last of the cognac (flamed it) then added some chicken stock and just simmered it down until it was thick (then added butter to give it a bit of gloss).

Then I arranged it all elegantly on a plate and we ate it.  The lamb was nice, the sauce was like a salty French onion soup - a winning combination.

Cajun Chicken (by Biggs)

Okay, I know you've seen this one before on the blog but there were a number of factors that lead me to cooking Cajun chicken with sweet potato salad.

1) I've been drunk for about a week now and this is my go-to easy meal to make
2) We've got visitors and this is what I always cook when friends come over for dinner
3) G and I have decided we're going to share the cooking more equitably this year which means I have to cook every second night.....so, naturally, I panicked and went with what I'm familiar with

I think this is a stupid idea on G's part. I can cook and enjoy cooking but if it becomes a chore I'm going to pump out some fairly stock standard dinners after not too long......steak and salad, steak and veges, pasta....luck G loves sausages.

The Cajun chicken was breast meat sliced into bite-sized pieces and coated in Cajun seasoning from a jar. The salad was spinach, cumin roasted sweet potato, pine nuts, bacon and feta with a dressing of juice, tahini and honey.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The dressing was a bit wacky because the only juice available in the house was a tropical juice leftover from the Christmas day punch.