Mexican Lasagne with Guacamole (From Nigella Kitchen)

Note that this photo doesn't at all match up to the one in Nigella's cookbook.

Continuing with recipes from my new cookbooks, I cooked a Mexican Lasagne from Nigella's 'Kitchen' last night. It's such a great idea, layers of tortillas filled with tomatoes, peppers, onion, chilli, sweetcorn, beans and cheese. It would be great for a crowd as her version serves 8. We halved the recipe and just used 3 tortillas instead of her 8. We also added some spitroast chicken which was a good addition. But I'd say the recipe needs a little tweaking and here's what I'd do when I make it again:
Put some extra chilli in the sauce, it needed zinging up a little to be more 'mexican'.
Maybe add some cajun seasoning for more mexican flavour.
Not put the extra water in that she recommends, it made the sauce way too liquidy and it didn't bake up enough.
We served it with salad and my boyfriend had his with some guacamole which he said made it much better.


Ingredients - serves 8
For the sauce: 1 tablespoon garlic oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, de seeded and chopped
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons coriander stalks, finely chopped
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes, plus 400ml water swilled from empty cans (it definitely didn't need this, I'd advise you to leave it out and only add a little water if it's too thick)
1 squirt of tomato ketchup
For the filling:
2 x 400g can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 x 250g cans sweetcorn
250g mature Cheddar
Some spit roasted chicken (optional)
1 packet (8) soft tortillas


Salad and guacamole to serve.

1. Preheat the oven to 200c. Then make the sauce by heating the oil in a pan, frying the onion, pepper and chilli. Add the salt and cook gently for 15minutes, once soft add the coriander. Then add the chopped tomatoes (and water, see note above). Spoon in the ketchup and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling by mixing the drained beans and sweetcorn in a bowl and most of the grated cheese. (we put the chicken here too)
3. Assemble the lasagne by spooning a third of the sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof dish (approx 26cm x 6cm deep) then layer 2 tortillas so they cover the sauce overlapping slightly.
4. Then add a third of the beans and cheese mixture, covering the tortillas and then add a quarter of the remaining sauce and 2 tortillas to cover.
5. Repeat with another 1/3 of the beans and cheese and some more sauce before layering another 2 tortillas.
6. Finally. add the last layer of beans and cheese and nearly all the sauce before covering with the last 2 tortillas. Then spread the last of the sauce with the remaining cheese before baking in the oven for 30minutes. Then let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and eating with the salad and guacamole. 


- Nigella also notes that this can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated until needed but with an extra 5 minutes cooking time. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months by wrapping the dish in a double layer of clingfilm and a layer of foil. Then defrost in the fridge overnight and cook as above. 

Cupcakes, Cookbooks and Coca Cola Ham!

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and are now planning for the New Year! 


First of all, I must blog Nigella's Coca Cola Ham. Not sure if anybody follows India Knight on twitter but she had a ham and there was a lot of debate about whether to do it in coca cola or not, everybody who has cooked it says do it but if you haven't then it probably sounds very strange. And I remember watching Nigella do it on one of her show's a while ago and thinking how weird it seemed. But true to her word, it does really work and I will definitely be cooking all my ham's like this in the future. We cooked this on Boxing Day ready for some family coming the following day and it went down really well (unfortunately not much was left!) The coke doesn't make it too sweet like I thought it would, it just adds a great depth of flavour and colour. Then you add the glaze which tastes really great.  The photo below doesn't really do it justice. 

Ingredients -
2kg mild cure gammon
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
2 litre bottle of coca cola (plus extra to make sure it's covered if your pan is too big like mine was)
For the glaze -
Handful of cloves (optional, I was a bit cloved out from Christmas so left them out)
1 heaped tablespoon of black treacle
2 tsp english mustard powder
2 tablespoons demerara sugar
One spoonful of the cooking water to loosen it up a little.


1. Nigella doesn't bother to soak the ham but I did just in case it was too salty. So if you feel it will be salty, put it in a pan covered with cold water and bring to the boil then tip into a colander in the sink.
2. Then put the gammon in a pan, skin side down if it fits like that, add the onion and then pour over the Coke.
3.Bring to the boil then reduce to a good simmer. Put the lid on but not too tightly and cook for just under 2 1/2 hours. If your joint is bigger or smaller then work out the timing by about an hour per kilo remembering that it will go into an oven later (but add an extra 15mins if it's been in the fridge right up until the moment you cook it)
4. Preheat the oven to 240c.
5. When the ham's had it's time, take it out of the pan but don't throw away the cooking liquid yet. Let it cool for a little bit to make it easier to handle or let it cool completely and finish cooking later if you need to. Then remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife to make large diamond shapes then if using cloves, stud each diamond with a clove.
6. Mix the sugar and mustard powder into the treacle with a little cooking water and spread onto the ham.
7. Then cook in a foil-lined roasting tin for approx 10 mins or until the glaze is burnished and bubbling. 
Then slice when ready and serve! 
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I got lots of cookbooks for Christmas so I shall be sharing many recipes over the next few months. Here are a photo of some of my favourites. I can't wait to get stuck in to some new recipes, especially from Leon and Green&Blacks. But some others I'd really recommend and not pictured are: Jamie's 30minute meals, Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book, Delia, any by Ottolenghi and Nigella Express. 

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And finally, some photos of some food over Christmas including the cupcakes (I just used the Hummingbird vanilla recipe as everyone was a bit too flavoured out) and Turkey!

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Over January, I'll be posting lots of fresh and healthy recipes and lots from the new cookbooks. Happy New Year!

Squash and Sweet Potato Soup... Adapted from Nigella

With so much snow and ice everywhere, I decided to walk rather than drive to Sainsbury's this morning with my Mum and puppy. While I was there, I got a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes to make a warming soup for the next couple of days before Christmas.

Riley, my pup, in the snow

I got the idea from watching one of Nigella's Christmas episodes which seems to be repeated again and again on the Good Food channel. Roasting the vegetables before turning them into soup is really delicious as they go much sweeter, especially the squash which isn't as good when it's boiled. She finishes hers off with buttermilk and blue cheese which I didn't fancy, but mine is just as delicious and of course much healthier. She also uses cinnamon, nutmeg and marsala wine in hers to make it more festive but I used spiced mine up with some cumin, mild chilli powder and some black pepper. I guess you can use this basic soup recipe with roasting the veg for any other vegetables that need using up and soup in this weather is ideal!
Ingredients - makes a big pot of soup -
About 4 small red onions, take the outer layer off and chop them in half
1 butternut squash, unpeeled, chop into about 1 inch cubes
500g sweet potatoes, unpeeled, chop into cubes
Garlic Oil to coat
A good shake of cumin 
and a good shake of chilli powder
Black pepper to season
1.5 litres of vegetable stock (I used 2 pots of vegetable stock reduction made up with water)


1.Put the veg into a roasting tin and coat with olive oil before sprinkling on the spices. 
2. Cook in a hot oven (about 180-200c) for about an hour (until all tender and just starting to blacken)
3. Then let them cool while making up the stock. Then put the vegetables in a big saucepan and add the stock a little at a time while whizzing up with a blender (I stupidly poured it all in at once and it could have done with being a tiny bit thicker).
4. Then either serve straight away or it will keep in the fridge for a while!
I'm going to serve mine with some brown bread, I might even make some if I'm feeling virtuous ;)

Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge (Another thrifty Christmas gift!)

This time in 3 weeks, it will be Christmas Day! And while I'm going to make this fail-proof fudge a couple of days before Christmas for presents, I thought I'd better post it now in case anybody wants to make it before. I'm going to make a big batch and bag it up in these presentation bags I got from Lakeland - http://www.lakeland.co.uk/50-presentation-bags/F/product/12007 and tie the bags with ribbon. 

The Macaroons I posted last week will be for the girls and the fudge can be for the guys (Nearly all grandpas love fudge!). 

The recipe is from Nigella, I saw it on her Christmas TV programme a couple of years ago and it's so quick and easy to make yet looks really good. The photo below is from her website, I'll post mine when I make it and bag it all up.

Ingredients - Makes about 70 pieces)

350g Dark Chocolate, chopped (minimum 70% cocoa)

1 x 397g can condensed milk

30g butter

Pinch of salt

150g pistachios

Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy-based pan on a low heat. Stir to melt.

Put the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin until broken into rubble (both big and little pieces)

Add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.

Pour the mixture into a tray 23cm square, smoothing the top.

Let the fudge cool and put in the fridge until it has set. Then cut it into small pieces. Cutting 8 x 10 lines in the tin.

One cut, it can be kept in the freezer, no need to thaw just eat. (Or keep it in bags for a couple of days maximum like I'm going to do)

p.s Put the Christmas tree up today at my parents house ->

Nigella's Chicken... one to warm you up in this big freeze!

Another Nigella recipe... Can you tell I'm a huge fan yet?
I made this Chicken last Sunday as it started to snow and I felt under the weather, it's a real hearty nutritious dinner and is perfect in this chill! I know that in a couple of weeks, everyone will be thinking about Turkey or Goose for their Christmas lunch so this is a recipe to cook in the weekends before or after. If you're looking for a new stock pot (to cook this in), try Costco, they have a hugee one for about £30! A real bargain. If you have some left over, it turns into a good soup!

Ingredients - (Serves 6)
1 large chicken
2tsp garlic oil
100ml white wine 
4 leeks, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 7cm logs
4 carrots, peeled and cut into logs
1-2 sticks celery, sliced
2 litres cold water
1 bouquet garni
A few sprigs of parsley (Optional - I hate parsley so left it out)
2 tsps Salt
A few really good grindings of pepper or add pink peppercorns
To serve - mustard


Get out a large, flame-safe cooking pot (with a lid) so the chicken can fit snugly.
On a washable board, un-truss the chicken and put it breast-side down and press until the breastbone cracks (trust me, it's not as bad as it sounds) and then press down again to flatten it. Then cut off the ankle joints with kitchen scissors (keep them).
Put the oil in the pan to heat, then brown the chicken breast-side down and turn up the heat and turn over the chicken, tossing the feet in. Still over a high heat, add the wine to the pan and let it bubble before adding leeks, celery and carrots.
Pour in enough cold water to cover the chicken but leave the very top poking out, put the bouquet garni in and the parsley if using. The chicken should be almost completely submerged by now, if not add some more cold water until it is just about covered.

Bring to the boil and then clamp on the lid, turn the heat right down and leave to cook for 1 1/2- 2hours. I gave it 1 hour 40 mins then left it to stand with the heat off but lid still on for the last 20mins.
Then carve the chicken, it should be so tender that it falls straight off the bone and serve the chicken with the vegetables and brown basmati rice, adding a ladleful or two of liquid over each shallow bowl, as you go.
Then serve with more black pepper and the mustard. 






N.B My parents wanted theirs with potatoes and this works well too, I also cooked up some cabbage to have on the side and added peas into the broth.
Also, if you have some left over (we seemed to have loads), you can make some soup out of it in the following days.


< A good meal for the cold weather, this is a photo from a snowy walk I had with my puppy in the week.