FLOWER POT KITCHEN: WONDERFUL MEXICAN PEPPER, CORIANDER, AVOCADO & QUESO QUESADILLA WITH PICO DE GALLO, SOUR CREAM, GUACAMOLE & SWEET CHILLI SAUCE

12 Apr 2012

WONDERFUL MEXICAN PEPPER, CORIANDER, AVOCADO & QUESO QUESADILLA WITH PICO DE GALLO, SOUR CREAM, GUACAMOLE & SWEET CHILLI SAUCE

QUESADILLA CON QUESO
2 flour tortillas (recipe below)
100g grated cheese
1/2 red pepper fine diced
2 spring onions fine sliced
1 tomato de-seeded & fine diced
1 bunch coriander chopped
Sweet chilli sauce

If making your own tortillas, recipe below, when you cook the tortilla on the skillet, just cook one side of two tortillas first, (this you don't have to do if you are using shop brought), then when you put the raw side of one back in the skillet, leaving the cooked side up load with the cheese, red pepper, onion, tomato, coriander and drizzle over the sweet chilli sauce, place the cooked side of the other tortilla on the topping side, cook for 2 minutes and the turn over and cook the other tortilla for approx 1-2 minutes. Take off the heat and rest for a couple of minutes then I like to cut into four triangles and serve topped with pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, coriander and more sweet chilli drizzle.

SWEET CHILLI SAUCE
500g red chillies stalks removed
50ml water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar (possibly more to taste)
80ml rice wine vinegar

This makes approx 200ml of sweet chilli sauce, take the red chillies and water and simmer gently for approx 10 minutes until soft, take off the heat and mix in all the other ingredients, leave to cool slightly and then blend, taste and if needs more sugar add while still warm and stir in till melted.

PICO DE GALLO
1 small onion fine diced
1 tomato de-seeded & fine diced
1 bunch coriander chopped
1 red chilli fine chopped
Salt & pepper
1/2 lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and season with salt & pepper and the lime juice to taste.

SOUR CREAM
100ml double cream
1/2 lemon juiced
If you want to make your own, whisk the double cream, as it comes to a thick peak, drizzle in the lemon juice and stir in gently, taste and add more lemon if needed.

GUACAMOLE
1 ripe avocado
1 bunch coriander
1 lime juiced
1/2 red onion chopped
2 green chillies fine chopped
Black pepper

Traditionally you would make this in a pestle & mortar, but a bowl and the end of a rolling pin is just as good or a potato masher and the back of a spoon, start by pounding half of the coriander & onion in the pestle, add the avocado and pound, stir in the lime juice and remainder of fine chopped red onion, coriander & green chilli, season to taste. MAKE THIS MOMENTS BEFORE YOU ARE ABOUT TO EAT IT, the lime juice will help stop the avocado from browning, but it is a dish that will not keep.

FLOUR TORTILLAS
450g masa harina
600ml hand hot water
30ml ooil
1 tbsp sea salt

Mix the masa harina, salt & ooil together, add half the water and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Slowly start adding more water & kneading with your hands, you are looking to get a soft slightly sticky formed dough, cover with a damp cloth a leave to rest for 30 minutes. Pull off a golf ball size of dough and place on a sheet of clingfilm, with the heel of your palm gently push down to flatten the dough, cover with another sheet of clingfilm, this is to stop the dough sticking, roll out to a 2mm thick disk. To cook pre heat a non stick skillet or frying pan and cook the tortilla for 2 minutes on one side, at this point if you are going to stuff, cook one side of another tortilla and then turn it over and load with the queso ingredients, and top with the other tortilla then cook for 1-2 minutes on both raw sides. It is so worth making your own tortillas, really quick, easy and so satisfying.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.