FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SWEET SMOKEY BBQ CHICKEN BURRITO WITH PICO DE GALLO AND HABANERO SALSA

22 Jan 2013

SWEET SMOKEY BBQ CHICKEN BURRITO WITH PICO DE GALLO AND HABANERO SALSA

Cannot express my love of burritos enough, every mouthful is bursting full of fresh pico de gallo, sweet sticky smokey chicken, hot habanero, cool sour cream, crunchy salad and salsa, sooooo moorish and never the same mouthful twice and then its all over, all to quickly.

(makes 2)

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE SWEET SMOKEY BBQ CHICKEN

Left over poached/roasted chicken

200ml tomato ketchup

70g dark brown sugar

1 tsp smoked chipotle paste

Very simple just bring the tomato ketchup up to a simmer and add the sugar stir until melted, add the chipotle paste, then add to the chicken, I like to pull the chicken apart allowing every fibre to soak up the sweet hickory bbq sauce.

Fresh habanero tomato and coriander salsa

INGREDIENTS

4 large tomato's de-seeded and chopped

1 shallot fine diced

1 habanero diced

1 pinch sea salt

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 small bunch coriander chopped

1/2 lemon juiced

Place all the ingredients in a large pestle and mortar, or a blender, the pestle and mortar will give you a much better flavour and texture for your salsa, pound away until you have a saucy consistency, adjust the seasoning to taste using the salt and lemon juice.

ACCOMPANIMENTS

FOR THE PICO DE GALLO

2 tomatoes de-seeded and finely chopped

1 small shallot finely diced

1 small bunch coriander fine chopped

1/4 red or green pepper finely diced

1 pinch sea salt

1 pinch black pepper

1 chilli fine diced

Mix all the fresh crunchy ingredients together and season to taste.

100ml sour cream

1/4 iceberg lettuce fine sliced

FOR THE GUACAMOLE

2 ripe avocados

1 small shallot fine chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp red pepper chopped

1 large tomato de-seeded and chopped

1 pinch salt

1 pinch black pepper

1/4 lemon squeezed

1 tbsp coriander fine chopped optional

Pound all the ingredients together and season to taste, adjust with lemon, salt and pepper.

LOADING THE BURRITO

I like to melt some tex mex cheese and re-fried beans, optional, I love them, on the flour tortilla for a minute or so under the grill, this also softens the tortilla which helps with the folding. I place some of the crisp salad first then a drizzle of habanero salsa, followed by the smokey sweet bbq chicken, then pico de gallo, then I top with some sour cream and avocado guacamole and often some extra sliced chillies, I don't always add rice to my burrito as my husband does not like the texture so much and I have got used to having a naughty burrito where there is a lot more fresh sharp bbq meaty flavor without the rice!

Enjoy

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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.