BEEF CHIMICHANGAS

My family love these chilli beef crispy chimichangas loaded with refried beans, fresh jalapeños and lots of melting tex mex cheese makes every crispy bite a delight.  I always make a double batch as these go so fast and making a double batch of the chuck steak chilli beef filling gives another dinner done for the week ahead all in the same preparation that can be served as chilli con carne or a great filling for Taco Tuesdays.

Prep time 30 minutes / Chilli Cooking 2 hrs / Frying Chimichanga 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(as chilli con carne serves 6-8 people)

Chilli Beef

2 dried ancho chillies

2 dried de arbol chillies

2 dried guajillo chillies

olive oil or beef drippings

1 large white onion diced

1 large red pepper diced

2 fresh Fresno chillies

2 Anaheim peppers diced

3 tbsp masa harina 

1 kg ground chuck steak

1 kg chuck steak diced

4 cloves of garlic finely diced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp paprika (smoked optional)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt (to taste)

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 bottles amber beer like blue moon

2 ltrs beef stock

Chimichanga Ingredients 

1 pack filo pastry

1 can refried beans

500g tex mex grated cheese mix

2 ltr vegetable oil for frying

First make the chilli beef…

Heat a good glug of olive oil or beef drippings medium hot in a deep saucepan, brown the diced chuck steak, remove then add the garlic to the pan along with the chuck steak mince and brown off, remove from the pan, while the chuck is browning in a dry pan toast the ancho, de arbol and guajillo chillies then take off the heat and cover with 250ml of boiling water and leave to soften for 10 minutes, add to a blender and blitz to a smooth sauce, next add some more olive oil or beef drippings to the pan, add the diced onion, pepper, fresno and Anaheim peppers to the saucepan and soften for 10 minutes then add the paprika, cayenne, oregano, cumin and masa harina to the softened onions and cook for a further five minutes, add the browned off chuck steak and mince to the pan along with the blitzed chillies, stock and beer, season with the salt and pepper.

Place in the oven in lidded casserole dish or cook on the stove over a medium low heat for 2-3 hours until the diced chuck steak is fall apart tender, season with salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the chimichangas…

Un roll the filo pastry and cover with a damp tea towel keeping damp, filo pastry dries out very fast and then cracks and can’t be used as easily.  Lay out one sheet, at the top in the centre place a spread a tablespoon of refried beans, a generous spoonful of chilli beef and top with grated cheese, start to roll over the pastry, when half way down the length of the sheet fold the left and right side over the centre, then finish rolling up the chimichanga, brush a little water at the end of the pastry to glue the seam, repeat with the remaining pastry.

Heat your oil to 180 C, and fry the chimichangas two at a time for 3-4 minutes until crispy golden brown, drain on paper towel, these are best served hot but can be served cold.

SEAFOOD PAELLA

This is a wonderful dish, one to take your time over and really enjoy the preparation, cooking and eating!  Slow stock braised rice layered with succulent shrimp, clams, squid and octopus sautéed in garlic nutty butter this is a true feast.  The best paella rice in the world is Catala Bomba variety, a short grain rice that carries the DOP, destination of origin Arroz Bomba where the only true paella rice is grown.  This rice absorbs the flavoursome stock and plumps up beautifully so every spoonful is a delight.

Preparation time 10 minutes / Cooking time 30 minutes

 

INGREDIENTS

(serves 6-8)

1 large glug of olive oil

1 tbsp butter

 1 large onion fine diced

4 cloves of garlic fine chopped

1 pint of paella rice

2-3 pints of fish or chicken stock

1 tsp saffron threads

500g fresh clams

50 fresh raw prawns

500g octopus legs cooked

1 squid cleaned and sliced raw

1 red & green peppers 1" squared

small bunch fresh parsley

salt and pepper

 

 Heat the oil and butter in a paella pan or a saucepan, soften the onion and garlic for 5 minutes not allowing them to colour then add the rice and stir for a few minutes, add the saffron and then start to add the stock, a few ladles at a time until almost absorbed, keep gently stirring, repeat this until the rice is cooked and has absorbed all the stock, (normally 2 to 2.5 pints) and the rice is just soft to the bite.

Add all the seafood and peppers and gently stir in, cook for approx 5 minutes, taste and season with salt and pepper then sprinkle over the parsley and serve.

DISNEY’S SPRINGS ORLANDO BOATHOUSE YELLOWFIN TUNA POKE

Sumptuous sweet, sour, sesame, marinated raw yellowfin tuna served on top of a avocado guacamole with fresh mango, served with a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce and microgreens.  

My all time favourite tuna poke, I have tried my best to replicate the Disney Springs Boathouse tuna poke, I get to go there on vacation with my family and it is virtually the first place we go too off the plane and bear in mind from our front door in the UK to our USA Florida front door is 4391 miles and 15 hours travelling that says it all!  My husband is all about the oysters, as am I but the greedy girl in me also wants the tuna poke as that has my heart or is that my stomach!  We always share our food choices but NO! not in the boathouse restaurant this is the one place on Earth so far, (and we’ve travelled and eaten in some great places and countries) that we have to order our own full choices regardless if we’re both ordering the same!  We return several times and enjoy much more of the menu too.

Marinade time 30 mins / Prep time 10 minutes 

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

MARINADE 

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 lime juiced

1/4 sesame oil

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

227g / 8oz yellow fin tuna diced

2 avocados mashed

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander 

1 ripe mango finely chopped

Sweet chilli sauce

Microgreens including coriander

There is one ingredient I don’t recognise and that is the red and white striped possibly reddish under the microgreens, I think from memory it may be a Japanese radish?  

First marinate the tuna in the soy, lime, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar, I like to start with the soy, add half the lemon juice, 1/4 tsp sesame oil and a dash of rice wine vinegar, this I then adjust to taste, I like to balance this marinade so it is not sour.

Leave the tuna to marinate for at around 30 minutes to much longer and the lime juice will cook the tuna (like ceviche).

Mash the avocados, stir through the mango and coriander reserving a tiny pinch for the sweet chilli sauce, seasoning is optional but because of the soy marinade I actually hold back!  Don’t faint!

To assemble I do use a large 5” professional plate moulding ring, fill half with the avocado and mango mix, top with the marinated tuna, remove the ring, top with microgreens and then pour a generous drizzle of the sweet chilli sauce around of the base of the plate, sprinkle a little hint of coriander and your done, enjoy.

CHEESE STUFFED CHUCK STEAK BURGERS

Juicy Lucy Lucifers

My favourite kinda burger, juicy chuck steak, I like to mince a 80/20 ratio of meat to fat, I also use three cuts of beef, two thirds chuck steak, one third fore ribs and short ribs, these are minced twice along with some red onion, streaky bacon and jalapeños for the patties, then a generous ball of creamy cheddar cheese stuffed in the centre, chargrilled over coals for that added smoke flavour, if you want a Lucifer then add hot sauce to the cheese centre for a lip smacking burst of buffalo hot sauce and choose to swap out the cheddar cheese for blue cheese.

These burgers can be made the day before and stored in the fridge until ready to cook.

WARNING:  THE CHEESE IN THE CENTRE CAN BE EXTREMELY HOT !

Serve these juicy Lucy’s in a toasted buttered brioche bun with your choice of fixings, I like crispy iceberg lettuce, red onions slices, sliced tomatoes, buffalo hot sauce mayonnaise and sometimes crispy fried onion strings.

Prep time 20 minutes / Grilling time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(makes 4-6 burgers)

700g diced or ground chuck steak

300g diced or ground fore rib and short ribs

6 rashers of sweetcure streaky bacon chopped

1 red onion rough diced

2 fresh jalapeños rough diced

Himalayan sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

6 slices of burger cheese or blue cheese

1 bottle of buffalo hot sauce optional

1 bottle mayonnaise 

6 brioche buns

1 stick butter

Light your BBQ coals 30 minutes before your ready to cook.  If your mincing your steak yourself mince twice, on the second mincing run the red onions, jalapeños and bacon through with the chuck.  Season with salt and pepper and mix throughly. Divide the meat into 4 for 225g/8oz burgers or 6 for 167g/6oz burgers.  Form in to balls and press your thumb down in the centre to make a well.

Fold or squish the cheese slices so they are the compact enough to fit in the centre of the pattie, bring up the sides of the pattie and mould over the top of the cheese, press slightly flat so the pattie is a even thickness.

BBQ to your likin, I like medium so I grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, a great tip is to move the patties to the warm area of the grill to rest and ensure that cheese centre is fully melted.  Warning: The Cheese Centre Can Be Burning Hot !

Ice berg wrapped juicy Lucy for those times when I’m being low carb but still want to enjoy a great burger.