As the weather finally hots up (and not before time!), mealtimes start to be less about comfort and more about avoiding spending much if any time near a hot flame, but without skimping on taste. This old favourite ticks ALL of those boxes and is relatively well behaved to boot! It’s also a one pan cooking dish which always makes me happy 🙂
To be honest, there isn’t much that’s Mexican about this recipe… The only thing it has in common with actual fajitas is that they are both wrap based and hand held… There’s not even any guacamole or salsa in sight! But don’t let that dissuade you from trying this because what it lacks in Mexican authenticity it more than makes up for in tastiness.
The trick to this dish is to get that chargrill thing going. It might look like it’s never going to happen, but have faith and persevere (and drain off excess liquid if you have to!). The rewards are a sticky charred deliciousness of big big flavours thanks to the lime and chilli flakes, which marries perfectly with the sweetness from the peppers.
Chicken & Lime Fajitas
2015-04-25 21:20:20
Serves 2
Wok charred chicken and peppers with zingy lime, all wrapped up in warm tortillas, that taste far more sinful than they actually are.
2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts, sliced into 1cm strips
1 yellow pepper, cut into 1cm lenthways strips
1 red pepper, cut into 1cm lengthways strips
1 red onion, cut into thick strips
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp crushed chillis
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 limes, 1 zested and juiced, 1 quartered for serving
4 flour tortillas
150ml 0% fat Greek yoghurt
salt and pepper
Coriander for garnish
Mix!
Start with a large mixing bowl, into which place the chicken strips, peppers and onions, oregano, chilli, vegetable oil, and the lime zest and juice. Season well before giving everything a good toss-about until the chicken and veg is well coated with the herbs and lime.
Cook!
Place a wok (or large non-stick frying pan, the deeper sided the better!) over a high heat until its just starting to smoke. When it's good and (fiercely!) hot, tip everything out of the bowl into the wok and cook for about 6-8 minutes, turning only occasionally until its looking cooked through - this is to ensure that everything gets good and brown with a lightly charred effect.
If there's too much lime juice or liquid, you might need to drain some of this off otherwise the chicken and veg will broil rather than char.
Turn the heat off and let the chicken rest in the work while you warm your tortillas in the microwave, or in a dry frying pan.
Pile the chicken and veg in the middle of your tortilla, top with some coriander (if desired), a dollop of yoghurt and a squeeze more lime juice if you like it properly zingy, and scoff!
Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m properly fussy when it comes to fish. I like the expensive stuff (like lobsters, and big prawns, and scallops) or the meaty stuff (monkfish, I’m looking at you!) but can’t do anything that actually smells or tastes fishy, or hasn’t actually been cooked (smoked salmon is my nemesis…). But I’ve got a couple of months of dental work lined up so I’m on a quest to find “easy” things to eat, and fish is one of the most obvious candidates. Only I don’t eat it often, and have probably only ever cooked it from scratch once. Ever. So yeah. This was going to be tough! But I saw this recipe in Olive magazine and remembered various people raving about fish tacos so figured it was worth a shot. OM(G!) NOM NOM!!!!
Seriously, what is not to love about this recipe! Lovely fresh homemade salsa that is a total doddle, and despite frying the fish it was properly light and flakey with just that wee bit of spicey crunch from the seasoned flour coating. And eating it all felt all kinds of virtuously healthy!
This is yet another crazily imbalanced taste to effort ratio recipe – the salsa takes longest (ha!) and if you can do that in the afternoon then all you’re left to do in the evening is the fish, and that really does take next to no time. Honest. Given how terrified I was at the thought of cooking fish this was a good recipe to start with. And when the weather gets warmer this will be the perfect light supper to rustle up quickly, more so if you cheat and buy ready made salsa 😉
Fish Tacos
2014-08-16 15:06:43
Serves 2
Lightly battered bites of spicey fish, topped with fresh zingy salsa, all wrapped up in a warm tortilla.
300g sustainable firm white fish, cut into bite-sized pieces
Corn oil
Stuff you’ll need for the salsa…
3 ripe tomatoes
1/2 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 small avocado, diced
1/2 lime, zest and juice
handful coriander, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, chopped (optional)
Stuff you’ll need to finish it…
Tortilla wraps (4-6 depending on how stuffed you like your wraps)
1 lime, quartered
Salsa first!
If you can, make this a couple of hours ahead of time as it will give the salsa time to develop.
The best salsa, according to Hubby, is made by skinning and gutting your tomatoes first, so… fill a deep bowl with boiling water, and the sink with enough cold water to cover your tomatoes. Cut a wee cross at the top and bottom of each tomato and then one by one plunge into the boiling water first for about 30 seconds, fish out with a slotted spoon and drop into the cold water in the sink. The skins should now peel off really easily. Once you’ve peeled them, quarter, and then pull/scoop out the seeds and liquid and discard. Dice up what’s left and pop into a bowl, and then mix in all the rest of the ingredients and give it a good stir about. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to eat – the lime juice will keep the avocado from turning colour so make this as ahead of time as you like.
Cook!
Mix the flour and cornflour with the spices and season really well (seriously, do not be shy with the salt here!) and put on a flat plate.
Crack your egg into a shallow bowl and beat.
Heat a large saucepan with 2cm of oil. When you can brown a cube of bread in 30 seconds then its ready.
Toss all the fish in the beaten egg until it’s well coated, and then toss it in the seasoned flour until, again, it’s well coated (I slapped on the CSI vinyl gloves and got stuck right in!). Fry for 2-3 minutes until the pieces have turned crisp and golden – depending on the size of your saucepan you may need to do this in two batches - and then “fish” out (sorry!!) and drain on kitchen paper.
Try a bit when it’s cooled down enough and salt if required.
Warm some tortillas up, pop three or four bits of fish down the middle, spoon over the salsa, squeeze a bit of lime all over, wrap it up and eat it up!
It’s National Vegetarian Week, so in its honour we had a meat free lunch today which was anything but a hardship when lunch was as tasty as this! The flavour combo is mediterraneanish, but more by accident than by design, and was really a result of what was available at the deli counter that struck my fancy. The saltiness of the feta is a fantastic counterbalance to the sweetness of the hummus especially if, like me, you like caramelised onion hummus rather than plain. If you don’t like feta then something like a ricotta does just as well, and if you can find any wee red peppers at the deli counter that are already stuffed with your cheese of choice (like the ones in the picture), even better! And much as I like to make my own couscous sometimes I just can’t be arsed, like today, in which case may I recommend M&S’s roasted vegetable couscous as a perfectly good lazy alternative to homemade.
Lastly, the griddle pan bit is purely decorative and entirely optional. I just like the way it makes those pretty brown lines on my wrap 🙂
Mediterranean-Style Deli Wraps
2014-08-17 14:54:56
Easy vegetarian wraps that you can toss together in minutes using all store-bought ingredients.
Smear about two knifes worth of hummus in the middle of the wrap and spread it up and down the middle, leaving about an inch from the opposing edges of the wrap clear.
Add about 3 tablespoons of the couscous on top of the hummus and level into an oblongish sausage shape.
Sprinkle the feta and red pepper slices over the top, then follow with some rocket.
Wrap!
The easiest way I’ve found is to position the wrap so that the oblong of filling runs length ways from left to right.
Fold the the left hand edge over the filling, and then do the same with the right hand edge.
Hold these in place, and take the bottom of the tortilla wrap and fold it over the filling and then roll the wrap up. This should give you two “sealed” ends which makes eating far less messy.
Griddle
If you have a griddle pan, heat it up and then place the wrap on it with the fold side down and press the whole thing down gently.
After a minute or two, lift to see if the pan has left the griddle marks on the wrap yet. When it has, and the marks are brown enough, turn the wrap over and do the same on the other side.
