After trying this Nigella recipe just once, I’ve decided that these will be one of my most frequently used “go to” meals when I am short of time and hungry. The hardest bit is grating the cheese, which if I am to be honest, I get my husband to do as I am too lazy. Just slapping this Mexican sandwich together and throwing it (not literally) in the pan or griddle is as far as you need to go.

I used two different kinds of meat fillings, one with chorizo (pan fried as it was raw) and one with triple smoked ham. Of course you could make it vegetarian and use a mashed bean mix spread over the tortilla.

I didn’t have any salsa to hand so I did what any Not Quite Mexican cook would do and made guacamole. Let me just say first off that my guacamole isn’t authentic by any means but it is really tasty if I can be immodest. The two are gorgeous together and as I tend to do when I am enjoying a meal, I ate more than my share.

Quesadillas

For each flour tortilla wrap (makes three triangles):

• 1 flour tortilla
• 30g thinly sliced cured ham
• 3 coin slices pickled green jalapeño peppers, from a jar
• 50g grated cheese
• 1 spring onion, finely sliced
• few leaves of coriander
• 1 tsp olive oil (not extra virgin)
• ready-made salsa or guacamole (see below), to serve

Method
1. Heat a ridged griddle pan.

2. Place the tortilla wrap on the counter in front of you and cover with the ham.

3. Over one half only, sprinkle the pickled jalapeño slices, grated cheese and chopped spring onion. Scatter over the coriander leaves over the top.

4. Carefully fold the tortilla wrap in half, that’s to say, fold the uncheese-topped half over the cheese so that you have a fat half moon.

5. Lift this up carefully and brush each side with oil before putting it onto the hot griddle, grill for a minute on each side

6. Using a steady hand and a wide fine spatula or fish slice, transfer the tortilla to a board or plate and cut into 3triangles. Eat with some salsa on the side. And please feel free to play with the fillings as you wish

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express

NQN’s Not Quite Guacamole

• 1 small avocado
• 1-2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 1-2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce
• very small pinch of salt

1. Scoop out avocado from shell and discard pip. Add 1 tablespoon of the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of the sweet chili sauce.

2. Taste and add other tablespoon of lime juice and sweet chili sauce if needed.

I adore Quail’s eggs. So much so that when I lived in Japan I’d buy these little speckled eggs by the tin and eat a tin for dinner, just with some sea salt and perhaps a little Japanese mayo if I felt like it. I was rather excited when I saw a tin of quail’s eggs, a much larger and cheaper tin at that, in Chinatown so I brought them home all set to have a tin (or half of it) for dinner. One bite and I knew something was wrong. There was an almost bitter, tinny taste to the eggs. I threw them all out and knew that I would have to either get fresh or buy some from a Japanese grocery store.

When we went for a drive up to Cowan one weekend, we saw some boys selling quail and chicken eggs by the side of the road along with tamarillos. I bought 6 quail eggs for $1 and 5 tamarillos for $1 (yes big spender me). The Tamarillos I made into a Tamarillo Tiramisu and as for the quail eggs, I had seen this recipe in a magazine which involved dipping them in Za’atar, a middle eastern spice and seasoning mix.

I had all of the Za’atar ingredients to hand except for the Sumac which I was pleased to find at Coles. I used a tip of Nigella’s in which you drop in a fresh, unlit match to the almost boiling water. This somehow prevents any egg white which may escape from whipping up a storm in the pot.

The quail egg membrane and shell do require a delicate touch, the quail’s egg membrane being much stronger than a chicken’s egg membrane so removing the shell and membrane without damaging the egg is a tad more difficult. But if a clumsy clod like me can do it I’m sure those more dexterous will have no issues.

These are absolutely gorgeous served at a dinner party as an appetiser, peeled and sitting up proudly in the colourful and fragrant Za’atar mix. Indeed the quantity given below is for dinner party appetisers. The yolk rich eggs really come into their own with the heady mix of spices and the floral marjoram. Sit back and watch your guests swoon at these tiny delicacies. The mix also works with chicken’s eggs but due to their size, it’s a bit more fiddly to eat so I wouldn’t recommend them for dinner parties. With the quail’s eggs it’s a quick pop into the mouth.

Quail eggs with Za’atar

• 24 quail eggs
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon sumac
• 1 tablespoon marjoram (fresh or dried, I have a small marjoram plant so I used fresh)
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon seasalt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1. Boil quail eggs for 4 minutes. Cool in cold water (it won’t take long, they are very small) and peel

2. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl well.

3. Place eggs standing up on plated Za’atar mix

This is also my entry for the latest round of Monthly Mingle, an event started by Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey? it is being hosted this month by Mansi of Fun and Food who entered my Banana bread bake off. This month’s theme is vegetarian appetisers or Hors’Doeuvres. Wish me luck!

My jam obsession knows no bounds. Despite the fact that I’ve sworn off buying or making jam due to the 10 opened jars in my fridge and 3 in my cupboard, I was lured again by this recipe. In my defence, Your Honour, its only makes 1 cup so its not like I will have jars and jars of this and I made it to go with tofu burgers, to give it much needed flavour beyond the usual tomato sauce that goes into burgers. I’d also like to admit, into Evidence, Exhibit B, the jam which is delicious. Sample it and try and convict me.

Tomato jam

Makes approximately 1 cup
Ingredients

• 2 tbs canola oil
• 2 tbs grated ginger
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup (125ml) red wine vinegar
• 1/2 firmly packed (100g) brown sugar
• 1 small red chilli, finely chopped
• 425g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbs honey

Method

1. Heat the canola oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and onion, and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the vinegar, brown sugar and chilli, and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until sugar dissolves.

2. Stir in the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-35 minutes until thick (I leave the lid off so that some of the water will evaporate which can take up to 45 minutes but be warned, your stovetop will look like a crime scene with red splatters everywhere. Don’t wear your best outfit). Stir in the honey and cool to room temperature.

Notes & tips

* This jam keeps for up to 2 weeks, covered, in the fridge.

Source delicious. - October 2006 Recipe by Valli Little

Nigella is convinced that Mexican food is the next big food trend. I’m not 100% sure I agree with her wholeheartedly but it is nevertheless a delicious and easy to make cuisine. I saw an episode of Nigella Express where she made the following dishes and the sweetcorn chowder, normally not something that would really peak my interest looked so ludicrously easy I decided to make it. Nigella prefers frozen corn but if I am not having fresh white corn, I prefer Edgell’s super sweet canned or organic. But as she is the chef, I followed her lead. And regretted it. Perhaps frozen corn is tastier in England but the bag I bought here was abysmally awful and reminded me why I dislike all frozen vegetables bar peas.

I also have been having numerous problems with my Breville Wizz food processor. Namely that it decides when it wants to work and when it doesn’t. Tonight it was sulking, only working when cajoled (I am secretly dreaming of a Magimix or something a bit better so perhaps it sensed it). So my chowder was a litte chunkier that I would’ve ordinarily liked. Having said that, it was very healthy and flavoursome and would have been better if it weren’t for the hideous frozen corn.

The Roquamole on the other hands was easiness personified and whilst I was mixing it, I thought I may have made too much. Not so - when it’s this delicious. It was quickly demolished amidst much satisfied chip dipping.

The Margarita ice cream is a revelation. It’s absolutely sublime and has the perfect consistency even without using an ice cream churner: soft and easy to scoop. And I do think that sugar rimming the margarita glasses adds an extra special touch to the presentation although it’s so good you may find yourself eating it straight from the container.

Roquamole

• 1 cup crumbled Roquefort or St Agur at room temperature
• 60ml sour cream
• 2 ripe avocados
• 35g sliced pickled green jalapenos from a jar
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• 1 packet Blue-corn tortilla chips

1. In a bowl, crumble or mash the blue cheese with sour cream.

2. Mash in avocados. If they are ripe, a fork should be all you need.

3. Roughly chop sliced jalapenos and stir them into the mixture along with finely sliced spring onions.

4. Arrange in the centre of a plate or dish, dust with the paprika and surround with tortilla chips. Dive in.
Serves 4 to 6

Sweetcorn chowder

• 500g Frozen sweetcorn defrosted (please escape my fate and don’t use frozen, use super sweet canned or freshly shucked steamed white corn kernels totaling 500g once shucked)
• 3 spring onions, each one debearded and halved
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled
• 35 grams semolina
• 1.5 litres of hot vegetable stock made from concentrate or cube
• 150g lightly salted tortilla chips
• 75g grated cheese
• 2 long red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6

2. Drain the sweetcorn and put into a food processor with the spring onions, garlic and semolina. Blitz to a speckled primrose mush, unless you have a big food processor you may have to do this in two batches.

3. Tip this mixture into a large saucepan, add the hot vegetable stock and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and let the chowder simmer, partially covered for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, spread the tortilla chips out on a foil lined baking sheet and sprinkle the cheese over. Warm in the hot oven for 5-10 mins or until the cheese melts over the chips.

5. Ladle the soup into bowls and put a small mound of cheese molten chips into the middle of each bow. Sprinkle some of the red chili on top, if you feel like it, and serve immediately to very grateful people.

Margarita ice cream

• 125ml lime juice
• 2×15ml tablespoons tequila
• 3×15ml tablespoons orange liqueur or triple sec
• 150g icing sugar
• 500ml double cream

Method
1. Pour the lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur (or triple sec) into a bowl and stir in the icing sugar to dissolve

2. Add the cream and softly whisk until the mixture is thick and smooth, but not stiff.

3. Spoon into an airtight container to freeze overnight. This ice cream doesn’t need to be taken out to soften before serving, as it won’t freeze too hard and melts speedily and voluptuously.

4. Rim Margarita glasses with lime juice and dredge in sugar. Add three or four scoops per glass and freshly grated lime rind.

Recipes by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express

This has got the be one of the easiest but most gratifying dishes from Nigella Express. With a sum cooking time of 3 minutes (ok you could add on 2-3 minutes for getting the mixture to a boil) it will make a seafood chef out of the most reluctant cook.

I don’t want to mislead though, there is some time necessary for preparing the mussels. Firstly I rinsed them several times in clean cold water and debearding them and removing the barnacles was something that I found oddly therapeutic. I didn’t “knock them off” as Nigella said with the back of a short sharp knife as the barnacles were more flat than raised, rather I scraped the shells with a short sharp knife which seemed to do the job.

As I used spanish onions, I started off by sauteeing them lightly in butter and oil along with the garlic and then added the curry powder before adding in the white wine and bringing that to a boil. After that I added the mussels and it was 3 minutes with a bit of pot shaking (also therapeutic, simply imagine you were throttling or shaking about an annoying colleague) and it was done. And if you’re more organised than me, have some gorgeously crunchy Sourdough at the ready to mop up the briney, fragrant soup.

I leave you with a photograph of a kookaburra on our balcony, taken by my husband. Perhaps it was lured by the sweet smell of the Mouclade!

Mouclade from Nigella Express

• 2kg mussels
• 4 baby leeks (or spring onions) finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled nad finely sliced
• 500ml white wine (or 250ml Noilly Pratt and 250ml water)
• 2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
• 125ml double cream

1. Soak the mussels in some clean, cold water and -if they haven’t been dealt with in the shop-sort through them, debearding and knocking off any barnacles with the back of a small knife

2. Take a large pan with a lid. Add the sliced baby leeks, sliced garlic, white wine and curry powder, bring to the boil.

3. Tip the mussels into a colander, discarding any that haven’t closed and tumble the rest into the pan, clamp on the lid and cook on a high heat for about 3 minutes. Shake the pan around as they are cooking.

4. When you lift the lid, the mussels should have fully opened. Discard any that haven’t. Add the double cream, and then turn into a bowl to serve, or take the pan straight to the table. Remember to put out a bowl for the shells.

Serves 4

Recipe by Nigella Lawson from Nigella Express