I’m quite picky about pickled jalapeños. Having tried probably every type that’s readily available in this country, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only one worth bothering with is a Californian brand called Mezzetta. There’s something wrong with every other kind – some taste of iodine, some are too squidgy and have little flavour, [...]
Refried beans thinned out with stock and spiced up with garlic and smoky chipotle peppers make a sauce for corn tortillas in this excellent Mexican breakfast / dinner / anytime dish. In this version (there are many variations) it’s similar to enchiladas but without any kind of substantial filling for the tortillas. Instead they’re dredged [...]
The idea for this came from a little Tex-Mex trailer in Bristol called The Woolly Cactus. It serves lunch to office workers on Victoria Street, and claims to be the only place in the UK that does this delicious dip. I find that a little hard to believe – you can get something quite similar [...]
There can’t be many foods that wouldn’t benefit from a dollop of this zingy salsa, although it’s particularly well suited to spicy things like huevos rancheros and veggie chilli.
I used to have this for breakfast at a hotel on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. The restaurant was supposedly owned by Justin Timberlake, and I guess he can afford to eat like this every day – at $30 a pop, it certainly wasn’t cheap. Or particularly healthy. But it wasn’t my money, and I was [...]
A proper chimichanga is a whacking great burrito that’s been deep fried, thereby endowing it with the power of a zillion calories. This version is somewhat lower in fat, and will give you an insight into just how much oil a tortilla can absorb. When you fry them, they’re like little sponges – however much [...]
What’s the difference between a fajita and a burrito? I’m not entirely sure, except one tends to be served in restaurants and the other is fast food. I think this is the former, but forgive me if I’m wrong. To convert it definitively into a burrito, wrap it in tin foil and eat noisily on [...]
Does anybody actually need a recipe for nachos? Judging by the state of what passes for nachos in the average English pub, I’d say perhaps a little re-education is in order. I went to the Porter recently, a pub in Bath that used to be known for its excellent (and cheap) vegetarian food. A few [...]
Here’s the first thing I learned to make, or something like it. I got it from a vegetarian cookbook that’s sadly long since lost, and it no longer bears much resemblance to the original recipe – aptly named ‘bowl of red’ – which had nothing but beans, peppers and onion. This way, I think, is [...]