Good afternoon everyone. Here with your last no stress, no mess meal of the week. I hope you managed to gather together all the ingredients posted on yesterdays shopping list! Have a go at these easy home-made delicious tacos for the perfect Saturday evening meal. You won’t be disappointed!
I have an insanely hectic life, that by the way, I thrive on. The day flies by in a whisper and before I know it, I’m on the way to pick up my kids from school and I find myself working up recipes in my head, ( whilst dodging through Nairobi traffic consisting of both break neck speed rattling trucks and slug slow mopey cows – trying to traverse a roundabout in wanton suicide fashion) for a wholesome, yet exciting dinner that is going to please everyone. Ok, so almost everyone! I need delicious – but quick fix – I need no mess and definitely no stress…I need some kind of miracle, clearly.
So, for those of you that have been following my recipes, you know how I like to add my twist on everything and today I had tacos on my brain, but these were definitely not going to suffer the fate of a dry, droll, filling. I wanted my taco to dance, to shake it up and have some jazz. This was going to be a taco that would be talked about for a while… and thank God, that in my moment of madness, driven by a sweat breaking 32 degree heat, cows in slow motion and the general calamity of driving in Africa, the idea actually worked…!
So, here is how the recipe rolled…
Now the roast chicken part may seem like a palaver, why not just use standard chicken breast, I hear you asking… Simply because, this my friend, is where the flavour from the moist, garlicky, buttery, peppery – part roasted, part caramelised chicken, is going to be sky high. The best part is, once your pop this in the oven, you can pretty much forget about it!
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade
So start by washing and drying your whole chicken with a very clean dishcloth, skin left on. Rub the butter, minced garlic, salt and black pepper all over, including inside the chicken . Wrap the chicken entirely in foil and plug into the hot oven. Forget about it for 45 minutes or so.
In the meantime, grate your carrots and place in a bowl.
Deseed your cucumber, peel leaving a few strands of skin on. Grate and place in a separate bowl.
Slice your cheese into rough wedges and place in a bowl. Sprinkle over some pepper.
Chop the lettuce up into long shreds.
Now prepare the guacamole. Simply mash the avocado with a fork and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Check for seasoning and adjust.
After 45 minutes, open up the foil and the set your oven to grill. Grill the exposed chicken for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove the chicken and with a fork and knife start to shred off all the meat into small pieces. Try and keep all the juices that come out of the chicken – that’s where all that finger licking flavour is!
Now heat the olive oil in a wide pan. Add the chicken and all the juices, add the spanish paprika, season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Stir fry for a minute or two, tossing it all around so the seasoning is evenly spread. Check and adjust the flavours to your liking. Remember if you fancy a bit of heat, this is the time to add the red chilli flakes.
Set aside in a bowl.
A few minutes before serving, heat the ready made tacos under the grill for a few minutes until they start to crisp up.
Now it’s simply a matter of setting all these items out on the dinner table. The guacamole, the chicken, the carrots, the lettuce, the cheese wedges and the cucumber, the shop bought salsa – not forgetting the tacos.
Simply let everyone fill their own tacos and watch two or three get devoured very very quickly. This is going to definitely be a regular family treat!!
Serve with oven cooked potato wedges.
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