Mexican Chilli Baked Eggs - The BEST way to serve chilli : )

I had a serious craving for Mexican food yesterday, the problem is that I am horribly indecisive when it comes to food. I often find myself wanting a variety of dishes, which of course ends up with me slaving away in our tiny kitchen for hours, creating some kind of tapas-esque spread. This inevitably leads to an inordinate level of washing up.

Yesterday it was a chilli and huevos rancheros that were the subjects of my cravings. I thought about making both and just adding the chilli to the tortilla, it seemed like a good plan. Only problem is that you’ve still got a number of elements to make, the chilli, the fried eggs, the refried beans, salsa. It all just screams massive pile of dirty pans to me.

So I’ve combined the two into a chilli with baked eggs recipe (two pans down, yes!). There is an added advantage to this way of cooking too, the egg whites soak up the juices from the chill melding the flavours together. You can also do away with the oil used to fry them for the huevos rancheros, so it’s actually healthier too.

Served up with salad leaves, a splash of yogurt and a grating of cheese, this was a seriously tasty mid week meal.

Vegetarian Chilli  Baked Eggs

Serves 6

I know it tends to be frowned upon by many a cook to use the dreaded "meat substitutes" but I like some of them and there are plenty of vegetarians (and indeed meat eaters) who do as well. The best product by far is the vegetarian mince. I generally prefer the taste and texture of the soya based stuff but feel free to use Quorn too.

First you need to cook your chilli. Fry of a large onion in a good splash of oil (I mixed in some smokey chipotle oil for a bit of added flavour but it's not essential) - use a little salt to stop it from browning too quickly.

Add in a chopped red and green pepper and 4 crushed cloves of garlic (yes 4, it might seem like a lot but it will taste awesome) and a finely chopped red chilli, brown off for another minute before adding in a good tablespoon of tomato puree. Cook this off for at least 5 minutes to allow the puree to caramelise.

Now for the dried spices, 1 tsp of coriander, a sprinkle of cinnamon and 1 tsp paprika stirred through the fried mix will fill your kitchen with some rather tempting aromas. Join everything in the pot with a 400g tin of kidney beans and 200g of vegetarian mince and stir to make sure it's all coated.

Now add in 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes (get some good ones in a nice rich sauce if you can) bring to the boil and simmer away for 20 minutes on a lowish heat.

A splash of lime juice and 30g of chopped coriander will really lift the dish once it's cooked and don't forget to season with plenty of salt and pepper.

The Chilli is now done and could be served just as it is. I would however heartily recommend adding the eggy topping. It's rather simple really, pop the chilli into an oven dish and grab 6 eggs. One by one make a shallow well in the mix and break an egg into it. Pop the dish into an oven heated to gas mark 6 for about 15 minutes - essentially until the eggs are cooked through.

NB: Careful not to make the wells too deep, I let Mr Big Cook Tiny Kitchen do this job and he made really deep holes in the mix, the result? A choice had to be made between uncooked whites and over cooked yolks.

Homemade Tortillas – Quick, Cheap and Surprisingly Easy

I lost my card this week and laziness meant that I couldn’t be bothered to queue in line for cash at the bank so I was armed with only £2.30 to top up the contents of our kitchen. This stretched to the eggs and yogurt that I needed but not the tortillas. Ed was going to get back late too so I didn’t want to send him off to a shop, the solution? Make my own.

Couldn't be easier, you just take 2 cups of flour, a crushed garlic clove and a teaspoon of salt and mix with 2 tbsp olive oil and enough water to make a soft but not sticky dough (about 3-4 tbsp for me).

Knead for 2-3 minutes to give the dough just a little elasticity.

Split into 8 and roll out flat (it's easier to roll one while cooking another so you don't have a work surface covered in uncooked tortillas)

Get a frying pan (or hot plate if you have one) really hot, then one by one dry fry the tortillas. You need only leave them for 30 seconds each side maximum.