Enchiladas

Makes 8 (serves 4 adults)

Last week we had friends round for a midweek meal. I wanted something that I could cook fairly easily once The Food Baby was in bed that could then be put in the middle of the table and everyone help themselves. We went Mexican. I marinated the chicken earlier in the day but everything else was done in about 45 minutes. And half an hour of that was it cooking in the oven.

Whilst I have opted for chicken (in my case I go for thigh meat as it stays so moist), but it would also be good with thinly sliced pork or beef. If you wanted to go meat-free then butternut squash would be delicious. Use the same spice mix but roast it in the oven once coated in the marinade (step 1) for 25-30 minutes and then mix with your cooked peppers and onions (step 3).

• Ingredients:
• 2x my fajita spice mix (with 2 tsp set to one side)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 500g chicken fillets (thighs or breast) cut into thin strips (or a meat or vegetable of your choice)
• 1 onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 – 2 peppers, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced
• 8 corn & wheat tortillas
• 500g passata
• 125g mozzarella

Step 1: Combine the spice mix (making sure you’ve taken out two teaspoons’ worth to save for the sauce), one tablespoon of the oil and the chicken (or meat/vegetable of your choice) in a bowl, cover and leave to marinate.

Step 2: Separately combine the reserved spice mix with the passata and leave to one side.

Step 3: Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add your remaining tablespoon of oil. Fry the peppers and onions for a few minutes and then add the marinated chicken. Stir frequently until the chicken is just cooked through (if you have cut it thinly this will not take long and you don’t want to over cook it as it is going in the oven too).

Step 4: Lay out your tortillas and spoon equal amounts of the cooked filling down the centre of each tortilla.

Step 5: Carefully tuck in the two ends and then roll each tortilla so it is enclosed.

Step 6: Place the tortillas carefully in a baking dish. You want to pack them in next to each other, but don’t over lap them.

Step 7: Pour your spicy passata over the top and make sure they are all covered.

Step 8: Tear your mozzarella (or sprinkle if you are using pre-grated) over the top and place in a preheated oven (180c) for 25-30 minutes until bubbling and the cheese is golden.

This is good served with a salad (why not try my Mexican-style salad) and some crunchy, cheesy nachos. I layered up a dish with salted tortilla chips, a sprinkling of Mexicana cheese, dollops of salsa, sour cream and guacamole and finely chopped jalapeños (repeated until the bag of tortilla chips ran out) and cooked these for 20 minutes in the same oven as the enchiladas.