Last night, my friends Josh and Stephen came over for Friday night fajitas. I love fajitas, they can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be, are always delicious and leave you snoozingly satisfied!

I kept things relatively straight forward thanks to my good friend Old el Paso, but here are a few suggestions based on fajita good times I’ve produced in the past.

Vegetarian
Fajitas were something I was afraid would die out once Josie decided to be a vegetarian, but I came up with a delicious recipe for a vegetarian filling without having to resort to Quorn. To emphasise how delicious this is, on the night I made it I had chicken AND steak fajitas and I still envied Josie’s!!

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower
• 200ml of salsa (as spicy as you like! Scroll down to make your own!)
• 1 lime
• 50ml of bourbon
• Red onion
• 0.5 teaspoon of Oregano
• 1.5 teaspoon of paprika
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Table spoon of olive oil
• The pepper rainbow- red, orange/yellow, green

Let’s get moving.

1. Break apart your cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and pop in a sauce pan. Do not have the sauce pan on the heat!!

2. Smash and peel your garlic and throw it in.

3. Quarter and pull apart your onion and add all the pieces (apart from the peel) to your pan

4. Put in the salsa, olive oil, bourbon and the zest and juice of the lime. Mix all the flavours and ensure your cauliflower is covered

5. Add the oregano and paprika. Mix.

6. Cover and leave overnight.

COOK

1. When it comes to cook, pop this pan on the hob on a low/medium heat and leave it be for about 20 minutes.

2. Prep your peppers. For fajitas I favour long slices. If you’re into your onion, get another one ready now and add it when you add the peppers.

3. Heat olive oil on medium/high in a frying pan. When the pan is hot, pour in your mix from the saucepan.  HISSSSSSS. Now chuck in your peppers. Keep on the move, cooking for approximately 5 minutes.

4. Serve. Wrap with a little salsa and guacamole and stuff in your mouth.

Incidentally, the marinade used on the cauliflower is the exact same marinade I use when I make myself chicken fajitas, EXCEPT I leave out the JUICE of the lime (as it cooks the edges of the raw chicken- not smart) and I chuck in a few chopped chillies as this is my preference. I love the flavour of smoky chilli and garlic in my fajitas, so when it comes to cook I always put a few of these in the pan first and cook for 5 minutes before adding my mix. I add the lime juice when cooking.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

This is something I love doing, particularly when my cousins Sam and Sarah come to visit. Again, fajitas are close comfort food so are ideal for a booze-ridden family catch-up, but by going the extra mile in a few places you’re showing your love that much more. I’ll start with the wraps, as this is also a fun novelty if you let your guests cook them themselves!

Tortia wraps
When Sam and Sarah come over I get all the wraps rolled and ready but DON’T cook them, just simply pile up the raw flattened dough between sheets of baking paper. I have a flat electric griddle that I put in the centre of the dinner. Each time one of us goes to wrap a fajita, we pop one on the pan for 60 seconds and there you have it- one hundred per cent fresh fajita and a novelty that everyone enjoys!

Ingredients

• 800g of plain flour
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 350ml of boiling water. You may need a splash more!
• Olive oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter with your fingers.

2. Now make a well in the middle, and slowly add the water mixing in the dough with your hands. Make sure you don’t burn yourself, by pushing the flour mix into the water, rather than just plunging your hands straight in!

3. Flour your kitchen surface, then knead the dough on it.

4. Once smooth and elasticated, return to the bowl. Lubricate the top with olive oil, then cover with cling film and set aside for about 10 minutes.

5. Divide into small golf ball size pieces. Roll out into your preferred size and thickness but be well aware that they thicken when you cook them! This is definitely one of those practise makes perfect recipes, my first few were more like naan bread and then after that like crispy papadums! But you’ll get there. If you’re fussy about it being a perfect circle just lay a bowl over it and cut around!

6. Cook in a frying pan (with NO oil) on medium high for about 2 minutes each side. You’ll know when to flip, as the top will become lumpy and bubbly.

7. Fill with something delicious and serve. This recipe has also helped me save money in mine and Josie’s packed lunches, hence why I make so much at once!

Salsa
I’m sure I’m stating the obvious when I say this, but fresh salsa has a completely different flavour to store-bought jarred salsa! You are going to love it! You can completely make it your own- I LOVE spice so I’m heavy on the chili, but if you want something mild but different leave out the chili and try a tablespoon of barbeque sauce in its place. You can alter this recipe as much or as little as you like- I like to keep nearly all the ingredients raw, you may like to cook more or less.

Ingredients

• 5 “normal” tomatoes (as long as they’re not cherry or plum you’re fine)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 chillies
• 1 green pepper
• 1 white onion
• Pinch of salt

What to do…

1. Tear apart 4 of your 5 tomatoes- no need to be neat! Get rid of the jelly.

2. Heat a frying pan medium/high with no oil. Chuck in your garlic cloves and the remaining whole tomato. Blacken your tomato on a few sides.

3. Pop the tomato and your now softened garlic into a food processor. Blitz up. Add your torn up jelly-less pieces of tomato and give a little blitz again.

4. Dice up your chillies, green pepper and onion and add to the mix.

5. Add a pinch of salt and mix all together.

DONE. How easy was that!!

And FINALLY…

Guacamole
Like the salsa, you can alter this as much or as little as you like but whatever you do the fresh taste is phenomenal. When using it as a dip I add chilies and some softened garlic (much like in the salsa recipe). My best friend’s Sister even adds pieces of celery! But with fajitas, I keep it pretty basic due to the other flavours involved. MOST people also add coriander, but unfortunately raw coriander makes me ill!!

Ingredients

• 2 avocados
• 1 lime
• 1 red onion
• 1 tomato

Get it done

1. Half your avocados and scoop out the inside, adding it to a bowl. Mush this up with a fork (keep as lumpy as your preference desires!)

2. Add the juice of the lime. Smush up some more.

3. Dice up you red onion nice and small, and stir it in.

4. Half your tomato and get rid of all the jelly inside. Dice it up, then gently mix into your avocado mush.

That’s it! You’re done! Now you can add whatever else you want or simply just inhale what you have so far.

So there you have it! My longest post so far culminating as Fajitas: As simple or as complicated as you please!