Home made tortilla chips

I make no secret of the fact that I LOVE crisps. Give me a bag of crisps over a bar of chocolate or piece of cake any day. I love many types of crisps, anything from Worcester sauce wheat crunchies, to salt'n'vinegar Walkers, to Flamin Hot Monster Munch, and...tortilla chips.

Our favourite tortilla chips of choice are Marks and Spencers jalapeno flavoured chips - they are great for snacking, dipping, topping a fajita lasagne, or piling high with chilli and cheese to make nachos. I also love the humble Dorito, with chilli heatweave or lime being my favourite flavours.

The other night I watched Ina Garten (AKA The Barefoot Contessa) make her own tortilla chips and I thought I would give it a go, having some tortilla wraps left over from my lunches this week. She actually deep fries them but as I am a bit scared of deep frying things in a saucepan (too many chip-pan fire safety adverts on TV when I was growing up) I decided to oven bake them instead. The result was lovely and crunchy with a nice kick from the seasoning. I'll be honest, they don't come anywhere near a proper bag of crisps but they are a nice easy alternative to whip up in a hurry, and I've no doubt they are a bit healthier too!

Homemade spicy tortilla chips

Cut 1 or 2 tortilla chips in 8 wedges

Place on a baking tray and brush both sides with a little oil

In a small bowl mix up coarse salt, onion salt, chilli powder and smoked paprika - the quantities are up to you but I used about 1/4 tsp of everything except the salt which was just a pinch. You could also experiment with other flavours like cayenne, chipotle, or cumin.

Sprinkle the spice mix over the tortillas and bake in a 200deg preheated oven for 10 mins. 

Keep an eye on them - they burn very quickly!!!!!! (yes I did discover this the hard way)

I had these with lentil dhal and they went very well, but I reckon they'd be best scooping up some nice hot chilli :)

Enjoy!

Speedy spaghetti and sausage meatballs

Oh Big Eejit readers have I got a treat for you tonight.

This is a recipe I have adapted from one I tore out of an Essentials magazine ages ago. I like meatballs a lot but feel it's a bit of a waste of money buying ready made ones when you can make them yourself out of mince...but then I could never be bothered with that either. This is the best of both worlds - easy and cheap. Bonus!

Speedy spaghetti and sausage meatballs

Ingredients

2 TBSP olive oil

450g pack of pork sausages

Small red onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Pinch fennel seeds

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 TBSP tomato paste

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

400g spaghetti, cooked to pack instructions

Method

First of all, skin your sausages. It is a bit messy but strangely satisfying (or that might just be me...!) Heat the olive oil in a deep saute pan, tear your sausages into chunks and add them to the oil. 

Cook for about 5 minutes until starting to brown, draining off any excess oil. Add the onion, garlic and fennel seeds and cook for a few moments more. De-glaze the pan with a splash of white wine.

Add the chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and tomato paste, along with a splash of water. Reduce the heat and simmer until your spaghetti has cooked. Take a ladle or 2 of the pasta cooking water and add it to the meatball sauce - it'll help it stick to the spaghetti better.

Serve on a warmed plate sprinkled with cheese, and some chopped basil if you have it.

I honestly cannot recommend this recipe enough - it is so delicious and tasty with lots of nice flavour from the fennel seeds and onion. Mr gave it a massive thumbs up too so it is definitely one to add to the regular list. I'm sure that meatball sauce could be easily frozen as well.

Why not give it a go!