Rubbishy Cookery

  Happy New Year! Let’s start 2026 on the right foot with a nice chili dinner! Ingredients: Directions: Start with a couple of good glugs of neutral flavoured oil (I’m using canola oil) in a big pot and heat over medium high heat. Chop an onion and add it to the hot oil pot: Sauté the chopped onion until softened: Then add 3-ish finely chopped garlic cloves and sauté further for a few moments until fragrant and maybe not as browned as I’ve done: Then add your lean ground beef, hopefully not still partially frozen like mine: Is fine! Brown the beef with the onions and garlic on medium heat until no longer pink: Still pink! Keep going: Perfect!  Now start adding spices: a really generous amount of chili powder, about a tablespoon of ground cumin, and a few shakes of ground chipotle powder: Golly it’s hard to see with all that steam! Stir that all together on medium heat until the spice aroma fills your kitchen with fragrant spicy goodness, then add a can of tomatoes: Pro tip: ma...

  Do you ever have friends over for dinner, prepare some nice appetizers and a main, only to be left with a fridge full of bits and bobs of leftovers?  Well today I’m going to show you how to turn your leftover BBQ kebabs and nacho chips and dips appetizer into nachos that are reminiscent of 1990s “Mexican” restaurant fajitas! Ingredients: Directions: First, we’re going to donate the mushrooms to another meal. Luckily I have someone nearby who wanted them for a pasta dish. Next, chop up the leftover cold kebab beef, onions, and red peppers into bite-sized pieces: The fact that the beef is too rare for my liking becomes irrelevant in the process of recooking that follows, and is, in fact, an advantage. Heat some neutral flavoured oil in a nonstick pan and add the chopped kebab pieces when hot, then stir fry until nicely reheated and browned up: Meanwhile, get your nacho chips ready and lay them out on a parchment paper-lined tray. I’m making a serving for one, so using the...