Get Ready For A Loaded Nacho Party

It's not a party without some chips and dips. Take it a step further and have a fiesta with a fully loaded beef nacho!

When you're in need of something quick, easy to make, and fun to eat, nothing beats a loaded tray of nachos. They tick all of the boxes and you don't really need to get out of your way to hunt for the ingredients. Today we will show you our take of the loaded beef nacho. Have a go at it yourself and maybe make some at your next get together with friends!

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Ingredients

Meat Topping

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 yellow onion

• 2 cloves garlic

• 500g minced beef

• 2 tbsp taco seasoning (approx) - refer to Fajitas recipe to make from scratch.

• Salt

Salsa Fresca

• 3 tomatoes (cubed)

• 1-2 Jalapenos

• 1/2 of a red onion (cubed)

• 2 handfuls of coriander leaves (roughly chopped)

• Salt

• Juice of 1 lime

Simple Guacamole

• 2 avocados

• Juice of ½ a lime

• Salt

Nachos Toppings

• 500g Tortilla chips

• 350g Canned Black Beans

• 300g Monterey Jack & Colby Cheese

• 300g Red Cheddar Cheese

• 4-5 tbsp Sour Cream

• A few lettuce leaves - finely sliced

• A handful of pickled Jalapenos

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Method

1. Chop the yellow onion into cubes and roughly chop the garlic.

2. In a medium sized pan, heat up some olive oil, add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent. Add the mince beef and cook until the excess liquid has evaporated. Add the taco seasoning and salt to taste. Turn off heat and set aside to cool.

3. Preheat the oven at 180°C on the broiler setting.

4. Prepare the Salsa Fresca: Chop up the tomatoes, jalapenos, red onion and coriander. Place in a bowl and mix well. Squeeze the lemon juice over the salsa and add salt to taste. Set aside.

5. Prepare the simple guacamole: In a separate bowl, mash the avocados, add a squeeze of lime and salt to taste. Set aside.

6. Assemble the nacho: In a large baking tray and working in layers, spread a layer of tortilla chips, topped with the minced beef, black beans and cheese. In this recipe, I made 3 layers of chips.

7. Place the tray of nachos in the oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until the chips are crisp and the cheese has melted. Keep a close eye on the nachos.

8. Once baked, remove from the oven and top the nachos with Salsa Fresca, dollop some Guacamole and sour cream all over. Lastly, sprinkle with some slices lettuce and pickled jalapenos. Serve warm, enjoy!

Get Juicy Roasted Chicken Every Time | Roasted Peri-Peri Chicken

Dry chicken is one of those things you would never want to put in your mouth. Here we will show you some tips on how to get that juicy bird every time.

Roasted chicken is pretty much a staple in a cook book. It's a very simple dish (simpler than you think) but one that would elevate your position as a home cook among your friends. You hear it a lot when people comment that the chicken is dry and it feels like eating a cardboard and the last thing you want is for that comment to come out after having one of your dishes. We are here to share some of the tips that we've learned as we went through our fair share of cardboard chicken.

First of all, choose your chicken parts! I know that a whole bird is very much a wow factor and it is to be expected around a festive table. However, when you are serving up guests for a get together or simply enjoying a family dinner, a whole bird might be an overkill. I like choosing parts which are closer to the bone as they will impart more flavour and for that reason we are using the chicken thighs (or whole leg/hindquarters as some would call it) which has substantial amount of meat on them and are enough to satisfy an average person. Another reason to use the same parts is to ensure that they cook at the same time and avoid that horrible pink flesh. Finally, the best reason of all is that no one fights over different parts of the bird. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have to mediate a negotiation on who gets the drumstick.

Use a rack to elevate your chicken slightly to allow the juices drip off the chicken. As your chicken cooks, it will release some liquid and unless it's taken out, it will stay in the pan and basically braise your chicken. This is not necessarily a bad thing but if you're aiming for that beautiful golden roasted chicken you might want to avoid getting it submerged in the liquid (soft and soggy chicken skin...blerghh). In our recipe, you'd notice that we did not use a rack, however, we loaded up the bottom with vegetables so that they will hold the chicken above the pan and they're spread apart enough that the juices can still drip off the chicken. Best part about it is that the drippings will then flavour the vegetables underneath as they cook! You can then use the remaining liquid to make gravy for your chicken.

Finally, cover your chicken. By covering the chicken with parchment, or foil, or both, they will not be exposed to direct heat, overcooking certain parts of the chicken. The heat will instead circulate inside the vessel, making sure each piece gets evenly cooked at the same time. Another important thing is moisture retention. By covering it, the moisture gets trapped with the chicken, keeping the chicken moist and juicy for the entire cooking process. Goodbye carboard chicken! Around 10-15 minutes before the cooking time ends, remove the foil and finish the cooking process uncovered to get that beautiful char on the chicken.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of ways to roast the perfect chicken but this is what worked for us and definitely one of the easiest methods we've tried. We hope you will try it for yourselves and remember to have fun with the process! :)

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Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs

• 3 garlic bulbs, tops chopped off

• 2 carrots

• 2 red capsicum

• 1 yellow capsicum

• 3 celery sticks

• 2 onions

• 1 zucchini

• 165g brown button mushrooms

• 150ml peri-peri sauce

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1 chicken bouillon cube

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp black pepper

• Salt to taste

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Method

1. Pre-heat your oven at 200°C (392°F).

2. Add the smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, chicken bouillon cube, salt, peri-peri sauce, and honey to the thighs and rub thoroughly. Set aside to marinade for about 30 minutes).

3. Roughly chop your vegetables and place them in a baking tray.

4. Place the thighs on top of the vegetable, skin side down, and pour the remaining marinade into the tray as well. Mix well with the vegetables.

5. Cover the baking pan with parchment paper followed by aluminium foil and roast for 1½ to 2 hours (depending on your oven).

6. Take it out 15 minutes before the cooking time ends an remove the cover. Flip the chicken and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the skin is golden.

7. You are ready to serve!

Who Would Say No To This Creamy, Cheezy Snack | Mac n Cheese Bites

What's better than the crowd favourite mac and cheese you ask? Fried mac and cheese of course!

As the title suggests this is a pretty straight forward video of making some mac and cheese and deep frying them. But in order for them to stay in shape during the cooking process is where the extra steps will be required. For one, this version of mac and cheese will be thicker than your typical mac and cheese to help them stay in shape once chilled and cut into cubes. Another great addition, in my opinion, are the cauliflowers. We've tested a few recipes before settling on this one and we felt that the cauliflower adds a great variation in texture making it a whole lot more fun to eat.

If you're more into the cheese pull scene, I'll suggest adding mozzarella or fontina into the mix. However, it has to be eaten hot for the maximum effect. Since we usually make these for gatherings, we learned that cheese pulls don't really pull that well once they cool down and end up as solid cheese clumps. Instead, we decided to focus on making them creamy by using cream cheese and cheddar.

Another question we get a lot is "can we use an air fryer?". The short answer is yes, definitely. The shape holds quite well even when you throw it in the air fryer but you would have to do them in small batches since you don't want to stack them in the container and the colour might be a little bit paler compared to the fried ones. You could probably do bigger batches with the oven but you do have to keep an eye on them to get even colouring on the cubes and shuffle them around now and then. But you're making mac and cheese anyway so take it as a cheat day treat maybe? :)

Ingredients

• 350g macaroni

• 1 large onion, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 350g cauliflower, cut into chunks

• 30g butter

• 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

• 60g cream cheese

• 100g grated cheddar

• 300ml milk

• 2 tbsp plain flour

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1 tbsp onion powder

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 tbsp whole grain mustard

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Reserved pasta water

• 300g panko breadcrumbs

• 4 eggs, beaten

• Approx 100g cake flour for dusting

• Vegetable oil for frying

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Method

1. In a pot, boil the pasta water, add salt.

2. Once the water has boiled, add the pasta and cook as per package instructions - a little past al dente is good too, so don’t fuss.

3. In a pan on a medium high heat, add the butter and a little bit of oil to avoid the butter from burning too quickly. Add the onion and garlic. Sautee until soft and translucent. Add the cauliflower and cook until golden and soft.

4. Next add the flour and cook for a minute.

5. Gradually add the milk and mix well. Adjust the thickness of the sauce, if it appears to be too thick, add more milk. If too runny, cook it up abit longer to thicken up the sauce. Turn down the heat if necessary.

6. Add the smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and mustard.

7. Turn off the heat for the pasta and using a slotted spoon, scoop the pasta into the pan with the sauce. Keep the pasta water. Stir well until well combined.

8. Add the cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Mix well.

9. Ladle some of the pasta water to adjust the texture of your macaroni. It shouldn't be too runny, a bit of the thicker side. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

10. Place the mac and cheese into a large tray and flatten the top evenly. Cover with cling wrap and let chill in the fridge for a few hours to set, preferably overnight.

11. Once chilled, cut the mac n cheese into bite-sized cubes.

12. Roll the cubes in cake flour, beaten eggs, and finally the breadcrumbs.

13. Heat the vegetable oil, and fry the cubes until golden. Drain the oil and serve hot. Enjoy!