​One of my aunts (Teta Marica) gave me this recipe years ago. She's my cookbook aunt, one that tries new things all the time. Each time you go over her house, you get to try something new (quite often I ask for the recipe). Back when I got the recipe I made it regularly, however over the years I tried other things and I'd forgotten to make this again. Yesterday I made it again for some of my family that I had over for dinner, and it was a hit. The flavours go so well together. It is great to serve when guests arrive, with drinks.

It is really easy to make, you can prepare the bases and filling in the morning, then just assemble before serving.

​Recipe adapted from an Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook

Makes 32

1-2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
200g ricotta cheese
3 teaspoons hot water
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
3 teaspoons horseradish cream
6 slices smoked salmon, chopped coarsely
32 capers
Salt and pepper, to taste
​

Preheat oven to very hot 250C/230C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Allow the pastry to thaw slightly. Cut 5.5cm rounds from pastry sheets (you need 16 rounds). Place the rounds on your prepared tray. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until browned. Once cooled, split the rounds in half. They have a natural line you follow, but do it carefully to not crack the pastry cups you make. At this stage once cooled completely, place the cups in an airtight container, and leave until needed.

​In a medium bowl, add the ricotta and water, stir to combine. Stir in the chives and horseradish cream. Refrigerate until needed.

Just before serving, spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the rounds. Top with the salmon. Add a caper to each. Season with a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper, decorate with chives.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/smoked-salmon-and-caper-pizzas.html 
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/

​Makes 12-15 burritos

Spice Mix:
1 1/2 tablespoons chipotle powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon All Spice powder
1 teaspoon ​coriander powder
1 teaspoon onion powder or
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt and pepper, each

Beef:
1 – 2 tablespoon olive oil
1.5kg beef chuck, cut into 4 pieces
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 brown onion, diced
3/4 cup (185 ml) orange juice
2 tablespoon lime juice
400g can crushed tomatoes
2 cups (500 ml) beef or chicken stock
1/2 cup (125ml) water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mexican Red Rice: make 2 batches
​1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
1 3/4 cups (435 ml) chicken or vegetable broth
2 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeno pepper, whole (optional)
1 sprig coriander

Guacamole:
2 large ripe avocados
Lime juice, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

For assembly:
Flour Tortillas, I use Mission Wraps as they are large and soft
300ml Sour Cream
2 x 400g can black beans, drained, rinsed
2 x 400g can corn kernels, drained, rinsed
375g shredded cheese
Fresh Coriander, roughly chopped, to taste

Pico de Gallo: to serve
4 vine-ripened tomatoes, deseeded, diced
1 small white onion, diced
½ cup coarsely chopped coriander
Juice of 2 limes
2 jalapeño chillies, finely chopped
2 jalapeño chillies, seeded, finely chopped, optional
1 small garlic clove, crushed

Corn Chips, to serve, adds crunch


Combine the Spice Mix ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle 4 teaspoons over the beef and pat it on so it sticks to the beef.

Cook the beef: Heat the olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add the beef and brown well on all sides. Remove onto a plate.

Turn the stove down to medium. If the pot looks dry, add more olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 3 minutes until soft. Add the orange juice and lime juice, and scrape the bottom of the pot so the brown bits mix into the liquid. Add tomato, beef stock, water and remaining spice mix. Mix, then return beef into pot. 
Put the lid on, bring to a simmer then turn the stove down so it is bubbling gently, not rapidly. 
Cook for 2 hours, then remove lid and simmer for another 30 minutes until beef is tender enough to shred.

Meanwhile make the Mexican Rice: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, stir briefly, then add onion. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until translucent. Add rice, broth, salt and tomato paste. Stir until tomato paste is dissolved. Place the jalapeno and coriander on top of the rice. Cover, bring to simmer, then lower heat to low so the water is simmering gently. Cook for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed (tilt pot to check).
Remove from heat, leave lid on and rest for 10 minutes, this is important. The residual liquid on the surface of the rice will get absorbed and rice will go from sticky to fluffy. Fluff with fork then set aside until needed.

Make the Pico de Gallo, if you are eating the burritos today: combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavours to develop.

Continue with the beef: Remove the beef from sauce, shred with 2 forks. 
Leave the sauce to simmer with the lid off for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce and thicken to your taste. Adjust salt to taste. Toss beef back into the sauce.

Place a tortilla on a clean work surface. If your tortillas are not soft and pliable, you can heat them up in a microwave, uncovered or wrapped in foil in a warm oven.

Place about 1/2 tablespoon of sour cream on lower third of the tortilla, top with 1 tablespoon of guacamole, top with about 1/2 cup rice, shape the rice in roughly a 12cm x 5cm rectangle, top with about 1/2 cup of beef, about 1/3 cup cheese, 2 tablespoons of beans and 2 tablespoons of corn then sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of fresh coriander. These measures are all guides, you want a full burrito, but you do need to be able to roll it up.

​​Fold up, burrito style-start rolling up from the filling side, folding in the sides when you're halfway, then finish rolling up

​ Toasting: If eating right away: Either pan fry over medium high heat (no oil) for 2 minutes each side to make tortilla crispy and melt cheese a bit OR wrap tightly in foil and bake in oven 10 minutes.

Serve burritos with pico de gallo and corn chips.

If you are freezing them: Don't toast them: Place a piece of foil on your work bench, top with a piece of baking paper. Place your rolled burrito on one edge seam side down and roll it up tightly, folding in the ends. Place in the fridge for up to 4 days or freezer for up to 3 months, they never last that long in my house.

If you cooking some you assembled earlier and were in the fridge, heat them up in a microwave for 2 minutes, before crisping up the tortilla either in warm in oven – 15 minutes at 180C wrapped in foil or remove foil and baking paper and heat in a dry frying pan. 

Frozen – thawed overnight - remove foil, heat in a microwave for 2 minutes then warm in a 180C oven 15 minutes.

To reheat from frozen in the oven, keep wrapped in foil and place in oven for 40 minutes at 180C.

To reheat from frozen in a pan, first remove foil and baking paper, microwave for 2 minutes, then turn them over and microwave a further 2 minutes, then eat as is or crisp them up in a dry frying pan.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/mexican-pulled-beef-burritos.html 
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Recently I wanted to get away from my usual toast with butter breakfasts. I wanted something with more vitamins to start the day. So I decided to start having smoothies for breakfast.

These are so quick and easy to make, are delicious and I do feel better by having them.

This smoothie says serves 1, but it is a big serving, so I personally share it with someone in my family, or if no one is home I have half for breakfast and the rest for lunch.

You do need a good blender for this recipe.

If it's not peach season, I use tinned peaches and I add 1 tablespoon of the peach syrup as my sweetener.

So if you're like me and you want something healthier to start your day, this smoothie is a great recipe to start with.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/peach-and-spinach-smoothie.html 
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​Recipe adapted from iowagirleats.com/ 

Serves 8

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup dry quinoa
400g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 English cucumber chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup loosely-packed fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup roasted salted pistachios, roughly chopped
200g crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

For the lemon dressing:
1/2 cup lemon juice ~3-4 lemons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper to taste
​

For the Lemon Dressing:
Add all the ingredients to a jar with a tight fitting lid, then shake to combine.

For the Salad:
Add chicken or vegetable stock to a small saucepan over high heat then bring to a boil. Add quinoa then turn heat down to low, place a lid on top, and simmer until quinoa is tender and broth has been absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Fluff cooked quinoa with a fork then scoop into a storage container or large mixing bowl to cool. Once cool, cover then refrigerate until chilled. Can be made a day or two ahead of time.

Add chilled quinoa to a large mixing bowl then add chickpeas, cucumber, red onion, parsley, mint, pistachios and feta. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing, you don't need to use it all. Then toss to combine and serve, or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/the-perfect-salad.html
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​Recipe adapted from Jane Kennedy's cookbook The Big Book of Fabulous Food

Serves 4

2 x roasted chicken thighs
2 x roasted chicken legs
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
6 rashers middle bacon
1 baby cos lettuce, leaves separated
4 large egg, soft boiled and cut in half lengthways
1 telegraph cucumber, halved lengthways, sliced in 5mm slices
2 avocados, stones removed, thickly sliced
2 tomatoes, cut into bite sized wedges
250g Danish feta, cubed

Red Wine Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
60ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
​
Shred chicken meat into bite sized pieces. Discard bones.

Make the vinaigrette: Mix together in a jar the vinegar and oil, season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Heat the sunflower in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the bacon for 3-4 minutes per side, or until crispy.
Allow to cool, cut up into bite sized pieces.

Make a bed of lettuce on a large platter. Arrange the chicken, bacon, eggs, cucumber, avocado, tomato and feta on top, in separate sections, it looks pretty and people can choose what they want in their salads. Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/roast-chicken-cobb-salad.html
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​Recipe adapted from Jane Kennedy's cookbook The Big Book of Fabulous Food

Serves 2

2 roasted chicken breasts, shredded
200g plain drumhead and/or red cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, grated, optional
2 large shallots, finely sliced

Dressing:
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
White pepper, to taste


Make the dressing: In a jar add all the ingredients, shake to combine.

In a large bowl add the shredded chicken, shredded cabbage, carrot, if using and shallots. Drizzle over the dressing. Toss to combine and serve.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/roast-chicken-with-shredded-asian-coleslaw.html
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Recipe adapted from Jane Kennedy's cookbook The Big Book of Fabulous Food

Serves 4-6

1 x 1.8kg whole chicken, rinsed and dried thoroughly
Sea Salt Flakes and Ground Black Pepper
2-3 thyme sprigs
​

Preheat oven to 230C/210C fan forced.

Let all excess water drip out of the chicken. Pat dry all of the skin with paper towels.

Tuck the wings under. ​Truss the chicken by tying up the legs.

Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of salt all over and inside the chicken. Season to taste with ground black pepper.

Sprinkle over some fresh thyme leaves.

Place in the preheated oven for one hour. You can start to check it from 50 minutes as every oven is different.

Remove from the oven and rest. Sprinkle over some fresh thyme leaves. If you want crispy skin leave it. If you don't care, baste over some of the pan juices over the chicken. Leave for 15 minutes.

Cut up as you like and serve with any salad of your choice. 

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/roast-chicken.html
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Here are two work lunches I make from my roast chicken

​Recently I wanted to get away from my usual toast with butter breakfasts. I wanted something with more vitamins to start the day. So I decided to start having smoothies for breakfast.

These are so quick and easy to make, are delicious and I do feel better by having them.

This smoothie says serves 1, but it is a big serving, so I personally share it with someone in my family, or if no one is home I have half for breakfast and the rest for lunch.

You do need a good blender for this recipe.

If I don't have frozen bananas at home, but I have frozen mango I interchange these two ingredients, as long as one of them is frozen, you're good to go.

So if you're like me and you want something healthier to start your day, this smoothie is a great recipe to start with.

Recipe adapted from Super Green Smoothies by Sally Obermeder and Maha Koraiem

Serves 1

90g baby spinach
1 frozen banana
185g chopped mango
250ml skim milk
​
Place all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/banana-and-mango-smoothie.html 
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Sometimes I like trying something just for fun. Here Mexican meets Italian, and I had my kids in mind when I thought about making it. By kids, I laugh, as mine are 23, 22 and 18, so not really kids by definition, but they are my kids. But this is something that suits all ages, especially once they start eating things with spice.

Here you eat it and expect Italian flavours, but you get Mexican. It's a great midweek meal idea, as it's quick to throw together and tastes great.

I like to use pork and beef mince, but you could just use beef mince.

If you like, you can make your own taco spice mix. Just mix together.
1 1/4 tablespoon ground chilli
3/4 tablespoon ​paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
3/4 tablespoon onion flakes or onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Just watch spice here if serving to children. This will keep for at least 6 months to a year.

With the cheese pasta sauce, I freeze what I don't use, so I can use it next time I make this. Any leftovers can be frozen also.

So if you are looking for something new to try, give this a go.​

​Recipe adapted from Top 100 taste.com.au The Thrifty Pantry cookbook

Serves 6

200g dried macaroni pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded, finely chopped
500g Pork and Beef Mince
30g sachet taco seasoning
375g jar mild thick and chunky salsa
180ml (3/4 cup) cheese pasta bake sauce
100g (1 cup) pre-grated pizza cheese
​
125g (1/2 cup) sour cream
200g cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 avocado, chopped
2 green shallots, chopped
​
Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packet directions or until al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and capsicum. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the pork and beef mince. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until browned.

Add the taco seasoning to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until well combined. Add the pasta, salsa and cheese sauce. Season. Cook, stirring, until combined and warmed through. Transfer to a baking dish and smooth the surface. Scatter with cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

​Serve topped with sour cream, tomato, avocado and shallot.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/cheesy-taco-pasta.html
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​I think the hardest part of every morning for me is trying to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner. What do I feel like eating, what does my family feel like eating, what do I feel like cooking, do I want to go and do groceries, what I have got to work with at home. This is every single morning. Now I also have to add in what am I going to cook at the club, can I cook the same thing for home and work. 

To those questions I also add, as anyone that knows me, or anyone that has been following me for a while, knows that I love trying new recipes, I can't cook the same thing over and over, so I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes to try. It really is a job just trying to figure out what to cook each day.

This recipe looked amazing and was super easy to make, so I had to try it. It ticked all the boxes in that it should please everyone for dinner.

We loved it. The chicken was delicious, the sauce delicious. It really was easy to make, one pot, minimal mess, cooked in the oven and dinner is done.

You could add 1 red capsicum, diced and/or 1 sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces just after frying the onions. 

This is a great meal to make mid week, as after a bit of initial preparation, you pop it in the oven and you have free time while dinner is cooking.

​Recipe adapted from alexandracooks.com/ 

Serves 6-8

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
Salt and White Pepper
8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs or drumsticks or a combination of both
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons curry powder
3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 x 400ml can unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 cup coriander, roughly chopped, or more or less to taste
140g spinach

For serving:
cooked Jasmine or Basmati rice (or any rice you like)
Freshly squeezed lime juice, optional


Heat oven to 205C/185C fan forced.

In a large sauté pan over high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, and immediately turn the heat to medium-low. Stir every so often, and cook for about 4 minutes, add garlic and ginger and cook until the onions soften and begin browning at the edges, about 1 minute.

Meanwhile, place the chicken in a large bowl and season all over with salt and pepper.

Add the curry powder, turmeric, and Thai red curry paste to the onions, and stir until onions are coated  in the spices, about a minute. Add the tomatoes, and stir until they just begin to soften, about a minute. Add the can of coconut milk. Fill up the empty can of coconut milk with water and add to the pan. Add the fish sauce and brown sugar and bring to a simmer. 
​
Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat. Transfer pan to the oven uncovered and cook for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced considerably, the chicken skin is brown, and the meat is falling off the bone. If the liquid has reduced too much, add more by the quarter cup. 

Remove chicken and place on a plate. Add coriander and stir. Add spinach, and stir. Return chicken back to the pot.

Spoon rice into bowls. Top with chicken and sauce, squeeze over lime, if desired, and serve immediately.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/coconut-thai-chicken-curry.html 
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