Chicken Fajitas with Mango Salsa

Well, date night didn't quite happen as planned last night. By the time Fleur arrived at her parent's we were too hungry to wait for the salsa to be ready, and so ordered a curry! Instead, I prepared the salsa last night so it had a full 24 hours before eating today.

Anyway, without any further preamble, here comes the recipe!

Shopping List

Feeds 4 people

1 ripe mango

2 red onions

1 red chilli (medium heat)

1 packet of coriander

1 lime

4 chicken breasts

8 tortilla wraps

1 red pepper

2 pots guacamole

1 pot sour cream

This takes about 10 minutes to prepare the salsa, a couple of hours for the salsa to sit, then 10 minutes preparation followed by 10 minutes cooking and 5 minutes assembly.

1. Prepare the salsa. Ideally you want to prepare the salsa a couple of hours in advance, so that the flavours have time to combine. Dice the mango into roughly 1/2 centimetre cubes and put into a medium sized mixing bowl. Finely chop one of the red onions and chuck that in as well. Finely chop the chilli - in it goes, followed by the coriander, roughly chopped with the stalks removed. Lastly squeeze the juice of the lime and then thoroughly mix everything together. Cover with cling film and stick in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

It's important to use a mango that is very ripe - preferably just on the edge of going over. I have used one that wasn't ripe before and it really doesn't work.

2. When you are ready to start cooking get 2 frying pans heating over medium/high heat (I normally go for 4 out of 6 on my hob) with a tablespoon of olive oil in each.

3. Chop the second onion into long slices, and the red pepper, and put into one of the pans with a little salt and freshly crushed black pepper. These will need stirring occasionally but you are looking to over cook the onion slightly, and get the pepper nice and juicy.

4. Next, prepare the chicken breasts. Place each breast onto a plastic chopping board, press down slightly with the palm of your left hand and then, using a very sharp knife (preferably a boning knife), slice the breast in half horizontally, so that you now have 2 thinner escalopes. You can also remove the fillet at this stage.

I will say at this juncture that you should buy the most expensive chicken you can afford - preferably organic. I won't go into a whole diatribe about the evils of intensively farmed meat. Read Hugh's Meat Book, which changed my life, if you want some more info. But I always try to buy organic; which means I don't get to eat meat as often as I'd perhaps like, because of the cost.

5. Place 2 of the breasts into the second frying pan and cook on each side until lightly browned, with a little salt and black pepper. Then remove from the pan, and slice each one lengthways, slightly on the diagonal, so that you get finger-sized pieces. Put these back into the pan to finish off (as they may still be pink in the middle). Remove from the pan when finished and place to one side and keep warm whilst repeating with the second set of breasts.

6. Finally, assemble the fajitas. You can warm the tortillas in the microwave - place 2 tortillas between 2 plates in the microwave for 40 seconds - but I don't normally bother. To make the fajitas easy to pick up and eat I place the food on one side, and then fold over and bring the sides in (see pictures). So, first place 4 or 5 fingers in the middle of one side. Add a good tablespoon or so of salsa, a good dollop of guacamole and a smaller one of sour cream. Then fold your wrap up and serve.

I find 2 wraps per person is plenty, with most girls only able to eat 1 and a half. I can usually be convinced to eat a third but always regret it afterwards!

This food is really simple to make, taking less than half hour in total, but tastes absolutely divine. The sweet mango in the salsa is the perfect compliment to the rest of the strong flavours. I have yet to find anyone that doesn't love it, and Fleur adores it so she requests it for her birthday every year (I made it tonight as I went in for surgery on her birthday last week - oops!). For date night, I recommend serving with Corona and a slice of lime, to complete the Mexican feel (although this can lead to the occasional embarrassing burp - I did warn you).

Unfortunately we don't have a USB cable for the camera so I'll post the pictures when I get home tomorrow.

The start of something amazing, hopefully...

Hi there and welcome to my blog, The Oven King. Within these posts I will aim to describe my particular brand of cooking, with plenty of recipes and pictures.

My wife, Fleur, has been on at me to start this project for some time. Her sister, Vanessa Kimbell http://writingacookerybook.blogspot.com/, successfully wrote a cookery book recently and this has provided a lot of inspiration to me that it is something I could do. Vanessa's approach was to blog about the process of writing the book, as well do a lot of marketing work ahead of getting the book finished. My plan is to write a book, see if I like first, then worry about getting it published and then sold. Perhaps not as effective a plan, but Vanessa heaped a load of pressure on herself to get the book finished, and I would prefer to avoid that if possible! I will be using the blog to post the recipes and invite criticism, prior to putting them into a book.

Why "The Oven King"? In short, because nearly every recipe I have involves using the oven. A lot of recipes, like Shepherd's Pie, Lasagne or Roast Chicken, you would expect to cook in the oven. Others, less so. Spaghetti Bolognese? Chilli con Carne? Steak and Chips? All of these recipes I've adapted over time to cook in the oven for at least part of the cooking process, and I believe they taste better for it. I do certainly lean towards a slower cook, using cheaper cuts of meat which have plenty of fat and sinew to add in flavour, and nearly called this blog "The Slow Cook King" but it doesn't have the same ring to it somehow...

Now for some excuses regarding the delay in starting. We are in the middle of renovating our property, and have had no oven since last August. Which is a bit tough for an Oven King! I have been severely tested in providing exciting meals using just one and a half hob rings, and have regularly gone without one of my all time favourite foods - potato (even mash has been impossible as that hob ring and a half never seems to get hot enough to boil water effectively). Fortunately Fleur has stepped into the breach very well although we were probably the only household in Britain that had salad virtually every day this winter!

So, the oven is still not installed, although it will be in the next few weeks. I have some non-oven dishes that I want to share, starting with Chicken Fajitas (sans Old El Paso) tonight. Friday night in our house is "Date Night" which usually involves staying in and cooking some sexy food with a nice bottle of wine. Chicken Fajitas definitely fit that description (although we'll actually be at my in-laws - I'm staying there whilst recuperating from appendicitis) and I'll post up the recipe and pictures tomorrow. Thinking about it, a lot of these recipes are good date food - not too complicated to make but very impressive to the un-initiated. In fact, given Fleur's mum is a retired chef, even the initiated can be impressed!

A little bit of information about me - I am 31 years old, married to the girl of my dreams, currently finishing renovating our house before going back to work, probably as a banker. My love of food stems from a love of eating, and my mother going out one night when I was 14 saying "there's food in the fridge - help yourself." A bit foolish on her part as there was a leg of lamb. I rang my nan, told her "mum's left me to fend for myself, how do you cook roast lamb?" and went and cooked, and ate, the whole thing! Mum came home to find me stuffed and the lamb gone, but was unable to get mad as I'd only followed her instructions. From that moment on I have gradually added to my repertoire, with first Jamie Oliver and then Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, having a massive impact on my taste and ideas. It was a very strange day when my mum started calling me to ask for cooking advice, and now whenever I am there I tend to do the cooking for her (it's not that she can't cook - she just knows I love doing it).

Anyway, that's probably enough for me for a first post. See you again tomorrow with some Fajitas!