A Little Bit Spicy...

I adore cooking, trying to get into baking but that's a whole other story! Recently I have been trying to make my own sauces and seasoning. I find a lot of store bought stuff too salty and full of other bad things! Here are 2 quick simple recipes of mine. One is for a fajita seasoning mix and the other is a slightly spicy pasta sauce. I love spicy foods :) And there is a press full of herbs and spices which leaves me spoiled for choice when I'm cooking!

Fajita Seasoning Mix Recipe
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 teaspoons red hot chili powder
1 crushed oxo chicken cube (or similar)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or a crushed garlic glove)
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Just mix them in a bowl. Simple! You can increase or decrease the quantity of spices depending on your threshold! Most other recipes say to use a 1 teaspoon of salt but I try not to add salt whenever I can when cooking. Also 1/4 of onion powder could be added but I didn't see the need for but that's my just preference of course! This is sooooo much nicer the packets of fajita spice mix and it only takes a minute to throw together.


Slightly Spicy Pasta Sauce
25g of butter
1 can of tomatoes
Rosemary
2/3 gloves of garlic
Pepper, salt & sugar
150-175ml of cream
Chili flakes
Parsley, oregano
Chorizo sausage (however much you want)
Mushrooms
Peppers (red & green)
Tagliatelle
Parmesan

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. I blended the tomatoes before adding them to the pan. Add in the garlic, rosemary and season with salt, pepper and the sugar. Cook for a few minutes.
2. Add in the cream, chili flakes, parsley, oregano, sausage and any vegetables you are adding. Leave to simmer until it has reduced by about half. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. I usually end up adding more chili flakes!
3. Cook the tagliatella.
4. Serve. Grate some of the Parmesan over the pasta.

This is from a Rachel Allen cookbook. Slightly varied here but not by much. I don't think she added any vegetables in her recipe. I just felt that it needed some vegetables to be a complete meal.

What are your favourite recipes? Got anything that will keep us warm as we get further and further into the winter months?