It was pancake Tuesday the other day, and everyone else was making pancakes. I've never been sold on them really, always a bit stodgy, bit full on, bit sickly... I don't love the texture of sugar so pairing it with lemon juice has never been my thing. But given that it was Shrove Tuesday, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon... somewhat. I was planning on making some savoury crepes, but by the time I got home, I really couldn't be arsed with a crepe batter, and the dishes that went with it! I decided to make some spicy mince and wrap them up in tortillas (my crepe alternative!) and cover them in a rich tomato sauce and bake them, enchilada style!
I'll give you the recipe, but when I make spicy mince or chilli con carne I never measure anything, so this will be a guess-timation as to the quantities! I also use flavoured oils in my cooking, out of pure laziness mostly. The Cobram Estate flavoured oils we buy are great, and so full of flavour. It just means that I can skip a step here and there! Obviously, if you'd rather, use whatever oil you have in the house, and garlic.
Oven baked wraps with spicy mince
Mince
500g beef mince
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chillies to taste, chopped
Garlic oil
Tomato sauce
2 cans tomatoes
1/2 capsicum
Garlic oil
Ground cumin
Tabasco sauce
Tortilla wraps
Cheese, grated
Method
1) Add oil into the pan with the onions, chillies, cumin, and celery seeds and paprika, and stir, make sure it doesn't stick. Cook till the onions are softened.
2) Add the beef and cook until it's browned, then transfer to another bowl and set aside.
3) Add the oil, canned tomatoes, capsicum, ground cumin (to taste, I added about a tsp), and as much tabasco as you like! Give it a good stir and cook it down a bit so its not so watery.
4) While you're waiting, oil a baking tray lightly, wrap the mince up in the tortillas and tuck them in snugly!
5) Pour the tomato sauce over the wraps, get it into the cracks and spaces, and grate some cheese over the top.
6) Put it in a hot oven until the cheese and sauce are bubbling and golden.
I served it with a chunky garden salad, dressed with a generous squeeze of lime and seasoned with S&P.
We both really enjoyed it, more so the next day! These 4 tortillas were quite big and so one each is enough, we had leftovers for dinner the next day, otherwise, this would serve 4. The tomato sauce was quite rich, it had a great tang which went really well with the mince, which had great savoury, smokey flavour. There was no sauce on the bottom so they were nice and crisp, which was a nice contrast to the softer texture on top with the sauce and cheese, which we both thought was comparable to pasta, just a little chewier. Don't worry about sogginess! If you've reduced the tomato sauce down enough you shouldn't need to cook it too long in the oven...
This is so easy to whip up, uses everyday ingredients that you're likely to have already. Its a real crowd pleaser, as its so easy to scale up, or down and its simple to put together.
*Note - sorry about the average photos, it was the night before that my SLR memory card had a fit and died, so these are just camera pics!*
