Chiminea Cooking – Delicious Mexican Recipes for Winter

Are you ready for some chiminea cooking? During spring and autumn a chiminea takes the edge off the chill outdoors. In summer it’s the ultimate in extra warmth, extending alfresco celebrations long into the already balmy nights. In winter it really comes into its own, making all the difference between staying in because it’s just too darned cold and taking your celebrations outdoors, even on frosty, frigid days and nights.

3 classic Mexican recipes for seasonal chiminea cooking

You can’t beat Mexican food at this time of year: filling, hot, spicy and exotic, the ideal winter warmer. If the great outdoors is beckoning and there’s a celebration on the cards, here are three absolutely delicious and wonderfully simple Mexican recipes for seasonal chiminea cooking, courtesy of the excellent Chimenea Cook Book and User’s Guide by Alison and Dana Doncaster.

The hearty Tex-Mex tortilla omelette

Ingredients:

• A chopped onion
• Oil for frying
• A green, red and yellow pepper, all sliced
• One sliced red chilli
• 2-3 medium-size spuds, cooked and diced
• 6 eggs
• Seasoning

Method:

• Heat the oil in a frying pan with a heavy base, sat on top of your chim
• Fry the onion and peppers
• Add the chilli and spuds
• Cook for 5 minutes
• Beat the eggs, adding your seasoning, and stir them into the pan
• Heat for 5-6 minutes until the eggs are almost cooked
• Finish the omelette off under the grill indoors or inside the chim, resting your pan on the integral chim grill

The tasty tortilla flute, AKA flautas

Ingredients:

• Oil for frying
• 400g refried beans
• 2 chopped green chillies
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 25g of chopped, toasted almonds
• 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander
• 125g grated cheese
• 8 tortillas

Method:

• Put your pan on top of the chim’s chimney, adding oil
• Add the refried beans and chillies, heating them thoroughly
• Mix in the onion, almonds, coriander and cheese
• Warm your tortillas by wrapping them in foil and sticking them in your chim for a few minutes
• Spoon the refried bean mix into each tortilla, then roll them up to form flutes. If you need to, you can secure each flute with a cocktail stick
• Grab a heavy frying pan and add 2.5cm depth of oil
• Fry your flautas until they’re crisp and brown
• Serve with chilli sauce and sliced avocado

The awesome fish fajita

Ingredients:

• 450g of tuna, cod or prawns – or a combo of all three if you like!
• Some ready-made fajita seasoning mix
• One sliced onion
• 3 peppers: one red, one yellow or orange and one green, all sliced
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• 8 tortillas

Method:

• Slice up the fish
• Sprinkle it generously and evenly with fajita seasoning
• Fry the onion and peppers in oil, in a pan, on top of your chim, then transfer it to a lidded pot to stay warm
• Fry the fish
• Cook the tortillas on a grill on top of the chimney until they puff up, then put them somewhere warm
• Add the veg back in the pan with the fish, and fry it all again until it’s hot
• Plop the mix into your tortillas
• Serve with salsa, guacamole, sourced cream and grated cheese

If you’re not mad keen on fish, you can make fabulously tasty fajitas with a filling of cream cheese and bacon, chicken and avocado, or refried beans mixed with chopped tomatoes and herbs.

What’s your favourite chiminea recipe?

We’d love to know how you get on with cooking on your chiminea. As a seasoned chim chef, what’s your favourite chiminea recipe?