Moist, sticky, sweet but fiery pieces of succulent chicken, nestling with languid red onion and red pepper, bathed in sour cream and wrapped in the warm blanket of a tortilla. The Fajitas. Surely one of the finest English recipes ever to take the Americas by storm.

Shakespeare and Dickens both make reference to this inventive dish. The tragedy is that no one recognises its true English origins*. Not until now, anyway.

So, fair maidens and Noblemen, this way for the receipt for Fajitas.

* None of this is true.

To prepare this much beloved, easy and heartwarming feast, acquire some chicken meat. I prefer thigh – tis cheap and tasty, much like my husband.

If you can get them, and want quickness, go for the thigh fillets. If not, get the thighs with bone and skin still attached and simply cut the meat off the bone. In this instance, I had 3 thighs and a drumstick – sounds like the opening line of a joke.

Hack and butcher them into bite-sized pieces

Get a shallow dish and put the ingredients for the marinade into it.

3 tbsp light olive oil, 2 tblsp maple syrup, 1½ tblsp wine vinegar, 2 tsp dried Oregano, 1 ½ tsp dried jalapeno (or use a fresh one), ½ tsp ground cumin, freshly milled salt and pepper and 2 cloves garlic, crushed (I hadn’t put it in yet when I took the picture)

Place your chicken into the marinade, turn it around to coat it, then cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Remove the seeds from a red pepper and cut into strips. Finely slice one or two red onions.

Preheat your griddle/sizzler pan/frying pan, add a little oil and fry your onion.

Once it’s beginning to brown, add the red pepper.

When you’re happy with it’s state of doneness, add the chicken with its marinade. If, as I sometimes find, the chicken isn’t really browning because the pan is too crowded, remove the vegetables and keep them warm, allowing the chicken to cook nicely

that’s better

Add the veggies back, ready for serving

Warm your tortillas according to pack instructions (I used ye olde microwave and kept them warm in my tortilla warmer – courtesy of Aldi).

Take one tortilla, spread a little sour cream over it, scatter – neatly, please – with the tender, sticky chicken and veg, then a sprinkling of grated cheese.

Roll up and devour. You can add all sorts of weird and wonderful things to it, but as I have a pathological hatred of avocado, there’s no guacamole on the plate. You must do whatever shakes your maracas.

Your English Maracas. Ariba.

………………….

Ye Olde English Fajitas

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chicken thigh meat off the bone, cut into bite sized pieces

marinade:
3 tbsp light olive oil or a vegetable oil
2 tblsp maple syrup
1.5 tblsp wine vinegar
2 tsp dried Oregano
1.5 tsp dried jalapeno (or use a fresh one)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
freshly milled salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Combine the marinade ingredients in a shallow dish and add the pieces of chicken. Turn well to coat then cover and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or so – stir around occasionally.

2 red onions, peeled and cut into think wedges
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into thin slices

Preheat your griddle/sizzler pan/frying pan, add a little oil and fry your onion. Once it’s beginning to brown, add the red pepper. When you’re happy with it’s state of doneness,add the chicken with its marinade. If the chicken isn’t really browning, remove the vegetables and keep them warm, adding them back just before serving.

Serve in warmed tortillas with a blob of sour cream and some grated cheddar or whatever other hard cheese makes you smile.

3 Responses to “Ye Olde English Fajitas”

1. melanie says:

   4 September, 2009 at 9:22 pm

   Mmmm. Anna. This is a must try for me!
2. Anna says:

   6 September, 2009 at 10:14 am

   You’ll love it Melanie – guaranteed
3. cream until fluffy » Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake says:

   7 October, 2009 at 9:02 pm

   [...] had to make something with it, right? Luckily, I still have a little left over, so I can sense some fajitas in the not-so-distant [...]