Recipe Development

I have always been daunted by the thought of developing my own recipes. I tend to think I would have no clue where to start! Last night, however, I had a little revelation. I already develop recipes... pretty much every day. Every time I look in the fridge & cupboard and then just "wing it" for dinner, I am creating new recipes! So, last night, I decided & would photograph and blog this one. 

I know this isn't strictly baking but it is a dough and it isn't something I have made before so I reckon it counts for item two on my big list!

So, my husband popped out to the Co-Op for something and came home with a super bargain cooked chicken that was reduced to clear for £1.25. Perfect! I can get a minimum of  two meals out of a full roast chicken, sometimes three. This had me thinking, I fancied something with a sweet, smoky flavour and tortillas.  I didn't fancy going back to the shops for tortillas so I googled it and here's where I ended up: 

Flour Tortilla Wraps - what a discovery, I never knew they could be so easy and delicious. I don't think I'll ever buy wraps again! I made one quarter of this recipe. Seeing I had all the elements in my stores, I set to work and made my dough. Whilst the dough was resting, I made a sauce of tinned chopped tomatoes, paprika, garlic, squirt of ketchup, and squirt of Smoky BBQ sauce, and dash of salt & pepper. Smoked paprika would be best but I didn't have any. 

Bargain chicken and easy peasy tortilla dough.

Then I started on my tortillas. The recipe states a hot dry pan so I heated the pan and started rolling out my first one. I went thin, as I was rolling this up for a baked dish but for sandwich style wraps, you could easily go a tad thicker - perfect with falafel I think! I rolled thin enough that I could see light through my dough when I held it up. It should be lovely and stretchy too. The tortillas should bubble beautifully in the pan. It seems odd to dry fry, but it does work and they crisp wonderfully. At this point I started imagining all the delicious things I could come up with for these wraps - hot & crisp served with fresh guacamole, home made salsa and hummous as an appetiser, perhaps?

Once all the tortillas were done, and the sauce had simmered to a lovely thick consistency, I assembled the dish. I spread a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the dish and took each tortilla, filled with a squeeze of BBQ sauce, shredded chicken, and then rolled up, placing it seam-side down in the dish. 

Then I took the remaining sauce and spread it over the top of the rolled up wraps and covered in grated cheese. This would have been better with monterey cheese or even a mozzarella - cheddar mix (for their melty stringy properties) but I only had cheddar to hand. I sprinkled a touch of paprika on top of the cheese and popped it into a hot oven for around 20 mins or so. Here is what came out:

A dish of sweet, smoky, tomatoey, cheesy, meaty, tortilla deliciousness.

I will definitely make this again!! The tortillas stayed soft, with a few crisp edges whereas I have made a similar dish with shop bough wraps and they can go a tad soggy (bleugh!)