Update Alert

I'm sending out this announcement to remind you that if you are intending to grow chillies this season;

You need to get started now !

To help you in this and to take another step towards making chillies-down-under.com the complete website I want it to be, I have begun radically upgrading the information on the Growing Your Chillies page.

At the moment I have upgraded selecting your seeds, methods for increasing your germination success rate and a bit of technical detail that affect germination.

I will over the next two weeks complete the section, covering, actually getting your seeds germinated, toughening up the seedlings, planting out and general maintenance after that.

If you are not intending to start from seed then, when it becomes available, you can jump straight to the planting out section.

You'll receive another alert when I have completed the section.

But wait there's more....

Below, I've attached a great recipe I tried out on some friends over the weekend. Hope you enjoy it too.

• 6 (about 900g) chicken thigh fillets
• 1 tablsp lime juice
• 1 tablsp orange juice (blood orange if you can get it)
• 1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil
• 2 tablsp coarsely chopped fresh oregano
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 ripe roma tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 lime, thinly sliced
• 1 large fresh red cayenne chilli, thinly sliced
• 2 teasp balsamic vinegar
• 3 teasp caster sugar
• 3 cups, baby spinach

Slice each chicken fillet widthways to make 3 thin fillets.

Place the chicken in a glass or ceramic dish and season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the citrus juices and half the oil and sprinkle with oregano.

Finely chop 2 garlic cloves and add to the chicken and gently toss to combine. Then cover and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes to allow the flavours to mix. 

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper and arrange the tomato, lime and chilli on the tray.

Thinly slice the remaining garlic and scatter over the tomato. Drizzle with remaining oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes soften and the lime begins to char.

Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar and the balsamic.

Turn the barbecue (or open grill) onto medium-high. Drain all the excess marinade from the chicken and grill it until coloured on both sidea and cooked through.

Then arrange the chicken, chilli, tomato, lime and baby spinach on the plates you're intending to serve it on.

On a warm day (and it wasn't half bad in Perth) this would be great with a cold, Clare Valley riesling.

Wishing you a life full of flavour

Nigel

I've added a secret ingredient just for you. The merciless peppers of Quetzlzacatenengo, grown deep in the primeval jungles by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.
Chief Wiggum in The Simpsons


PS - I'll be upgrading the Chilli Varieties pages over the next two to three weeks as well so check back there every few days.