Orange Chicken Fajitas (with home made guacamole and salsa)

Fajitas are a perfect quick fix meal.  Prep up a deconstructed salad, some meat, sour cream, guacamole and salsa and you are away.  If you are short on time you can use shop bought guacamole and salsa, but if you have the time there is nothing like home made.  Pour over some sauce and refried beans and you have enchiladas.  Our family love fajitas in just about every combination.  This one, however, is a favourite in hot weather as the taste is so fresh and summery.

 You will need:

1. 1 Chicken breast per person.
2. Olive oil.
3. 1 large juicy orange.
4. 4 limes.
5. 1 Avocado per person.
6. 2 large and a handful of cherry tomatoes per person.
7. 1 small red onion per person.
8. A bunch of coriander, roughly chopped.
9. Spinach
10. Salad leaves
11. 1 red chilli (to taste).
12. A handful of pine nuts.
13. Fajitas.
14. Portion of Sour Cream.

NB I use the small, juicy limes that we get in South East Asia.  You may find you need to adjust for the larger US/European limes.

Time taken: 1 hour, difficulty level: easy

Method:

The recipe looks long and fiddly but is actually very easy.  It would be perfectly feasible to delegate parts of the preparation (ie the guacamole) to another family member.  Children, in particular, love to help as they see the ‘recipe’ they are responsible for on the table and being used by the rest of the family in the end product. Mine love hand shredding lettuce and mashing guacamole.  

Meat:

1. Trim the chicken breasts and marinade in some olive oil.  Squeeze in the juice of half an orange and two limes. (be aware that acid in the citrus will start to cook the outside of the meat). 
2. After a half hour marinade place in a 180 °C oven (355F) until cooked through.  Remove to cool before shredding and placing in a serving dish.

Guacamole:

1. Halve the avocados and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
2. Chop half of the red onions very finely and add to the bowl.
3. Chop a large tomato per person very finely and add to the bowl.
4. Squeeze over the juice of one lime and mash the ingredients together.  You may wish to add salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa:

1. Chop the remaining tomatoes and red onion and combine.
2. Add coriander and the juice of the remaining lime. 
3. If you wish to make a hot salsa add the finely chopped chilli. 

Salad

1. Mix the spinach and salad leaves with the segments of the remaining orange half and the pine nuts

Make up

Place some salad onto the middle of the fajita, add some of the chicken and top with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.  Fold the end over the fillings and roll.  You can either prepare the fajitas in advance or, as I prefer, put all the ingredients on the table and allow people to make their own.

Variations:

This recipe works equally well served in tacos

or in pitta pockets.  You could substitute any salad leaf of your choice for the spinach – rocket would work quite well or, alternatively just plain shredded iceberg lettuce. 

You could use orange in the salsa and guacamole instead of lime for a less astringent taste. 

The salad works very well by itself – you could add some slices of beetroot for added crunch and some of the chicken or curls of parma ham for protein to make it into a substantial lunch as opposed to a side.

For a quick version of this recipe you can substitute shop bought pre-cooked chicken and ready made guacamole and salsa.  Shred the chicken unevenly.  Pour the guacamole and salsa  into your own bowls and squeeze some lime juice into them.  Stir some chopped coriander into the salsa, shake some pre-washed salad leaves into the serving bowl and add pine nuts and some orange segments.  No one need know.

Turkey is a viable (and cheaper) substitute for the chicken.

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