Take a trip to the rugged and romantic Northern Territory, where we get to make some tasty tortillas with the characters from the Elsie Creek Series. So let’s join the party…

RINGER RIGSY’S TASTY TORTILLAS.

Made in the rugged rural kitchens of an outback cattle station, to the sounds of a crackling campfire in the stockman’s camp on a muster, is where you’ll find this ringer obsessed with burritos. Pushing back the brim of his Akubra, Rigsy believes he’s perfected these tasty trackside tortillas and he’s willing to share.

But first…

You need to do a lucky dip on the playlists for background music. Then pop the lid of your favourite brew as you gather your ingredients!

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Ingredients for eight:

(From the author: Rigsy does this recipe without even thinking about it, so with a pen in hand and measuring cup we caught the following ingredients.)*

1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, or whatever flour you have handy.

½ teaspoon of salt and a pinch over your shoulder for luck.

Pinch of baking powder, only if you have it handy.

2 tablespoons of cooking oil that can be olive, vegetable, grapeseed etc. but not coconut it’s too strong. Add another teaspoon or two for luck. (Who knew the guy was so superstitious!)

½ cup of warm water that’s on the verge of hot water.

Now to do the Tasty Tortilla dance, darlin’:

Then into a big bowl, add flour, salt, baking powder and give it a quick whisk to ensure an even spread.

Make a well in the middle.

Grab a jug for the warm water and oil, give it a quick stir with a fork.

Then pour into the centre well, then mix until you have the correct consistency.

If too dry and crumbly, drip-feed more water.

If sticky, sprinkle more flour.

Then onto the bench, knead it for a bit, or to the count of ten works. Don’t overdo it.

Let it rest while you get the pan on the go (See Aunty Bea’s tips on resting below.)

Roll into one long sausage roll. (Coz he’s a guy!)

Cut into 10 sections (Rigsy used a clean paint scraper for this, he saw some bakers use something similar—we can use a knife.) which should be the size of a big golf ball that you just roll and rest.

You can roll it flat to show off your mad cowboy skills or…

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Cheat on the roll and press it, princess!

(We can blame Rigsy for the titles, okay.)*

Cover the bench with plastic wrap or cut open a Ziplock bag for the thicker plastic and put in one of those balls of dough inside.

A flick of flour helps, so it doesn’t stick.

Cover it over with plastic.

Press down with a heavy metal frypan, or a glass casserole dish, or even a chopping board.

just press it flat!

Easy as.

Then peel off the plastic, sip your beer, and admire how perfectly you did this.

Now let’s cook with class, cupcake.

As the music hustles, you get to dance over to the stove.

Find a non-stick pan and have it on medium heat.

Place your perfectly pressed tortilla into the pan.

Then cook each side until you find the brown spots, which is about 30-60 seconds. If they puff up, it’s a good sign.

Then slide it onto a plate, cover with a tea towel to steam it and keep them soft.

Wipe your pan free from excess flour then add another tasty tortilla, flip and fry. Stack on top of the first one, cover with a towel, wipe pan, and go again.

You’ve got this.

Aunty Bea’s Kitchen Tips:

For her handy home-cooking know-how

If using white flour, it will need to rest for the gluten to do its thing to stop it springing back into shape while rolling or flattening it.

If using the traditional corn styled flour, there is no need to rest.

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Nasty Nancy’s Storage Solutions

From her no-nonsense commercial cooking class, save what you make with these tips

For the dough, you can wrap it in cling-wrap to maintain moisture and then foil to block out any light and put it in the fridge. It will last a week for you to break off what you need to cook as you go.

Cooked tortillas, kept in an airtight container, last a week in the fridge. Just reheat in the microwave.

To freeze cooked tortillas, place baking paper between the layers and put them into an airtight container. They’ll last up to 6 weeks-6 months.

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Oh, I'm in!

Lucy’s let’s do it this way…

As the improvising queen of bush tucker, get creative by switching up the ingredients.

Make your tasty tortilla even tastier with a:

Splash of lime juice

Pinch of Chilli powder

Dash on the Garlic power

Sprinkle some onion powder

Chuck in some chicken stock instead of water and voila, you’ll have a tamale base.

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Alex’s cyber-stalked curiosities:

As a master brewing truck driver, who loves to scroll the small screen, Alex discovered…

The tortilla is the base for the following dishes, fajitas, tacos, nacho chips, tostada, enchilada and more.

Oh, and did you know the hard-shell taco we love on Tuesdays was a US invention in the 1890s. While the Mayans have been cooking corn made tortillas since 10,000 BC.

As the cook, you deserve this book.

As the author the characters made me do this! But the flavours for this feast suits a certain scene where the Ringer Rigsy tries his hand at impressing a certain lady. It’s a scene where he makes his tortilla’s shine in MUSTER IN THE DUST that is a standalone story from the bestselling Elsie Creek Series that you can download to read as you eat.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the kitchen to go play with some flour.