06.05.13 | SPRING TACOS

Yesterday was cinco de mayo & although I'm neither Mexican or living anywhere close to Mexico, I am as you know a massive fan of Mexican food so i wanted to celebrate the holiday too! I'm not going to lie and say the temptation to sit drinking margaritas all day long in my sunny garden wasn't pretty high but I do have three small(ish) children to look after so instead TACOS it was.
Well it had to be really, didn't it...
I'd already made a similar version to this earlier in the week but these Spring Tacos are so good that we wanted them again. The chicken is rubbed with spices & lemon juice and griddled making these super healthy too. Serve with some spicy jalepeno sauce  and some fat free natural yougurt & you'll be laughing all the way to skinny town. Mmmmm.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

SPICY JALEPENO SAUCE

This is a really simple sauce to brighten up pretty much anything. I wanted it for my spring tacos, but this would be good with steak, or drizzled over some grilled halloumi! It's going to be perfect for all your grilling needs now BBQ season is finally here - thank goodness!

FOOD: BLACK BEAN TOSTADAS W/ PINK PICKLED ONIONS

When I was deep in thought about whether to jump into Veganism or not, one of the questions that kept cropping up was "but what about Mexican food, will there be enough choice for a vegan?" As you know, I'm a Mexican food nut and I am a total chilli addict, so the thought of Taco night being no more (or being replaced with some squash & rice combination) really made me think twice. I needed to find a good veggie / vegan recipe that I could turn to in those moments when my taste buds are literally crawling out of my mouth and buying a one way ticket to Cozumel.

So, i searched. And i searched & came up with very little that took my interest. Then on the hop, i randomly picked up a copy of BBC Vegetarian magazine (never bought before) & well, to say I got LUCKY when I found the recipe i'm about to share with you is an huge understatement! Once I'd tweaked it a little and added some of these pink pickled onions, it was like i'd never even had any Mexican food before. Well, nothing that tasted like this anyway. The flavours were out of this world, and the texture of the tosadadas - a dream! It was my actually first time making tostadas too and buy their own admission these are whoppers in size, but once i got used to the breaking up & scooping & scoffing, i was in food heaven. Again. And I feel blessed that this is still happening, as I was a little scared it wouldn't be if i'm honest. If you wanted to make this less faffy, then you could opt out of the pickled onion stage, but if you have time i'd really recommend you didn't as it's a huge part of the flavour experience here...

So, go on! Schedule this meal to happen this week because it's about to blow your mind!

FOOD: MEXICAN SLAW

How good is cabbage?! 

How especially good is red cabbage?!

How taste bud tinglingly good is red cabbage when it's mixed up with chilli's, lime juice, salt and transformed into a Mexican Slaw?

Too good, that's how good.

Remember when I confessed all about my Mexican food addiction? Well, it all started off with this salad. When I first made it I couldn't believe how fresh & zingy it was, and I majorly overdosed on the stuff!

For months, every single bbq, picnic or party simply had to include this dish & i'm not exaggerating when i say there was never any of it left. In fact, anyone i've ever made this for has practically inhaled it within seconds. That's fine though because this slaw is SUPER good for you, therfore it's totally acceptable go ahead and stuff your face!!

I think it goes particularly well with a homemade chicken burger & sweet potato fries as per our supper last night, but I also think it would be ace with Drea's vegan chickpea patties. 

Go Make!

PASSION FRUIT MARGARITAS

A couple of nights ago I had some friends visit & what do you do when friends visit?
You make cocktails!
It always seems that whenever cocktails are on the menu, the most popular one is always the classic margarita. Maybe it's the sourness? Maybe it's the freshness? Or maybe the song was right & tequila really does make you happy? Who knows.
Years ago, before I'd tasted a proper margarita, i was always baffled by how something containing tequila was always so popular.
You see, tequila and I have not always been friends. Or even on speaking terms. In fact, I still wholly blame tequila - in it's slammer form -  for my barring from the Bunch of Grapes circa 1998, but that's probably as far as I should go with that story (hi mum!)...
Anyway, i digress... Yes! The other night, we made cocktails. Lots of cocktails! And because i'm now over our original issues, we started off with margaritas!
With the help of some of the awesome Truvia, which is a natural sweetener derived from the Stevia leaf (& it's calorie free - score!), i was able to make up a batch of 'sugar' syrup to add to some of them which was especially perfect for one of my friends who as a diabetic, needs to be aware of her sugar intake.
I was asked by the people of Truvia to give it a try in some of our recipes, and as their website had many cocktail recipes (amongst others) i thought we could give it a go. I fancied making a passion fruit margarita for myself the first time as i'd heard they were gorgeous &  i love passion fruit. Here's what i did...

SPICY BIRD TACOS

A couple of weeks ago, i picked up this book which is full of recipes for authentic Mexican grub. The first thing i decided on cooking up was these Spicy Bird Taco's and oh my, they were so good! I adapted Thomasina's recipe slightly because i hadn't made my own chipotles en adobo and i happened to have a tin of these ready made ones in my cupboard which my sister-in-law sent over from the States. Luckily, i've seen this brand creeping in a few shops this side of the pond lately, which is good good news!

So, do you fancy something sweet, smokey and spicy? 

Yes?

Great - then these are for you!

We enjoyed ours with some home made pico de gallo and lashings of Cholula and the kiddos had the leftovers the following day in fajitas with some soured cream & grated cheese. Full smiles & full bellies all round. NOM.

BLACK BEAN SALSA

The other night I was trying to find a new way to satisfy my never ending desire for Mexican food. And, well, this happened. 

It's a gorgeously spicy fresh salsa with the added omph of black beans. 

Fingers crossed that this salsa will be the stepping stone I need to get me to try a corn salsa one day soon as i have a weird aversion to this Mexican classic.... I have no idea why either.

This salsa may also be the way to get Dexter to eat a bean. Ok, Ok, so it's unlikely that will happen but if it does, then this salsa has magical properties. I'd totally go as far as to say that, as it's sooooo good. 

Errr, what are you waiting for? Go MAKE!

TACO NIGHT!

My name is Lia & I am a mexican food addict. Phew- just had to get that out there!
Seriously though, you've caught me right in the middle of a another food obsession. I get these ALL the time, but this one has gone on and on, and to be honest, it shows no sign of waning, and thank goodness for that as I don't want it to. Ever!
I think it all started when I watched Sir Jamie of Oliver make this on TV one night. I went out & got the Jamie's America book the very next day & I got shredding! To say it blew my socks off is an understatement - i fell in LOVE!

From that moment, my mexican obsession snowballed. Fajita's, natchos, burritos, tostadas, salads, beans, salsa's - you name it, i wanted it! But then the best thing happened - I discovered taco's - proper taco's. I say proper taco's because in the past i'd always been put off them in the past because of those disgusting unappetising pictures on those mexican kit boxes you get in the supermarkets. They look like a giant curved dorrito. It looked like it would snap into a million pieces whenever i took a bite & i'd be left with a mouth full of crisps when i was trying to eat a meal. Urgh, no thanks, i'm not up for that!
Anyway, whilst reading my fave foodie blog Shutterbean, I found this taco night party & found that it was easy to make your own shell's using some good quality tortilla wraps. Score! So, it was that discovery, along with this awesome Pico de Gallo recipe, that sealed my fate, and my new favourite meal was born. That night we feasted on shrimp taco's with pico de gallo & black beans. It was awesome & now we have a taco night at least once a week as a RULE! Is that weird? Maybe, but I couldn't give a flying tortilla as it is just so so good.
This week we had fish taco's using cod loins. They were good, but i'm not going to lie to you - king prawns work 100 times better.

So, this is how a Taco night for two goes in my kitchen...


1. For lazy black beans:
- empty a can of black beans into a saucepan (that's the lazy part)
- add 2 crushed garlic cloves
- add 4 corriander stalks
- simmer for about 15-20 minutes. (or long enough so they are not watery)

2. Marinate:
- take either 500g of raw king prawns, or 2 fillets of chunky white fish
- in a bowl add a sprinkle of sea salt
- add the juice of a lime
- add a few shakes of a hot sauce of your choice
- set aside

3. Next up, make your Pico De Gallo:
You will need:
- 12 cherry tomatoes - quartered
- 2 tablespoons of corriander leaves
- 3 tablespoons of finely diced white onion
- 1 fresh red chilli - deseeded & chopped
- fresh sea salt
- juice of 1/2 - 1 lime

Simply combine your toms, corriander, onion & chilli. Then sprinkle with your salt & dress with your lime. How easy is that? C'mon!

4. Make your shells:
You will need 8 flour tortilla's
- heat a large frying pan on your hottest hob. Get it REAL hot!
- when it's hot place one tortilla on, and using tongs keep peaking underneath until you see it starting to crisp & have a few brown spots.
- turn over & repeat for the other side.
- once ready, take off the heat & fold in half. I use the end of a wooden spoon to create the shell shape.

5. Grill your fillings:

6. Gather your sides! Hot sauce is a MUST! Cholula is my fave.

7. Load up your shell!

Flake your fish (or scatter your prawns) & fill!

That's the happiest little taco i've ever seen. Look! It's smiling :)

So there you have it, perfection on a plate! Enjoy x

WHAT WE ARE EATING: Pico de Gallo

I made some Pico de Gallo last night to go with our taco's & it was flippin' gorge. Total nom worthy food that ticked all my boxes - healthy, fresh, spicy & most importantly, it included corriander, which is my favourite ingredient of all time! I am totally obsessed, and eat it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  I'm going to have a crack at growing it at home this summer, although i've read that coriander is a bit of an arse to grow and i'm crap at growing stuff in general, but i'm going to give it a go anyway! Any tips?

Here's the recipe (adapted from Goop)

12 cherry toms (various colours) - quartered
2 tablespoons of corriander leaves - chopped
3 tablespoons of really really finely diced onion
1 de-seeded & chopped fresh red chilli (more if you're hard)
Juice of half a lime (more if you're me)
A good pinch of coarse sea salt

Combine your tomatoes, corriander, onion & chilli. Sprinkle with the salt, then dress with the lime. Then... you're pretty much done! Enjoy x