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Thomasina Miers book signing in Canary Wharf

Join us on Tuesday 9th March from 1pm in Canada Place Crossroads in Canary Wharf’s mall for a chance to meet Thomasina Miers and get an exclusive signed copy of her new book “Mexican Food Made Simple.”

“A world away from Tex-Mex sizzling fajitas with cheesy nachos, Thomasina Miers, former MasterChef champ and Wahaca restaurant founder, is bringing a large slice of genuine Mexico to the mainstream” The Independent

To mark the occasion, Wahaca will be giving away delicious guacamole and chips fresh from their restaurant in The Park Pavilion, Canada Square.

Hope to see you there!

What's Happening > Contributor Competitions > Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Recipes & Cooking Tips > What's Happening

Mexican Ceviche by Katherine Tunnadine

Ceviche originates in Peru but that doesn’t stop the Mexicans taking it on as their own. They are particularly good on the coast where the seafood if fresh and plentiful and just waiting for the fresh lime and chilli. It makes a brilliant, healthy start to a meal. Just make sure you buy a sustainable, firm fish such as pollock or mackerel. Over to Katherine:

My friend’s family own a pescaderia in Manzanillo, the pacific coast of Mexico and whenever I have visited her, they make amazing fish dishes. My favourite, however, is their ‘house’ ceviche. I’m not sure of the exact proportions/quantites of each ingredient as they do it by taste and sight…

Ingredients:

Minced white fish
Finely, finely chopped carrot
Finely, finely chopped white onion
Finely, finely chopped red tomatoes
Chilli
Lime juice
Fresh coriander (chopped)
Plenty of salt

Method:

The fish is either roughly minced or finely chopped into cubes. Add salt and then cook in the lime juice until it goes white.

When the fish is ready drain off the lime juice so that the fish is quite dry. There should be no excess juice, unlike other ceviche.

Mix the fish with the vegetables (onion, tomatoes, carrot, coriander and chilli) and add salt and oregano to taste.

This is best served on small tostadas (round, crisp tortillas), with sliced avocado on top and mucho salsa valentine.

Serving this on a taco is a great idea. Katherine’s recipe is a classic. You can vary the type of fish and even use prawns and scallops. It’s great with an ice cold Pacifico.

Thanks to everyone who entered my competition. For more Mexican recipes, including the winning recipe from Steve Gale you’ll have to buy my book – Mexican Cooking Made Simple!

What's Happening > Contributor Competitions > Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Recipes & Cooking Tips > What's Happening

Molletes by Matty Teran

Matty’s contribution to my recipe competition is a Mexican teatime classic. Kids would come home from school craving this cheap, delicious treat, kind of like the best of beans on toast and cheese on toast all wrapped up in one. It should be in everyone’s repertoire. The hollowed out middle means this recipe has far more to it than meets the eye.

This is another very typical Mexican recipe. Simple and delicious! You have to have frijoles which you can make according to this recipe. You will also need ‘pico de gallo’ salsa, which you can find out more about here. Over to Matty…

Ingredients:

4 rolls or bolillos (but 2 fresh baguettes cut in half will do the trick)
Frijoles (about a cup)
Lancashire or mozzarella cheese according to your taste
Butter
‘Pico de gallo’ salsa (recipe link)

Method:

1. Cut the rolls in half and remove the softy middle part; we call it ‘migajon’.

2. Spread with butter and then with the frijoles.
3. Sprinkle with cheese and bake about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
4. Serve with ‘pico de gallo’ salsa.

Thanks Matty for a great recipe. It just goes to show that some simple pleasures transcend international boundaries.

Stay tuned for more contributions to my Mexican recipe competition. And if you make this dish please let us know how you get on by leaving a comment.

What's Happening > Contributor Competitions > Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Recipes & Cooking Tips > What's Happening

Smoked Haddock Ceviche with Corn & Sweet Potato Pancakes by Alicia Fourie

Alicia’s recipe is a deliciously alternative idea for Pancake Day. Using smoked fish is inspired and goes beautifully with the sweet potato and corn pancakes which might be a little too sweet for normal ceviche. The pancakes are also outrageously good with streaky bacon and slow-cooked tomatoes for breakfast. You can use either smoked pollock or coley for a more sustainable option.

Feeds 4 as a light main meal

Ingredients:

For the ceviche:

300g undyed smoked haddock fillets
1 serrano chilli
1 red shallot
Juice of a lime
Tabasco (optional)

For the pancakes:

120g coarse cornmeal
1 red shallot
1 serrano chilli, grated
Zest of a lime
Kernels cut from 2 cobs of corn
200g sweet potato, grated
2 whole eggs
About 100ml milk
2 egg whites
Stems from a big bunch of coriander
Salt & pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

To finish:

Juice of half a lime
Splash of olive oil
1 ripe avocado
Leaves from a big bunch of coriander

Method:

Remove the skin from the smoked haddock and cut it into thin slices, across the grain. Place the sliced chilli, sliced shallot and slices of fish in a non-reactive dish and pour over the lime juice. Sprinkle on a little Tabasco if you like it really hot. Leave for 45 minutes to cure.

In a large bowl combine the cornmeal, diced shallot, diced chilli, lime zest, corn and sweet potato.. Stir through the whole eggs and the finely chopped coriander stems. Add enough milk to make a thick batter. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold through the corn and sweet potato mixture. Season with salt & pepper.

Fry pancakes gently in oil (about 4 minutes a side – the first one inevitably falls apart and it takes a long time to cook out the sweet potato) and keep them warm.

When ready to serve, drain the fish from the marinade (discarding the juices but retaining the sliced shallot and some of the chilli slices) and combine with the coriander leaves and scoops of avocado. Dress with the lime juice and a splash of olive oil. Correct the seasoning.

Serve the hot pancakes topped with cool, fresh ceviche.

Alicia’s recipe is very special indeed. The contrast of textures, temperatures and acidity make this a real joy. The corn and sweet potato pancakes are so good that you should make a large batch so they you can enjoy them for lunch the next day with a zesty topping of prawns and guacamole.

Thanks to everyone who entered my competition. For more Mexican recipes, including the winning recipe from Steve Gale you’ll have to buy my book – Mexican Cooking Made Simple!

What's Happening > Contributor Competitions > Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Food Topics & Trends > Wahacos > What's Happening

Huevos Borrachos by Gicela Morales

One of the star recipes submitted for my Recipe Competition was by Gicela Morales a wonderful Mexican woman who is fiendishly good with salsas. Eggs are a staple in Mexico and there is nowhere that you will eat a better breakfast. The green sauce on these eggs is as fiery as they come and perfect for blowing through the steamiest of hangovers. It is also incredibly good for you, a properly healthy start to the day. If you are looking for a way to blow away some cobwebs then look no further. Over to Gicela:

This is a hot green salsa with eggs for anyone with a hangover. It’s very easy to make and only requires very basic ingredients and a few green chilles.

You can make it as hot or as mild as you wish, but the idea is to make it as hot as you can stand it! Also makes a good brunch.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the eggs

5 free range eggs
1 small onion
2 table spoons of good frying oil
Salt to taste

For the salsa

3 to 5 green chilles
1 small clove of garlic
1 cup of water

Method

1. Seed the chilles and roast them with the chopped garlic. Remove any burnt skin and put them in a food processor with the water until chopped roughly.

2. Chop the onion. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion. Saute the onion and add the eggs; mix until scrambled.

3. Add the green salsa to the egg and mix it gently. Bring it to to boil and add salt to taste.

Serve and eat with fresh bread, a roll or on a taco with a strong mug of coffee. Depending on the extent of your hangover, you may not even feel the heat!

Enjoy!

This is a great dish for blasting away a hangover. Thank you Gicela for sharing it.

Stay tuned for more contribution to my Mexican recipe competition. And if you make this dish please let us know how you get on by leaving a comment.

Wahacos > Banter at the Bar > Food & Drink > Cocktails > Food & Drink > News > News > Our News > Wahacos > What's Happening

Cocktail & Mezcal Bar – Opening Canary Wharf

Opening today! Wahaca is proud to open its first Cocktail & Mezcal Bar serving a list of delicious Wahaca cocktails as well as our favourite Mezcals & Tequila, Mexican beers, wines, refreshing Aqua Frescas and snacks such as our Tortilla chips with freshly made Guacamole. Come visit us soon!

With views out over Canada Square Park, the cocktail & Mezcal bar is located on the second floor of the Park Pavilion – just above the wahaca restaurant. With a Mexican table football, swing chairs and a living plant wall that creates a vibrant, buzzy and unique spot for after work drinks.

A little information on Mezcal
Heralded as the “elixir of the Gods” Mezcal is the best kept secret to be smuggled out of the Americas in the last 20 years.  Mezcal comes from the maguey or agave plant which is grown mainly in Oaxaca.  There is a saying in Oaxaca “para todo mal, mezcal…y para todo bien tambien” (for everything bad there is Mezcal…and also for everything good).  Mezcal has a wonderful smoky/ peaty texture to rival the best Scottish Malts. The flavour comes from the agave plant being baked in huge pits in the ground.  The plants are then crushed to extract their rich, sugary juices.  Tequila is a form of Mezcal and comes from the Blue Agave plant (there are hundreds of different varieties of Agave plant) and has a smoother, less smoky taste. Wahaca’s tequilas are all 100% Blue agave and taste of vanilla, caramel and peppers.  Both plants need to sunbathe for up to 12 years before they have soaked up enough solar energy to produce the sugars to make the alcohol….so drinking them is like drinking sunshine in a bottle!

For all those that have ever had a bad night out on Tequila, we challenge you to discover the real thing at Wahaca.  With no impurities and made from 100% agave they are 100% delicious. Wahaca’s cocktails blend the best of our mezcals and tequilas with other Mexican flavours like tamarind, lime, hibiscus, grapefruit and mint.

For wahaca recipes – click here and here to visit some blog posts with some of our favourite recipes from Sammi.

Do you have any suggestions for Sammi? Let us know any ideas for some of your favourite cocktails and you may have your very own cocktail on our menu soon!

Photos taken by Amy Murrell

What's Happening > Contributor Competitions > What's Happening > Street Art > Wahacos > What's Happening

Claroscuro’s Street Art at Canary Wharf

Last summer we ran a competition to find a street artist to graffiti our restaurant. After being blown away by the entries we got, Claroscuro emerged as the winners and have done an amazing job. To see how it all unfolded from a selection of the brilliant entries through to final artwork watch the video below.

Thanks to everyone who entered our competition and to everyone who voted as well. We were overwhelmed by both the quantity and fabulous quality of the entries and are looking forward to working with the street art community on other projects in the future.

News > News > Our News > What's Happening

Mira! Mexico at the Barbican: 21-27 January 2010

This month sees a season of recent critically acclaimed Mexican film screening at the Barbican Centre from the 21st to 27th January.

“From civil war and revolution in the Silent era, through the Golden Age of the 30s and 40s to the Nuevo Cine Mexicano, establishing global big-hitters Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros) Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light), Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Guillermo del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone) to name a few, Mexican cinema continues to go from strength to strength. 

With debut works, new features and acclaimed shorts, this season spotlights the producers of Mexico’s international hits and festival favourites.” says the Barbican Website.

Click here to find out more information on screenings.

What's Happening > Events at Wahaca > News > News > Our News > What's Happening

Little Chilli Give Away – The Results!

We hope your little chilli pots have survived the cold Christmas and you have a nice little chilli plant growing! Its time to come and show us how you’re doing, perhaps get some advice or share notes with the team at Canary Wharf Wahaca, who have been growing their own plants too.

Visit us this January with your pot and enjoy a free Guacamole & Tortilla Chips from us. If you missed out on the chilli pots do not worry! Pop into Wahaca and we will give you some of our Serrano chilli seeds and some tips on how to grow them.

Bring some heat and spice into your life over the cold months at Wahaca!

(This is only available to those who received a Little Chilli Give Away Pot, the free Guacamole & Tortilla chips are to be enjoyed in the restaurant alongside a meal and only at the Canary Wharf Wahaca restaurant).

What's Happening > Events at Wahaca > Food & Drink > Food & Drink > Food Topics & Trends > Food & Drink > Pairings > What's Happening

A Mexican wine evening

On Wednesday night Bibendum Wines & Wahaca got together a group of wine experts for a food and wine pairing with Thomasina Miers of Wahaca and Hugo D’Acosta – a Mexican wine pioneer.

Mexican wine to most people is a new discovery and for me it was an incredibly enjoyable one. I am not a “wino” at all and whether a bottle is good is measured by me wanting another glass or not but I found it very interesting to match it with food and enjoyed combining the flavours.

I am also very interested in anything mexican (obviously!) and the whole history of wine and the culture around it I found fascinating.

Hugo gave Wahaca a book on The Wine Valleys of Mexico which are based in Baja California – a very beautiful dramatic region of Mexico just near the border to the US. I am actually planning to go there in February so will definitely have a lot more to say and show on it while out there.

This book gives a little history of the origin of Wine in Mexico with it starting back in the 16th Century when the vines were brought over by the Spaniards and renewed themselves – achieving their own personality and essence. But some grapes did actually already exist in Mexico before the Spaniards arrived – a wild or Cimarron grape from which a juice was extracted and which the Aztecs mixed with honey and fruits to make a beverage called acachul which can still be found in Mexico using the traditional recipe. These grapes were not able to be made into wine though so the Spaniards quickly planted the European grapes Vitis vinifera and due to unbeatable conditions the vines were to be found in many different regions.

By 1595, the enormous production of grapes in Mexico became a big problem for the Spanish winemakers and also the owners and managers of the merchant fleets in Cadiz saw their wine producing business diminish so pressure was put on the King to pass a law which forbade more vines to be planted in Mexico. Many vineyards were burnt down as well.

This led later on in 1848 to Baja California being the centre for wine growing in Mexico as it was at this time not part of Mexico due to the war between the USA and Mexico and therefore enabled the missionaries to plant their vines without the threat of the law.

Can’t wait to find out more about this when I meet up with Hugo in Baja in a months time.

The wine experts at Bibendum have written a more detailed tasting blog on the wines which has got a couple of awesome videos in it as well.

It was a really great evening with Tommi creating dishes such as this delicous fresh ceviche and Hugo providing a wonderful selection of interesting and enjoyable wines.

To taste a very good example of Mexican wines come to Wahaca where Estacion Porvenir is served at the moment which is the only one of these wines available in the UK at the moment.

Here is the menu for the evening – we hope to see many of these wines over in the UK soon.

Guacamole and Tortilla Chips

Emblema 2008

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Scallops ceviche with tortilla chips

Piedra de Sol 2008

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Tostada

Black Bean

Herring

Kerubiel 2007

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Tacos

Mole Taco

Steak Taco w. cheese

Estacion Porvenir 2007

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Huitlacoche Quesadilla

Chorizo cheese Quesadilla

Ensamble Arenal 2007

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Churros

Maat 2007

If you want to read more about Mexican wine have a look at these great posts:

Bibendum’s Mexican Wine Night at Wahaca
Mexico’s Valley of Wine
A Toast to Mexico’s Undiscovered Wine Country
Trailblazers named Mexican Wine Persons of the Year

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