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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!

by Tommi : Tuesday, 23 February 2010

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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.

by Tommi : Friday, 19 February 2010

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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!

by Tommi : Monday, 15 February 2010

Add your comment : 4 comments

Huevos Borrachos by Gicela Morales

Heuvos Borrachos

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.

by Tommi : Friday, 12 February 2010

Add your comment : 2 comments

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.

by wahaca : Thursday, 28 January 2010

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The little chilli growing competiton heats up

You might have seen our post launching the little chilli growing competition to all the Canary Wharfers who picked up one of our chilli growing kits, encouraging them to send in photos of how they are getting on.

Well, we’re delighted to say that the responses have already started coming in and it seems that they’re quite a green fingered lot.

Although the Chilli Spy was initially dubious about the actual size of their shoots, Jo and Soph from Morgan Stanley look to be having some great success, with at least 30mm of growth.

30mm and still growing strong

We wonder what their secret is. Any tips that you want to share guys?

Over at Barclays Capital the competition is really hotting up, so much so that Neil has applied some real science to his seedlings. He’s created a mini greenhouse to maximise the light and apparently it’s helped his chillies shoot into the lead.

greenhouse

Neil told us that it was so simple to do, and it really paid dividends. Here’s his helpful guide:

1. Take a two litre bottle of water.
2. Cut the bottle in half lengthways (empty the bottle first!).
3. Take this semi-circular section and cut it to the width of your chilli pot.
4. Push the bottle greenhouse into the sides of your pot to cover the chilli seedlings (remember to leave space for air to get in).

We love it!

So if you’re a wannabe Titchmarsh who’s picked up one of our pots, and are just praying for the day that you see your first signs of life through the soil, get in touch and let us know how you’re getting on. Send your story along with some pictures of how you’re getting on to loswahacos@wahaca.co.uk and you’ll be in with the chance of winning a meal for 6 at Wahaca.

by wahaca : Thursday, 3 December 2009

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The little chilli growing competition…

IMG_1103

To all those lucky people in Canary Wharf who received one of these lovely little pots…

We want you to put together a special guide on how to grow your chillies – whether your secret trick is dancing, singing, hugging or that special concoction of vitamins that you’ve been giving your plant.

Please send through photos (to loswahacos@wahaca.co.uk) along with your commentary showing the whole development of your chilli growing and your advice for everyone else out there wanting to grow chillies. The winner will get a free dinner at Wahaca for up to 6 people. It can be funny, very serious or slightly bizarre, we don’t mind as long as it gets a mighty fine chilli plant to hold up as an example to all the fellow Wharf chilli growers! All entries (within reason) will be put on our blog.

Send your entries through by the end of January and we’ll get judging. Can’t wait to see what the Wharfers have been up to!

In the meantime, remember to bring your chilli pot in this January (with the pink “Little chilli give away” sign) and show us how your going for that free pot of guacamole & chips.

(Don’t worry you may not have any chillies by the end of January but you won’t be far off and will have done very well looking after your plant through its early days).

Either send us pictures of your chilli plants via email to loswahacos@wahaca.co.uk or add them to our Flickr group

by cecilia : Wednesday, 25 November 2009

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Tommi’s recipe competition results

Tommi wants you

Thank you so so so much for all the recipes that you sent in for my recipe competition in August.  The winning entry was submitted by Steve Gale, a delicious tostada salad using the sweet-sour flavours of the chilli salt mix that Mexicans use on the streets of Mexico to season mouthwatering slices of mango, pineapple and jicama.  His recipe will be published in my new book, ‘Mexican food made simple’ which comes out at the beginning of March next year (yikes).

But there were quite a few other delicous recipes that we felt we had to publish too.  I particularly loved the delicious green sauce on eggs that Gicela Morales entered – this recipe is a sure fire way to beat any hangover and perk up the tiredest of parents, teenagers or kids on a weekend morning.  Try this recipe this weekend and tune in next week for more competition runners-up…

Gicela Morales’ Huevos Borrachos

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 chillies, depending on your tolerance…
1 small clove of garlic
240ml of water

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 or roll and a strong mug of coffee. Depending on the extent of your hangover, you may not even feel the heat!

by Tommi : Thursday, 8 October 2009

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Claroscuro duo, WINNERS of our street artist competition

4ml

We are very excited to announce that the winner of our Street Art competition is the artist duo Claroscuro.

We have had incredible entries from some amazing artists and it has been a tough decision. Thank you all for entering but also for all those out there who voted.

Watch this space as Claroscuro starts putting together some fantastic ideas for the space – we hope to follow the whole commission here on the blog! We hope to see you all down in Canary Wharf once we open at the beginning of November.

by wahaca : Thursday, 24 September 2009

Add your comment : 5 comments

The Bush Theatre, Now showing! 2nd May 1997

2ND MAY with titile low res

nabokov and the Bush Theatre

in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester present

2nd May 1997

by Jack Thorne

8 Sept – 10 Oct

We’ve teamed up with our great local theatre, the Bush, and hosted their press party last night which was a great success. We love everything about The Bush  - it is a small but fantastic and inspiring establishment which is well worth many trips to.  The Bush kindly gave us two tickets to give away to our loyal blog and twitter followers but if you don’t guess the correct amount of avocados we use each week then make sure you book tickets through their box office and we can suggest a great Mexican restaurant to visit after the play!

2nd May 1997. An historic victory. The Tories, 18 years in power, are defeated as New Labour sweeps into government. From the euphoria and despair, three deeply personal stories emerge.

Tory MP Robert prepares to attend the count. With defeat looming large, he fears becoming a forgotten man while his wife Marie counts the cost of her own sacrifice to politics. Lib Dem footsoldier Ian is no hero but party-crasher Sarah is determined to make him one. Best mates Jake and Will wake up to a new world order and try to memorise the cabinet before their politics A Level class. Jake dreams of Number 10. Will dreams of Jake.

A smouldering new play from one of Britain’s most exciting young writers about escaping the past, seizing the present and owning the future.

George Perrin (Sea Wall) directs a stunning cast including James Barrett, Geoffrey Beevers, Linda Broughton, Jamie Samuel, Hugh Skinner and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Please note that the performance contains smoking, nudity and some bad language.

Bush Theatre

Shepherds Bush Green

London W12 8QD

Box Office 020 8743 5050

www.bushtheatre.co.uk

by cecilia : Tuesday, 15 September 2009

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