snapper ceviche - ceviche de pargo

 Ceviche de Pargo

Ceviche is a dish I often crave because it combines some of my favourites things: sour citrus, spicy chilli and seafood.

It hails from the coastal countries of Central and South America with the Peruvians claiming to be the originators, spreading the word from their busy port-town of Lima. There’s also evidence that ancient Peruvians (Incans) made similar dishes from fermented liquors prior to the arrival of Europeans, who brought with them the precious citrus.

Polynesians also have their own ceviche, often including coconut milk, which seemed to evolve independently of the South Americans.

To make ceviche, I prefer to use firm white fleshed fish like snapper, swordfish or ling. If that’s not your thing, you can always use tuna, salmon or ocean trout.

Just make sure you use the freshest fish possible. Ask your fishmonger for very fresh fish (tell them what you're using it for) and make the ceviche on the same day you buy it.

Many recipes call for leaving the fish in the lime juice for hours, but I think this makes the fish quite tough. To ensure the fish is firm but still soft under your teeth, don’t “cook” it in the lime juice for any more than an hour.

The milky liquor that the fish has marinated in is called leche de tigre (tiger milk) or leche de pantera (panther milk) and in Peru it’s drunk in shot glasses as an appetiser. It’s rumoured to be a natural Viagra. I’m a bit sceptical about that claim, but it certainly tastes good so don’t throw it away.

Ceviche de Pargo (Snapper Ceviche)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as a small starter.


Ingredients:
300g snapper fillets, deboned
½ cup of fresh lime juice (about 3 large juicy limes)
½ small red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, deseeded & chopped into small pieces
1 small jalapeño chilli, finely sliced

To serve:
Chifles (plantain chips) or tostados (tortilla chips)
Fresh coriander, chopped
Fresh jalapeño chilli, sliced
Avocado, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Cube the fish into 3cm pieces.

2. In a non-reactive dish (plastic or ceramic), mix the raw fish pieces with the lime juice, jalapeño, red onion and tomato pieces.

3. Ensure all the fish is covered in lime juice and refrigerate for up to one hour before serving.

4. At this point you can either drain away the liquid to serve separately, or just keep them together.

5. Serve with fresh coriander, slices of avocado and jalapeño chillies.

prickly pear & lime curd

from sour to sweet

Australia has a sour history with the prickly pear plant.

The very first settlers, on the First Fleet, brought it with them to establish a cochineal industry (the tiny cochineal grubs that live in the plant are squashed to produce red dye). Since Britain required a lot of red dye for their textile industry (not to mention the Red Coats of their army), they hoped an Australian colony would break the cochineal monopoly held by Spain and Portugal.

Instead, the prickly pear became one of the most invasive weeds ever introduced to Australia.

Last week I wrote about eating the prickly pear cactus paddles, but their fruits are also very popular in Mexico (where it is known as tuna) and southern Italy (where it’s called fico d'India or Indian fig). They are eaten fresh or in drinks, jams, ice creams and salsas.

There are many kinds of fruit as well, ranging from ultra sweet to tart.

1. The Juana (sometimes called roja) has large, chewy seeds and tart, crimson flesh. 2. The roja pelona, kiwilike in flavor, is free of thorns, and while the seeds of all tunas are edible, the ones in this variety are smaller than most. 3. The widely available cristalina, also known as zarca, is juicy and crisp, with a sweet flavor like that of a white peach. 4. The naranjona has a honey-sweet, subtly spicy flavor reminiscent of a ripe persimmon's. 5. The wild xoconostle has a sour and chewy, edible peel that is sometimes used in savory stews. 6. The most widely available wild variety, the cardona has soft seeds and a flavor that's both sweet and bitter, almost like a Luxardo cherry's. 7. The cuerno de venado has a floral flavor; its high water content and small seed size make it a favorite snacking tuna. 8. The yellow platanera has a tropical flavor like that of bananas, the fruit from which it takes its name. www.saveur.com

The prickly pears I was given by my colleague had vibrant red flesh, so I went for something sweet that exposed the beautiful crimson juices.

Dolloped upon perfect lime-scented meringues, this curd was a rather delectable treat.

Prickly Pear & Lime Curd

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes approx 250ml (1 cup).

Ingredients:
40ml lime juice (2 tablespoons or 1 lime)
60ml prickly pear juice (¼ cup or 1-2 prickly pears)
30g sugar
3 egg yolks
75g butter, chopped into pieces

Method:

1. To peel the prickly pears, use gloves and cut one end off, stick the top with a fork then with a very sharp knife make a cut lengthwise down the fruit to peel the outer layer off. Cut base off then discard peel.

2. Place the fruit in a food processor and puree. Strain through fine mesh using the back of a spoon to push pulp through and separate seeds.

3. Transfer to a heatproof bowl then add egg yolks, sugar and butter. Whisk to combine.

4. Stir continuously over a saucepan of simmering water until mixture has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon (3-5 minutes).

5. Remove from heat then set aside to thicken for an hour or two. Cover and store in refrigerator up to three days.

Note: Can also be kept for a month or two in the freezer and defrosted.

So how did it the prickly pear spread across the countryside?

In the mid-1800s, gardeners foolishly planted the cactus in paddocks and parks all along the east coast, mistakenly believing it would make great stock fodder or hedge plants. It flourished in the arid Australia climate and move from garden to paddock where it exploded across the country.

The impact was devastating and it took Special Acts of Parliament in the 1920s for coordinated and serious action to be undertaken. By that time some 60 million acres (25,000,000 hectares) of Queensland and New South Wales were overtaken and 40,000 km2 (15,000 sq mi) of farming land was rendered completely unproductive, with families unable to move between the plants and forced off their land.

The saviour in this story came in the form of the Cactoblastis cactorum, a dusty brown South American moth that, in a case often cited as one of the world’s most successful biological pest control, almost wiped out the Australian infestation of prickly pear.

But what of the cactus today?

From one of the most invasive weeds ever introduced to the country, it’s now on the supermarket shelves next to exotic pitaya, fragrant feijoa and vibrant rambutans. Curious customers are oblivious to its history as a noxious weed.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Cinzia from Cindystar.

potato & cactus omelette

This is my favourite kind of breakfast.

Once upon a time I craved fluffy hotcakes soaked in maple syrup, but these days I wake up craving eggs and chilli.

Any Mexican-style breakfast is a win for me, but those doused in the tangy heat of salsa verde really gets me out of bed in a hurry.

I love this omelette because it combines the soft vegetal flavours of the cactus with starchy potato and chillies.

Too good. Too easy. Drool*.

Tortilla de Patata y Nopal (Baked Potato & Cactus Omelette)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup chopped prepared cactus
1 cup diced, cooked potato
4 eggs, beaten
1 green chilli, finely chopped
¼ cup (60ml) sour cream or natural yoghurt
Salsa verde, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and sauté and until softened.

2. Add cactus and sauté for a minute or so.

3. Add potato and fry until heated through.

4. In a bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs, green chilli, salt and pepper.

5. Spread the potato and cactus evenly across the frying pan, then pour over the egg mixture.

6. Cook for 3-5 minutes until set, then finish off under the grill if preferred.

7. Serve with generous lashings of salsa verde.

*That “drool” was for you, Fabio.

achacha thirst quencher

I’m off to Singapore this afternoon for a week of networking, pitching and purveying sites.

I’ve never been to Singapore before. I’ve been through Singapore, but never stepped off the plane to take a look around.

Everyone keeps telling me it’s hot. Hot and steamy and sweaty. Not the most conducive weather for maintaining a polished, corporate look.

In anticipation of the heat, here’s a lovely little thirst quencher I prepared using the skins of the unusual achacha fruit.

Achachas (achachairú) are tropical fruit from the Bolivian Amazon, and they are delicious.

The bright orange skins are so pretty, but when you puncture them with your fingers and peel back the thick skins you’ll find soft, white flesh that tastes like a creamy, tropical combination of custard apples, lemon, pineapple and banana.

They taste amazing.

After you devour a bag of achacha fruit, don’t throw the skins away! You can infuse them with water and sugar to make a refreshing summer juice.

Chicha de Achachairú

Recipe from www.achacha.com.au Makes 1 litre.

Ingredients:
6-8 skins
1 litre water
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water (extra)

Method:

1. Wash achacha skins. Blend with 1 litre water.

2. Leave for at least 24 hours (or longer) in the fridge.

3. Make sugar syrup by bringing sugar and the extra 1 cup water to a simmer for 5 minutes. Cool.

4. Strain skins through a mesh strainer. Discard skins and add sugar syrup to remaining juice.

5. Chill and drink.

smoky chipotle chicken nachos

The base of this meal is Jonas’ amazing Shredded Chipotle Chicken. I cannot emphasise how amazing it tastes after 6 hours of slow cooking in our wonderful NewWave 5 in 1 MultiCooker.

The chicken absorbs the wonderful spice of the chipotles (smoked jalapeños) and Jonas breaks it apart into shreds that soak up the sauce it sits in.

The shredded chicken recipe will make enough nachos for a group of 8 people, but if there’s only a few of you then the leftover chicken is a beautiful filling for another meal like tacos, enchiladas or burritos. It’s as versatile as it is tasty.

The best part is just how easy it is to make. Fry up some garlic, onion and chilli, throw all the ingredients into a slow cooker and then shred. That’s it.

Shredded Chipotle Chicken

Jonas’ very own recipe.

Ingredients:
½ brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 chipotle chillies in adobo, finely chopped
1kg chicken thighs (no bones)
800g canned organic tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Olive oil, for frying
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Fry onion and garlic until soft.

2. Added chillies and fry until softened.

3. Add all ingredients to slow cooker, cook for 6 hours.

4. Remove chicken, shred into fine strips.

5. Return to sauce, stir through and keep warm until ready to serve.

Smoky Chipotle Chicken Nachos

Jonas’ very own recipe. Serves 8.

Ingredients:

Jonas’ shredded chipotle chicken
Tortilla chips
Cheese
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Sour cream
Salsa verde or salsa de chipotle y tomato

Method:

1. Spread tortilla chips over baking tray covered in baking paper. Scatter with cheese and grill until cheese has melted.

2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat the chipotle chicken until warmed through.

3. Once the cheese has melted over tortilla chips, remove from oven and place on serving dish.

4. Top with shredded chicken, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo and sauce of your choice.

5. Eat blissfully, perhaps with a tamarind margarita.

pollo en salsa verde

Chicken Baked in Green Tomatillo Sauce

I am a sucker for Mexico’s salsa verde (green sauce). What’s not to love? Tang, acidity, spice and salt.

It’s great on anything and everything, but this is one of my favourite applications. In fact, this is quite possibly one of the tastiest and easiest dinners you’ll ever make.

Either prep your own salsa verde or buy it in a can or jar. If I am feeling lazy and just want to use a can, I love Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada Sauce. Those living in the Americas (north, central or south) will no doubt find Mexican ingredients on their regular supermarket shelves but those of us in Australia are not so lucky. Fireworks Foods is a brilliant online store that ships nationally across Ausland and, if you’re in Sydney, Fiji Market in Newtown is a great supplier.

I serve this with Arroz Verde, which is basically rice cooked in a green stock of puréed chillies and coriander, finished with lime.

My Mexican friends jokingly call this meal “chicken rice” due to its sheer simplicity, but this belies the astounding flavours. I think of this as comforting homely food with a wonderful punch of gutsy Mexican sabors.

Pollo en Salsa Verde (Chicken baked in Green Sauce)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
8 chicken thigh fillets (deboned)
2 pickled jalapeños, chopped
750ml salsa verde
Olive oil, for browning
Coriander, for garnish
Queso freso (or crumbly feta), for serving
Arroz Verde, for serving

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C (360’F).

2. Put salsa verde in a sauce pan on the stove and heat over high.

3. Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the chicken thighs to give them a little colour. No more than a minute or two on each side.

4. Remove from pan and place them in a large baking dish. Scatter with chopped jalapeños.

5. The salsa verde should now be at boiling point, so pour over chicken thighs and place baking dish in oven.

6. Cook for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and salsa verde has thickened slightly around the edges of the baking dish.

7. Sprinkle with coriander and queso freso, then serve hot with arroz verde.

cactus & pineapple salsa

The Pineapple. The King of Fruit.

How can you not love this amazing creature?

Rough, brown skin.
Head of spiky, cascading leaves.
Sweet, succulent, juicy golden flesh.

To celebrate the season of these beautiful tropical fruits the team at King of Fruit, headquartered in northern Queensland’s Yeppoon, gave me four luscious pineapples so I could cook up a storm.

After cutting into the first, and tasting how sweetly divine it was, I decided to dedicate a full seven days to the delights of these wonderful fruits.

Sevens Days of Pineapple!

Check back at Morsels & Musings each day this week to experience a new pineapple recipe daily:
Salsa de Piña y Nopal (Cactus & Pineapple Salsa)
Amaretto Piña Colada
Barbequed Chilli Pineapple
Caramelised Pineapple & Coconut Cake
Sticky Tamarind Pork & Pineapple Skewers
Pineapple Carpaccio w Mint Sugar
Chicha De Piña (Spiced Pineapple Drink)

First up is a Mexican inspired salsa with cactus, chilli and lime. I served it with pork cutlets that had been marinated with achiote paste, which gets its beautiful red colour from annatto seeds.

Salsa de Piña y Nopal (Cactus & Pineapple Salsa)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped pineapple
¾ cup chopped prepared cactus (see note)
¼ cup lime juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon sliced fresh Serrano chilli
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander
Salt, to taste

Method:

1. Combine everything except the salt and coriander, and allow to sit for one hour.

2. Before serving, add fresh coriander and season with salt to taste.

Note: I use cactus (nopales) that come in a jar pre-boiled. Rinse off the thick sap before using.

Achiote Pork Cutlets

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 pork cutlets
1 tablespoon achiote paste
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil, to taste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Prepare marinade by combing the achiote paste, lime juice, olive oil and garlic and blending completely.

2. Seal pork cutlets in a snap lock bag with marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours.

3. Heat griddle pan, grill until cooked through.

Pineapples supplied by the team at King of Fruit

chicharrón

Pork Crackling Snacks

OK these are just terrible for you health-wise, but if you’re making a pork dish and you’ve got a lot of skin you’re not using, then don’t throw it away – make these pork crackling snacks!

Chicharrón are popular all over Spain and central & south America (and the Philippines), I suppose it's not a surprise when you consider how popular pork is across the region and the people's skills when it comes to cooking up all the bits and pieces of the animal.

There are other recipes out there that dry the boiled skins out in the oven on low heat for hours and hours and hours so when you deep fry them they puff up into light and airy treats. Admittedly these are much better but they take ages to make.I'm too lazy.

My recipe is much less labour intensive because the longest cooking time is the boiling, where you can throw the skins into water and walk away as they boil. Much less hassle than watching strips of pork skin slowly dry out in an open oven.

When it came to the deep-frying part, this is where I got ridiculously girly. The oil was spitting like crazy and I’m ashamed to say I hid behind Jonas who bravely did the hard work on this one.

In this recipe, ingredients do not have amounts because it’s a rustic dish and it’s best to make it all by feel depending on how much skin you're using.

As long as you make sure you have enough oil for deep frying, nothing else matters.

Chicharrón

Anna's very own recipe.

Ingredients:
Pork skin
Rock salt
White vinegar
Vegetable oil, for frying
Paprika
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Salt flakes

Method:

1. Cut away as much meat and fat as you can from the back of the pig skin. Ensure hairs have been removed too.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add a little rock salt and a dash of white vinegar.

3. Boil skin for around 2 hours or until the skin is soft and the remaining fat can be scraped off the back. Cut into strips.

4. Fill a deep pot with at least 5cm of oil and heat until a cube of bread goes brown in 30 seconds.

5. Dust pig skin with paprika, pepper and garlic powder.

6. Deep fry skin until curled and crispy. (careful, the oil will spit like crazy!)

7. Drain on kitchen paper, dust with more paprika and salt flakes and serve immediately while still crunchy.

grilled avocado w melted cheese & hot sauce

Snacks are wonderful. Even better when they’re quick and easy to make.

This is my lazy fall back dinner. It’s made from four ingredients and couldn’t be easier to throw together.

Assemble, grill, eat.

After a long day at work, when all you want to do is crash on the sofa and watch TV, this is the kind of comfort food I turn to: quick and delicious.

Grilled Avocado w Melted Cheese & Hot Sauce

Anna's very own recipe. Serves 1 as a snack.

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 tablespoon chipotle sauce (Tabasco or Louisiana)
1 tablespoon lime juice
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Slice the avocado in half and remove the stone. Prick all over with a fork, or cut criss-cross patterns with a knife. This allows the sauce to penetrate the flesh.

2. Pour the sauce over each half, then top with lime juice and salt and pepper.

3. In the cavity where the stone has been, put a fourth of the cheese on each avocado half. Place under the hot grill for 2 minutes.

4. Top with remaining cheese and grill (broil for Americans!) for another 2 minutes until completely melted and avocado warmed through.

Eat hot with a wedge of lime and chipotle sauce on the side!

Avocadoes are wonderful fruits, which is why I've chosen them as my theme ingredient for WHB in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast), 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam) and 2009 (prawn salad from Mexico).

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

Good for us, bad for Fido.

This WHB is hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

choripán

Happy Fourth of July!

Many years ago, an ancestor of mine, a German immigrant to Pennsylvania, helped fight a war that led to the creation of the United States of America.

I think that’s something to be proud of.

So let’s celebrate with a hot dog of sorts, Argentina’s choripán.

The word is a portmanteau of chorizo and pan: spicy sausage and bread.

What could be better than a bread roll stuffed with grilled chorizo sausage and chimichurri sauce?

I’ll tell you what’s better: a bread roll stuffed with grilled chorizo sausage and chimichurri sauce PLUS piquillo peppers, cheese, sour cream and fried onions.

Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeah!

Choripán

Anna’s take on Argentina’s hot dog.

Ingredients:

Grilled or fried chorizo sausages
Thinly sliced piquillo peppers
Finely grated parmesan (or queso freso)
Chimichurri sauce
Sour cream
Hot dog rolls or mini baguettes
Fried onions

Method:

Build your sandwich from the above ingredients and enjoy!


And how about a tropical fruit shake on the side, Cubano style?

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

achiote & tequila cured beef w pozole rojo

Image supplied by Ellie

"Paddock to Plate" Beef Degustation

A few weeks ago I participated in a very exciting event organised by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and hosted by Warren Turnbull and his team at Assiette.

A lot of organisations are jumping on the social media band wagon, not understanding the differences between social media and traditional media.

You can’t just broadcast one-way to bloggers and expect them to pick up your content with interest. Blogging is about interacting with your readers and the world, not just a blathering monologue.

Sorry, was I blathering?

The point I’m trying to make here is that MLA created a social media event to draw food bloggers in a fundamental way: they made us the event. Clever.

So, eight bloggers were invited to learn more about beef with the help of a well-known Sydney-based chef, Warren Turnbull of District Dining and Assiette.

Each of us were allocated a cut of beef to create our own recipe and then Warren and his team would transform it into a restaurant dish for a special degustation dinner. Genius.

Beef producer, Alison McIntosh, handed over one of her prized Angus steers and Anthony Puharich, CEO of Vic’s Premium Quality Meat and owner of the fabulous butchery Victor Churchill, made the cuts and shipped them out.

I got given the beef knuckle. I had no idea how to cook a beef knuckle or even what it looked like! I thought it might be something I’d need to braise for hours. Nope!

Luckily Warren explained that a beef knuckle is a big slab of meat, often called a beef round, and is usually slow cooked as a roast.

One of the best parts of the challenge was talking through my ideas with Warren. It was fun to workshop recipes with a chef and even more rewarding to introduce him to some new ingredients (like hominy and achiote).

I think he was pretty excited about the opportunity to experiment too.

I steered him towards a pozole recipe, and he encouraged me to give curing a go. I think we were both happy with the results.

Here’s what I came up with.

Achiote & Tequila Cured Beef Knuckle with Pozole Rojo

Anna's recipe. Serves 8-10.

Achiote & Tequila Cured Beef Knuckle

Ingredients:
1.5kg beef knuckle eye, trimmed
330g (1½ cups) raw sugar
100g (1 cup) sea salt
190ml (¾ cup) tequila
1½ teaspoons achiote paste
4 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
½ teaspoon dried epazote (or dried oregano)

Extra for roasting:
1 teaspoon achiote paste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Method:
1. Grind the peppercorns and coriander seed with a mortar and pestle until coarsely crushed.

2. Add sugar and salt and grind a little. Add oregano.

3. Mix achiote paste with tequila to loosen it up, then add to sugar and salt. Mix until it has the texture of wet sand.

4. Lay a few layers of plastic wrap down, then coat all sides of the meat with a thick layer of the curing mix.

5. Wrap tightly then refrigerate for 24hrs (use a plate in case it leaks).

6. The next day, unwrap the meat and scrape off all the curing mixture. Wash and pat dry with kitchen paper. The meat will be darker and the exterior will have hardened a little.

7. Preheat the oven to 170’C (350’F).

8. Mix together the olive oil and extra achiote paste as well as you can. Rub the achiote oil mixture all over the meat.

9. Place on a roasting rack in a roasting tray. Set aside and allow the meat to come to room temperature.

10. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes for rare, but no more than 1 hour or until the centre reaches 50’C (120-125’F)

11. Remove roast and allow to sit for 20 minutes before cutting. Serve in thin slices.

Pozole Rojo (Red Hominy Soup)

Ingredients:
822g can pozole (hominy)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon achiote paste
2 onions, grated
12 garlic cloves, grated
2 chipotles chillies (in adobo sauce)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 litres beef consommé
Pinch of sugar
Salt, to taste

Garnish:
1 avocado, cubed
3 limes, juiced
½ iceberg lettuce, shredded
¼ cup fresh coriander, finely chopped
½ cup diced radish
½ cup crumbled queso freso (or tangy feta)
Thin slices of Achiote & Tequila Cured Beef Knuckle (above)

Method:
1. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add pozole and cook for 15 minutes. Drain.

2. Heat olive oil in heavy based saucepan.


3. Add achiote paste, onion and garlic. Mash paste throughout and fry until mixture becomes dry.

4. Add chipotles and fry a little.

5. Then add tomato paste and fry until thickened.

6. Next add beef consommé and sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

7. Add pozole and simmer a further 5 minutes.

8. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice to taste.

9. Ladle soup into bowls. Pass garnishes separately so people can add to taste.

~ ~ ~

So, how did it look when Warren and the team were done with it?

Much more beautiful of course! It’s actually amazing to see how much skill and artistic talent chefs bring to humble home cooking.

Warren said they stuck to the curing recipe pretty closely, but reduced the tequila. But the biggest difference was the addition of agar agar to the soup broth transforming a warm dish into a cold one served with a thick sauce rather than soup.

The Assiette team were quite nervous that I wouldn’t like it, or that the flavour of the soup wouldn’t be the same, but once you mixed all the ingredients together and started to eat it could have been the very same dish as mine.

It was quite an amazing experience and the best social media PR event I’ve been invited to take part in because we were truly included rather than just bystanders. Kudos to Haussmann Communications for coming up with it and bravo to MLA for having the sense to agree. Take note other PR agencies!

Image supplied by Ellie

The full list of dishes served on the night really showed the diverse ways beef can be cooked and eaten.
- Beef & Ale Pie
- Achiote & Tequila Cured Beef Knuckle w Pozole Rojo
- Seared Sirloin, Buttered Roots, Horseradish & Wakame
- Thai Beef Salad w Mint, Peanuts & Chilli Dressing
- Beef Satay w Spicy Peanut Sauce, Rice Cake & Herb Salad
- Scotch Fillet w Moghrabiyeh
- Pulled Beef & Pine Mushroom Cannelloni
- Braised Beef in Coffee w Brandied Cumquats & Onion Milk
- Slow Braised Brisket w Cauliflower Cream & Pedro Ximenez Muscatels

If you want to see all the dishes of the night, check out these posts on my fellow blogger’s site:
Almost Bourdain
Aficionado
The Food Blog
The Gourmet Forager
Inside Cuisine
Taste