Mexican Supper Club

Margaritas de Sandia

When we lived in Tucson, Mexican restaurants could be found on most of the street corners, and the supermarkets sold ingredients that I had never seen before - I had no clue what to do with most of them! Coming back after nearly 6 years (now knowing how to make a decent taco!) I was pleased to see that Mexican food was beginning to become popular over here, and that some of the ingredients could also be found if you searched for them.
Ten years on, Mexican restaurants are popping up all over London (and the UK) and it's never been easier to find tortillas, salsas and other Mexican style products, just look in your local supermarket.

Therefore, I was quite pleased to be invited to a Mexican Supper Club with Discovery Foods and Benito's Hat, hosted by The London Foodie Luiz Hara, along with other food bloggers.

Table setting

Head Chef Felipe Fuentes Cruz making the tacos

Guacamole y Salsas

Totopos

We started off with freshly pressed watermelon margaritas, which were accompanied with homemade tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa verde, salsa brava and soured cream.

Esquites

A lovely warm oregano sweetcorn appetizer followed.

Taquitos Dorados de Papa con dos Quesos

Then we sat down to a starter of cheese and potato filled fried corn tacos, served with avocado salsa. This was my favourite dish and one I'm going to recreate at home.

Tacos de Camarón

The main course was garlic and paprika shrimp tacos with chipotle mayonnaise, the prawns could easily be replaced with grilled vegetables if you are vegetarian.

Buñuelos

A wonderful surprise was the dessert, a simple dish of cinnamon fritters with real vanilla ice cream and strawberries. Recipe below.

All washed down with a Mexican beer

All the food was cooked by Benito's Hat's Head Chef, Felipe Fuentes Cruz, and the ingredients were supplied by Discovery Foods.

Buñuelos (Cinnamon Fritters)
Serves 2

4 Discovery flour tortillas
250ml/1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream to serve
Extra ground cinnamon to sprinkle over
Strawberries

Cut the tortillas into strips about 2cm wide.
Pour the vegetable oil into a saucepan and heat on medium until it is very hot but not smoking.
In batches, carefully slide the tortilla strips into the hot oil and fry for a minute or so until they are light brown, turning with tongs to prevent from burning.
Remove from the oil using the tongs and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat until all the strips have been fried.
Mix the sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon together and dust over the tortilla strips until well coated.
To serve, scoop some ice cream into two small ramekins or bowls and place onto a plate surrounded by the tortilla strips. Add a dusting of cinnamon and some strawberries.

Some of the discovery products available

Preparing the cheese & potato filled tacos

With thanks to Discovery Foods, Benito's Hat, The London Foodie, and Wild Card PR for a lovely evening!

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, all views are my own.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2012 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.