Carne Adovada with Mexican Pickled Onions, Street Salad & Guacamole

I’d had it in mind to cook the New Mexican dish Carne Adovada (pork cooked in a red chilli sauce) for some time and this had a lot to do with the gorgeous red colour I’d seen on the first recipe I saw - sadly mine doesn’t have that rich redness but I think it still looks pretty luscious all the same.

I then found a Kenji’s Food Lab recipe on Serious Eats and decided that I would follow it pretty much to the letter. Kenji approaches recipes in a very systematic, scientific way - he does lots of testing and if he thinks that this would result in the best dish I would put my trust in him.

Of course me following a recipe to the letter is easily said than done. So of course I have here substituted one of the chillies - but for the New Mexico variety as I had bought some specifically many months ago (and also as I didn’t have pasillas). And a couple of quantities have changed but only slightly. Oh, and I added red kidney beans but as they were in the fridge and I wasn’t sure what else I would put them in.

I served this with Mexican pitta’s, homemade Mexican style pickled red onions and guacamole and a Mexican “street salad” adapted from Jamie’s here. Corn tortillas with similar accompaniments would work too.


Carne Adovada
serves 2-3

1⅓ whole dried ancho chilies, seeds and stems removed, roughly torn
1⅓ whole dried New Mexico chilies, seeds and stems removed
375ml chicken stock
25g raisins
150ml orange juice
1 tbsp chopped chipotle chili in adobo
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
435g boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 tsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 medium cloves garlic, crushed
¾ tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 bay leaf
100g red kidney beans
sea salt

Place dried chilies in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and cook, turning occasionally, until softening and fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add chicken stock, raisins, orange juice concentrate, chipotles in adobo, white vinegar, and fish sauce.

Bring to a boil over high heat before reducing heat to a bare simmer, and let cook until chilies are totally softened, about 15 minutes. Blend into a smooth puree using a blender (hand or otherwise). Set aside.

Pat pork dry with paper towels and heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed casserole over a medium-high heat until smoking. Add pork all at once and spread as evenly as you can (for once it's ok if the pan is crowded). Cook without moving until bottom surface is well browned, about 8 minutes. Give a stir, cook for a few minutes more then transfer pork to a bowl and set aside.

Turn the heat right down and add the onions and garlic to the casserole and cook, stirring frequently, until onions and garlic are softened and beginning to brown, 10-15 minutes. Add oregano and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the chili mixture from the blender to the casserole and stir well to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Return the pork to the casserole also. Add bay leaves and beans.

Bring to a boil then reduce to a bare simmer. Cover, leaving lid slightly ajar, and cook, stirring occasionally until pork chunks break apart when you apply pressure with a spoon, about 2 hours.

The sauce should be fairly thick so if needed, increase the heat to a light simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced to the desired consistency. Season very carefully to taste with salt.

Serve with accompaniments of your choice.

Pickled Red Onions
(you’ll make more than you need so keep the excess in an airtight container in the fridge)

2 tsp sea salt
1 red onion, thinly sliced
½ tsp. whole black peppercorns
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. cumin seeds
1 clove garlic, sliced
50ml red wine vinegar
20ml lime juice
40ml orange juice

In a bowl, toss salt and onion together; let sit until onion releases some of its liquid, about 15 minutes.

Mix the vinegar, lime & orange juices together.

Drain the onion and give it a quick rinse. Drain again and put back in the bowl and mix in the peppercorns, oregano, cumin, and garlic. Spoon the mixture into a jar then pour over the vinegar and seal with lid. Pop in the fridge for at least 4 hours before using.

Guacamole
serves 2
1 large ripe avocado
⅛ red onion, very finely chopped
juice of ½ - 1 lime
½ tsp salt
½ green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Cut open the avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Roughly mash the flesh with a fork (try and keep it quite chunky), adding half the lime juice as you do so.

Fold in the rest of the lime juice, chillies, salt coriander and red onion.

Season with plenty of black pepper and more salt, lime juice and coriander if you think it needs it.



Mexican Street Salad
serves 2
Use a mandolin or food processor with a slicing attachment if you can, it will make the whole process a lot less labourious

½ small white cabbage, finely shredded
6 radishes, (about 10) trimmed and finely sliced
2 small carrots, peeled and finely sliced
small bunch fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely sliced
extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime
sea salt

Put the cabbage into a large bowl with the radishes, carrots and most of the coriander. Mix everything together really well then add almost all the chopped chilli and a good lug of extra virgin olive oil.

Add most of the lime juice and a good pinch of salt, then toss together and taste. Keep adjusting the flavour by adding more coriander, chilli and / or lime juice as you see fit until its just right.

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Marinated BBQ Lamb Chops with Greek Salad

Back from my Grandmother’s 90th birthday shindig in Wiltshire the weather was absolutely glorious and I really fancied a nice crisp and refreshing salad. But I also fancied cheese. And meat.

BBQ lamb chops with a Greek salad (minus cucumber as of course I pathologically detest it) seemed to fit the bill perfectly so we scooted up to the supermarket to get the necessaries.

Ideally of course the lamb would marinate for a good deal longer than an hour but this was all the time I had. Regarding the marinade, use fresh normal thyme rather than lemon thyme by all means and if you can’t get Greek basil try fresh oregano or even dried (only use 1 tsp if the latter).

To my Greek salad as well as omitting cucumber I wanted to add some leaves to bulk it out a bit as we were both starving. You can add it or leave it out as you like but I found a Nigella recipe that I have used here which does include lettuce.

Greek Salad
serves 2-3

½ red onion
1½ tsp dried oregano
black pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
2-3 medium tomatoes
½ tsp caster sugar
small pinch sea salt (I used celery sea salt)
1 ruby gem (or normal gem) lettuce
12 kalamata olives
200 grams feta cheese, crumbled into rough chunks.
juice of ½ lemon

Peel and finely slice the red onion then sprinkle over the oregano and grind over some pepper.

Pour in the vinegar and oil and toss well, cover with clingfilm and leave to steep for as long as possible - it should be for at least two hours but I forgot so it was only for about 30 mins!

When you are ready to eat, get the BBQ on and get started with the rest of the salad.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters lengthwise again and then crosswise. Sprinkle the sugar and a pinch of salt over them and leave to one side.

Tear the lettuce into big pieces and put into a large, wide salad bowl.

Add the olives and the feta and toss well.

Now add the tomatoes, the red onion along with its marinade-dressing and the lemon juice. Toss gently, but thoroughly, so that everything is well combined.

Serve alongside the lamb chops.

Marinated BBQ Lamb Chops
serves 2

3 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
2 tsp Greek Basil, finely chopped
sea salt & black pepper

4 lamb loin chops

Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic and thyme in a small bowl.

Put the lamb chops in a freezer bag and pour over the lemon juice / oil mixture plus a few grinds of salt & pepper, turning the chops around to coat.

Pop in the fridge marinate for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the chops from the refrigerator 20 minutes before grilling. Heat the BBQ to high and grill the chops for 5 to 6 minutes per side for medium doneness. Remove and rest for 2 minutes.

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Fish Taco Salad

I’m lucky enough to work near the Gherkin - which means that Thursday (and now Friday!) of every week the Kerb street food stall thingy is held there. *

I don’t always remember to go, or there are other things on, and one of my fast days is quite often Thursday, which meant that until recently I didn’t go much at all (sad face) but I always want to get a fish taco.

So far fate has conspired against me - either there is something else there that I have wanted for even longer (step forward Yum Bun) or either Ambriento or Luardos aren’t there when I am.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands: I would make my own fish tacos dammit! But with a twist, and as summer was in attendance (and yet sadly nearly over), I decided on a fish taco salad. Without the actual taco element.

Here it is.

* EDIT - in fact the evil villains that are the City of London Corporation have now closed Kerb down as apparently it wasn’t pretty enough. Or something. The Gherkin itself apparently didn’t have a problem with it but there you go. Boo! There’s a petition here - please do sign it, street food markets are ace.


Fish Taco Salad

serves 2

For salad
1 bag of crunchy salad (to include shredded cabbage & carrot)
1 tbsp coriander, chopped 
½ avocado, diced
10-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ onion, finely chopped
juice of ¼ lemon
juice of ¼ lime
sea salt 
1 tbsp pickled green chillis (jalapeno slices) or 1 whole green pickled chilli, chopped
For dressing
4 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp coriander, chopped
juice of ¼ lemon
½ tbsp chipotle paste (or hot sauce to taste)
½ clove garlic, minced
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp coriander
salt and pepper to taste

For Mango Salsa
150g mango, diced 
½ green chilli, finely diced
2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped
¼ red onion, finely diced
juice of ¼ lime
salt to taste
For fish
2 river cobbler fillets (or any sustainable white fish)
2 tsp old bay blackened seasoning (optional)
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
⅛ tsp chili powder
⅛ tsp black pepper
⅛ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp. garlic powder
1 ½ tsp olive oil
To serve
extra chopped coriander
lime wedges
smoked chipotle tabasco

In a small bowl, mix the spices for the fish then put into a large food bag. Add the fish fillets and toss around to ensure that the fish gets evenly coated with the spices.

Heat a frying pan with the olive oil over a med-high heat, and add the fish: frying on both sides for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. It’s fine if they break up as they’ll be broken up for the salad itself.

Remove to a piece of kitchen towel on a plate, squeeze over some lime or lemon juice and set aside to cool a little.

Meanwhile mix the ingredients for the mango salsa in a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the dressing up and stir together.

In a third bowl, from the salad ingredients, mix together the chopped onion, coriander, citrus juices, jalapeno and salt to taste.

Finally, in a large bowl toss the lettuce mix and tomatoes with some of the coriander / onion / jalapeno mix as above. Season carefully to taste.

To serve, divide the lettuce mix between 2 plates: break up the fish fillets and lay on top of the lettuce mix. Top with a dollop of dressing, some avocado, mango salsa and a sprinkling more of the onion / coriander.

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Seared squid & chorizo with chickpea purée

I really fancied trying out a squid recipe from Economy Gastronomy over the weekend so it seemed a good time to check out Green Lanes Fisheries, a popular fishmongers between Palmers Green and Wood Green.

As it turned out it wasn't really a well planned visit at all: I already had some salmon at home marinating for dinner (more on that to come) and I knew I was going to be out on Sunday.  There was so much great fish & seafood that it seemed a bit of a wasted visit to only come back with squid.

But anyway, I'd decided to try the seared squid & chorizo and was looking forward to my al fresco lunch before getting stuck in to some gardening - my version below is adapted to be a little less fat and calorie-laden (way less olive oil for instance) but is still pretty tasty.  In the book they list this as a starter but I used all the chickpea puree to make it a pretty substantial lunch.. it certainly gave me enough energy to do lots of heavy digging in the veg patch!


Seared Squid & Chorizo
Serves 2 generously

400g tin chickpeas
2 tsps ground cumin
a large pinch chilli flakes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp Total 0% Greek yoghurt
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp chopped coriander
250g prepared & cleaned squid, cut into rings
120g cooking chorizo cut into diagonal slices about 1.5cm thick
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
juice of ½ lemon
mixed leaves to serve

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a food processor with the cumin, 1 of the cloves of garlic (chopped) and the chilli. Pulse until the chickpeas are coarsely chopped and then add 2 tbsp of the yoghurt, the water and olive oil. Process until it has made a smoothish purée then add a generous pinch of salt and puree a bit longer.

Mix the other 2bsp of yoghurt with the chopped coriander, cover and place in the fridge while you continue.

Heat a medium, heavy bottomed frying pan with a splash of olive oil and fry the chorizo until it colours and chars in places. Set aside but keep the paprika coloured oil. Turn the heat up to high and when it is very hot throw in the squid.

Fry the squid for about 3 minutes - if the pan is hot enough it won't need any longer and any longer will almost certainly see it get rubbery. It will get a little firmer and more opaque and a little seared in places.

Add the chorizo back to the pan along with the tomatoes, the other chopped garlic clove & the lemon juice. Toss everything together and remove from the heat.

Put a large dollop of chickpea purée on each plate and spoon round the contents of the pan (including the highly flavoured oil). Put a large handful of mixed leaves on the plate along with a few blobs of coriander yoghurt and serve. Preferable outside, in the sun, with a spicy virgin mary.

Polly kindly on the lookout for any marauding
squid thieves

While Jack takes an altogether more laid-back approach

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