Mexico City Review - A Winter Sun Interlude

For anyone lucky enough to be heading off to Mexico this year for some Winter Sun can I suggest extending your break and including a little jaunt to Mexico City? 

I was out in Mexico in October for a friends wedding and am really pleased we ventured to Mexico City. We spent part of the holiday on the Mayan Rivera (the eastern coast between Cancun and Tulum) and part in the hustle and bustle of Mexico City. 

Anyone who knows me knows that all inclusive ubiquitous hotels which pump all of their profit out of the host country are not my idea of an idillic holiday, but for one reason or another that is where I ended up and to be honest, whilst I don't want to make it a regular occurrence, it was better than I expected. 

Anyway, I digress, as a result of ended up in all inclusive hotels, I can't comment too much on the food on the coast but I can recommend the place we did eat. Having visited the beautiful Mayan ruins, which nestle the coast at Tulum we explained to a local that we didn't want tourist food and asked a where they would eat. We were directed to a little seafood restaurant called El Camello in the centre of Tulum (a few miles from the ruins) which was little more than a garage or shop open to the road with a few tables and chairs. They also acted as the local fishmonger. I was fascinated watching the huge array of enormous fish being brought in, cleaned and filleted on the metal counters. We only wanted a light lunch and so simply ordered 'grilled fish' not being sure what to expect but we weren't disappointed. First they brought some tortilla crisps and a variety of salsa, guacamole and lime which were all delicious. Shortly after this was joined by a very generous portion of grilled, filleted white fish, rice, refried beans and salad. The fish was melt in the mouth and cooked to perfection, all for about £4!

 

In Mexico City though it was a different story. We regularly ate out and whilst the quality and prices varied wildly (not always in the direction you'd expect) there are a few places worth a mention. Mexico City is big, noisy, dirty and chaotic but I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We were staying just off Zocalo (the main square) which would have originally been the Mayan city and housed the Temple Mejor (the excavation project can be visited). The square is now dominated by a large cathedral which I believe was created out of some of the stones of the original Mayan temples. We stayed in the Hampton Inn (as we were using Hilton points) which is a former monastery and a fantastic hotel, couldn't fault it! 

Zocalo

Around Zocalo, like any major tourist area there is a vast mixture of good and bad restaurants and cafes. A few I would recommend are:

- Cafe de Tacuba This former nunnery is more of a restaurant than a cafe and is beautiful inside, stained glass windows and painted tiles and a very traditional feel. It is very lively and had bands walking around the tables and playing requests. We had chicken with a mole sauce (a traditional chilli and cocoa sauce) and enchiladas. My main criticism is that you could get food of a similar quality far cheaper. In my mind this is a place to go for the atmosphere. Mains around £7 

- El Cuatro 20 ;This was a basic canteen style restaurant, served on plastic plates, but very good value for money. We ended up there twice. They also do takeaway. The Pork Pibil is very good as is the Half Roast Chicken. Arguably the best value food me had whilst were were there. Mains around £3

- El Cardenal ;There are three branches in the city and we went to the one on Palma. It has several floors and the rooms are quite different. It is more of a formal restaurant but still good value for money, probably around £15 a head for 2 courses and water. To start I had a chicken soup with a traditional Mexican leaf and my main was a steak cooked in a tomato and bone marrow sauce, though delicious I did have slight food envy of the slow cooked lamb which was served with braised cactus leaves. 

Not exactly food related but visit El Palacios de Hierro department store is well worth a visit. Its a beautiful store 

Polanco

- La Vid Argentina ;

By far the best food we had in Mexico was from this Argentina grill. The restaurant was beautifully decorated and the service impeccable. For around £15 a head the buffet was brilliant value. The description buffet doesn't do it justice. They brought out a variety of freshly baked empanadas, breads and tarts which were all delicious and then asked what meat we would like on the grill. The grill can be seen from outside so we asked for a mixture and watched it being cooked. The steak was tender, tasty and cooked to perfection, the various sausages were tasty and meaty. I braved the intestines but I really wasn't keen on the flavour at all. I love steak so my next sentence is also a surprise to me, but the star of the show was the vegetables. There was a buffet where you could take your pick of hot and cold vegetables and salad and also choose soups and pasta to be cooked in front of you. If I had to pick my two favourites were a dish of braised large spring onions which had become caramelised and luscious and a cold pickle mixture of carrots and onions. The balance of flavours was just divine and I would love to try and recreate such a master at home. 

Condesa 

- La Buena Tierra ;we chose to have a herbal tea here to rest one day. It is one of several in the city and focuses on natural food. It was a shame we had eaten as the food looked of a good standard. I also would suggest trying some of their neighbours as the whole area had too many nice looking cafes to choose! 

Coyacan

Coyacan is a bit south of the city, near San Angel and one of the more fashionable areas. For me, Coyacan itself was a little too gentrified but Francisco Sosa, the road joining San Angel to Coyacan was beautiful perfect for wandering down on a warm day to escape the hustle and bustle of Mexico City for a while. 

- Nib Chocolate ;Is a delightful little chocolate shop. I particularly liked the chilli chocolates and the chocolate tortuga or turtles. They were made from 5 pecan nuts, a blob of toffee and a dollop of chocolate to form the shape of a turtle, very cute! 

- Cafe at the Instituto Italiano - we'd read about this tiny cafe but almost missed it as it looks more like a college that wouldn't be open to the public. After an exchange with the security guard in broken Spanish we were waved through to a beautiful garden and an oasis of calm to have the best coffee we found in Mexico and a wonderful slice of Nutella torte 

- being in Mexico we also had to take advantage of the churros with plenty of chocolate sauce injected into it. 

- washed down with a coffee from Cafe El Jarocho 

La Merced

When in a new country I always like to check out the food markets. They are a fascinating way to find out more about a countries food and culture and La Merced, Mexcio City was no exception. The fruit and veg was particularly interesting and the meat stalls were piled up with tripe. 

A Note on Bakeries 

The bakeries were fascinating, in fact almost everywhere we went the desserts were very impressive looking, but in my experience that's where it ends. Even in the higher places the desserts and pastries were style over substance and lacked flavour. I'm sure people will disagree with me but that's what I found. Having said that I'll still include a couple of photos as they were very impressive 

A Note on Cantina's

If you fancy a drink or two it's likely you will end up in a Cantina. These are Mexico's answer to the pub but with one fabulous twist, for every drink you order you get brought food. So if you have 4 drinks it is likely you will get some form of canapés, a starter, a main and a dessert. They often have minimum drink orders and might be slightly more expensive than drinks elsewhere but still a very good deal when you include the food. 

A Note on Street Food 

Unfortunately having picked up an infection when I was last in India and still not being fully recovered I couldn't risk getting sick again so street food and any uncooked fruit/vegetables were off the menu for me, to be replaced by antibacterial handwash and wipes. The food did look incredible though, extremely good value and in the main the hygiene standards seemed good, having said that some of our friends who had been eating street food both ended up in hospital very poorly so please be careful! 

Ayurveda and Kerala, India

I've recently got back from an Ayurvedic and yoga retreat in Kerala, South India. For anyone who doesn't know what Ayurveda is there is more information here, but basically it is an ancient form of wellbeing and health which focuses on prevention rather than cure and if medicine is necessary using natural herbal options. The doctors train for longer than Western doctors and there seems to be growing research based evidence supporting this and similar approaches (unsurprisingly as much research is funded by drug companies there is tends to be more focus on chemical medicine). A large element of this is the way you eat with a focus on certain food suiting different types of people. The food is mainly vegetarian.

Whilst I was away I had a cooking course into how to make an Ayurvedic meal. The course was taken by the chefs from the hotels kitchen.





Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos but I didn't take my proper camera with me as I was packing light and it was pretty dark in the room we were in.

Dhal Maharajah

We started by making a Dhal Maharajah, which was a yellow lentil dish.

Pre-cook 100g of yellow lentils according to the instructions on the packet.

Then you need to add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds to a little oil, add three cloves of crushed garlic, an equal quantity of grated gingered one large onion very finely diced. Sauté until golden brown and soft. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and one tomato chopped finely. Cook the spices in for a few minutes.


Add the pre-cooked lentils along with a little of their cooking water. Put the lid on the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are thick.


Stir though some chopped coriander and serve.



Vegetable Thoram

Next we made a Vegetable Thoram. A Thoram means a dry dish which often has coconut in it.

Start by heating a little coconut oil in a pan and add to it 1tsp mustard seeds, 5-10 curry leaves. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop and add 1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1 crushed garlic clove, a very finely chopped onion, 1/2tsp salt, 1/2tsp chilli powder and 1/2 tsp turmeric. Cook until the onion is soft.



Very chop finely chopping your vegetables, we used carrots, green beans, cauliflower and cabbage and add to the pan with a little water. Cook, stirring occasionally to ensure they don't burn until the vegetables are cooked through and soft. Stir in 2 tbsps of grated dried coconut (unsweetened desiccated coconut) and serve.




Lemon Rice

Finally we made a lemon rice. Pre-cook 100g of basmati rice.

Start by adding 1/2 tbsp if cashew nuts and 1/2 tbsp of raisins to a little oil. Add 5-10 curry leaves and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and cook the spices in.





Stir in the pre-cooked basmati rice, along with the juice of a lime and 1/2 tsp salt and serve.




Here are some of the pictures of the buffet that the chefs prepared each day

One day I also went on a trip out to a local food market. I think my taxi driver thought I was mad, but as I've probably mentioned before I think going to a food market really gives you a feel of a places food and culture. It was only small but there were still many fascinating things. As I didn't have anywhere to cook I couldn't buy much but I did buy some mango for me and the driver. 

New York City - restaurants, cafes and eating in

I don't think I've ever wrote about any of the places I've visited or eaten in unless I've had a cooking lesson there. Over Easter I visited my friends in New York City and whilst this wasn't exactly a food focused holiday me being me meant that a few interesting places were visited. I'm fortunate enough to have been to the city quite a few times, either through work or on holiday, and so know it reasonably well. I always said that I didn't like to go back to the same place on holiday even if I'd had a really good time, largely as there are so many places to visit and my list seems to get longer every time I read a travel magazine or talk to someone who has been away. Also, I sometimes find its risky to try and recreate something like an amazing holiday as often it won't live up to expectation. In recent years though, I've had to eat my words, well some of them! I've actually found it quite liberating to visit somewhere I have been several times, IF (and this is the critical part,) it's a city. I don't think it'd work the same way with somewhere with less of a focus on site-seeing. For me I quite like going to a city I've been before and have 'done' the key sites as the pressure is off and I can just enjoy the city for what it is and maybe act a little more like a local which results in a different experience.

I was lucky enough to be staying with some close friends who live in Midtown, Manhattan not far from central park. You couldn't really get more central if you tried!

One of the first things I did on arrival was to go and stock up on some food for the week so that I could stick to my clean eating (most of the time). They live a stones throw from a Whole Food Market which is always a treat for me. I love going to supermarkets in other countries to see what sort of foods they have, even in the US which in many ways eat a similar sort of food to the UK I find this interesting. I spent a good while exclaiming over how large some of the potions/packs were. How big are US chickens?! Judging on the size of the chicken breasts on sale I'd say about as large as a turkey! On my next visit I said I wanted to go to a chicken farm and I was only half joking.

One of the first places my friend took me to was Chelsea Market for lunch. I'd been meaning to visit it the last time I was in NYC but ran out of time. It's an indoor food 'market' although most of the places are cafes/restaurants rather than market stalls. In some ways it reminded me of a cross between Maltby Market and Brixton Market in London, but slightly more formal and polished. There were plenty of places to try and most looked fantastic. As it wasn't my treat meal I wanted to eat as cleanly as possible so decided to eat in Dickson's Farmstead and went for the half roast chicken with brussel sprouts and lardons. The chicken was well roasted and deliciously moist but was probably the fattiest chicken I have ever eaten! The Sarabeth bakery looked amazing and One Lucky Duck must be a vegan's dream



In the evening I went to a friends for dinner and she cooked Tessa Kiros' moussaka and as I've mentioned before Tessa is one of my favourite food writers so this was a real treat for me. We took around cupcakes from Crumbs which were traditional American flavours. They looked good but I didn't try one so couldn't comment on the taste.

The following morning I got up early for a run in Central Park and afterward breakfast I went to Alice's Tea Cup. I was recommended Alice's by a friend one of the first times I went to NYC. It's a wonderful tea shop which is Alice in Wonderland themed. They even sprinkle children with magic dust (glitter) and get them to make a wish when they enter, just wonderful! As I'd eaten I only had a cup of tea but it was a lovely start to the day.

I was meeting a friend I used to work with for lunch and she suggested we went to a cute little place by her work called Mangia. They have quite a few places like this around the city. You could describe them as a canteen or buffet or food hall and this was a reasonably upmarket version. They basically have different stations which might serve salads, sandwiches, hot food, baked goods, smoothies, coffees and so forth and then in the centre there was a cold salad buffet which was sold by weight. The quality was excellent and it was pretty good value as well. Great for a quick lunch hour bite to eat.

In the evening a group of us went to Harlem to try out Sylvia's This is a soul food restaurant and Sylvia is dubbed the Queen of Soul Food. To be honest I wasn't that impressed. The service was terrible - we waited the best part of an hour for our table despite the fact we'd booked and although the food was ok I didn't think it was anything special. Maybe it wasn't my kind of thing though. Despite that we had a great evening and ended the night in a Dive bar close to where some of my friends live.

My dinner was roast chicken with green beans and okra gumbo.




This was the signature fried southern chicken and rib combo with mash and mac and cheese. The macaroni had quite a lot of egg in it and reminded me of an egg custard.




The next morning was a beautiful day and we decided to head to Coney Island.



I expected a terrible choice of food but as it turned out we found Tom's Coney Island. This was effectively the equivalent of a greasy spoon in the UK but really well run. I chose am omelette and my friends had a burger and pancakes. The choices were basic but well cooked and good value and the service was fantastic.



On the way back we decided to have a walk through Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Brooklyn has a feel of East London to it and we stopped for a coffee in the Black Brick coffee shop. It was cosy and really looked the part but sadly was the classic case of style over substance as coffee was ok but not brilliant. They need Monmouth!



For dinner my friend fancied a crepe so she took us to a little place called The Crooked Tree. It was very small and had a lovely atmosphere. The service was good and the food was reasonable value and very tasty. I had a chicken, cheese and sundried tomato buckwheat crepe.






It was great to see I cold stay pretty much on track with my fit lifestyle even when on holiday. I pretty much stayed on plan with my clean eating and two treat meals, walked loads and worked out all but one day. I then really enjoyed my treat meals, guilt free.

For the first of my two treat meals in the week I was there I wanted to go for brunch. My normal brunch spot in NYC is Cafeteria, famous for being used to film some of the brunch scenes in Sex and the City. They have the most wonderful lemon ricotta pancakes with berries. However I felt like trying somewhere new and after a bit of research we decided to try Kitchenette. It hadn't occurred to us to book but we really needed to. Fortunately they managed to squeeze us in. I went for a fruit cup and freshly squeezed orange juice to start followed by baked cinnamon French roast with maple syrup. It was very similar to a bread and butter pudding and very good. They also made their own strawberry flavoured butter which you can see in the shot.







My final treat was somewhere I have been looking forwards to for a long time. We had to wait rather a long time for a table at the wonderful Spotted Pig but it was well worth the wait! The burger and fries was tasty, particular the rosemary and garlic string fries but the real show stopped were the ricotta gnudi. They were little balls of cheese heaven enveloped in more cheese heaven and drizzled with wonderfully nutty brown butter and scattered with crispy sage leaves and Parmesan. To die for!











What a great way to end a fantastic holiday! I'll be back for more gnudi on my next trip without a doubt.

Pork escalopes with lemon and parsely

I eat almost anything but I'm really not the biggest fan of pork but this recipe is so simple and so good that it almost has me converted!

It was another recipe which my mum and I picked up during our cooking holiday in Italy. Matilde, the teacher we had was the queen of making something delicious out of a handful of ingredients, extremely good ingredients admittedly.

I always advocate buying the best quality meat you can afford. Maybe eating it less often or cheaper cuts to do so. It makes me sad thinking about how some of the poor animals are treated and I genuinely think decent meat tastes better. Not to mention the antibiotics and growth hormones they pump into factory farmed meat.

Start by taking some thinly sliced pork loin, place it between two layers of cling film and bash it flatter with a meat cleaver, rolling pin or something else heavy. You want to make the pork quite thin without breaking it completely. Dust with flour.

Take a hot pan and a little oil and fry the pork in batches, cooking for a couple of minutes on each side. Once cooked place on some kitchen roll on a plate and season well. Repeat until all the pork is cooked.

Return all of the meat to the hot pan. Add a handful of finely chopped parsley, the juice of one lemon and top with slices of lemon. Place the lid on the pan and turn the pan off. Leave to rest for a few minutes.

I served with green veg and salad.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo so I'll have to make it again sometime soon.

Christchurch Food Festival

I have been meaning to write up this post for a while, but life has got in the way. A couple of weeks ago my mum and I went to the Christchurch food festival in Dorest. It's a well established festival and has a food market and various events. On the Saturday there were various demo's and we attended two. The first was Paul Potts from local restaurant Splinters and the second was the lovely James Martin.

Paul Potts made the following recipes:

Seabass fillet on tomato and red onion tarte tatin

Pan fry 5 cherry tomatoes, halved, season, add basil oil and chopped red onion and put into a 4 inch flan dish. You can arrange the tomatoes to all face the same way if you like. Top with a circle of puff pastry and bake in a hot oven for about 15 mins until golden.

Take a fillet of sea bass and at the wide end cut out a 'V' shape. This should remove any stray bones. Sear the fish in a hot pan, skin side down. Once brown and crispy turn over and top with a knob of butter.

Turn out the tart, top with the sea bass and drizzle with basil oil and a little balsamic vinegar and garnish with pea shoots.

Tuna Warm Salad Nicoise with Basil Oil

Boil 6 asparagus spears for a couple of minutes. Add a handful of sugar snaps to warm through. You want them to still retain their crunch. Whilst they are cooking fry 3 cooked new potatoes, cut in half, a few cherry tomatoes (roasted if desired) and a few olives.

Make a dressing of 3 parts oil, one part white wine vinegar, wholegrain mustard, chopped parsley, chives and seasoning.

Season a tuna steak, sear in a little oil. Only cook for a few minutes on each side as it is best served pink. Add a knob of butter to the top and put to one side to rest.

Serve the vegetables, dressed with the vinegarette and topped with seared tuna and pea shoots.

Scallop and Bacon Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts

Remove the roe from the scallops and the little muscle. Add a little oil to a hot pan and fry the scallops and some strips of bacon.

Julienne (finely shred) a carrot, courgette and half a leek. Add the fried strips of bacon, salad leaves, vinegarette and seasoning and toss. Top with the scallops and a drizzle of basil oil.

Scallops with Curried Parsnip and Apple Puree

Prepare the scallops as above.

Fry some cooked parsnips and apple together, add a little curry powder and seasoning and stock and blend to a smooth puree.

Serve by placing each scallop on a spoonful of puree.

James Martin made the following recipes:

Pea and Watercress Soup

Sweat one crushed clove of garlic and 1 finely shredded shallot in a some butter.

Bring some chicken or vegetable stock to the boil and add a glass of white wine. Add, a bunch of parsley, the garlic and shallot, a bag of watercress (holding back a few sprigs for garnish). frozen peas and seasoning. Blend.

Boil and egg in water for 5.5 minutes. Peel the egg carefully. Dip in flour, then beaten egg and then breadcrumbes and deep fry until golden.

Blanch some asparagus and then warm through in a little butter.

Serve the soup, topped with the asparagus and the egg with the top cut off, a sprig of water cress and a piece of crispy bacon.

Lamb Salad

Blanch some asparagus and put in iced water.

Remove the sinew from a loin of lamb and quicklysear in a pan in rapeseed oil. The pop it into a hot oven for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour over some sweet chilli sauce and put to one side to rest.

Make a pickle from some chopped radishes, the blanched asparagus, chopped cucumber, shallots, turnip (sliced on a mandolin), lime zest and then pour over a dressing made by putting white wine vinegar, a big pinch of sugar, a pinch of salt and the juice of a lime in a hot pan.

Serve by placing the pickle on a plate. Topped with slices of the lamb, a few sprigs of watercress and a few mint leaves. Drizzle with rapeseed oil.

Summer Pudding

Take a dariole mould or a tea cup and line with cling film. Cut the crusts off some cheap white bread and cut circles for the bottom of the mould and strips for the side.

Blend some fresh strawberries with some frozen berries, icing sugar and a little water and sieve to make a sauce, dip the bread in the sauce and line the mould. Mix more fresh strawberries with frozen berries and basil and squash into the mould, add a spoonful of clotted cream to the mould and top with a rough of bread dipped in the sauce. Release from the mould and drizzle over the rest of the sauce. Top with fresh berries, a clotted cream quenelle, a basil leaf, a dusting of icing sugar and some sugar work. You can make a sugar swirl by wrapping cooled sugar syrup around a steel (for a smaller one) or a rolling pin (for a larger one).

Vegetable Thai Green Curry Soup

I love Thai green curry, especially a recipe I learnt when I was in Thailand (I really must write a post on it next time I make it) and at this time of year I eat soup for lunch most days. I had a small amount of coconut milk in the fridge so decided to combine the two and make a slightly more soupy vegetable curry.

I started by dicing the vegetables to a size easy to eat with a spoon, far smaller than I would for a true curry. I then heated the coconut milk with the water, added the green curry paste, ginger, fish sauce, sugar and soy followed by the veg and cooked until the veg were all fairly soft but still holding their shape. I finished by squeezing in lime juice and some sliced red chilli. You could also top with fresh coriander if you had some. I also normally add some torn kaffir leaves but forgot!

Here it is cooking in the pan


Recipe

Makes two generous bowls of soup and is easily doubled/halved etc. You can also substitute the veg for whatever you have in the fridge that you think would be tasty

1/2 tin coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of green Thai curry paste to taste
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar (or natural sweetener)
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger grated
1 courgette
1 red pepper
1 large carrot
2 onions
1/2 red chilli
Juice of 1/2 lime
3-4 torn kaffir leaves (if you remember!)
A bunch of torn coriander (if desired)


Dice all of the veg

Heat the coconut milk with the curry paste, ginger, fish sauce, ginger and sugar.

Add the veg and cook until it is soft but still holds its shape. Approx 20-30 mins

Add the lime and kaffir leaves. Serve topped with slices of red chilli and corriander

The Hive Beach Cafe

I normally only write about my own food (of food those near to me have cooked) but today I'm going to male an exception. This weekend I've come away for my mum's birthday. Family holidays are few and far between now we have grown up and moved away so we thought we would take the opportunity of her birthday coming up to all go away together. On the way to Devon, our final destination, we stopped at The Hive Beach Bar, Chesil Bank for breakfast. Now I've head a lot about The Hive over the years but have never actually been myself.

The Hive has won loads of awards and although it's a little more than a glorified beach hut it's easy to see why. For a start it has fabulous views.







It has very friendly staff, a counter of very fresh looking fish and seafood and a counter (don't worry a different one!) of big homemade looking cakes.

If the breakfast is anything to go on it also seems to have fabulous food.

I had the Egg Benedict, which was slightly untraditional in that it had crispy streaky bacon instead of ham and the addition of a grilled tomato on the side. I wasn't sure about the bacon when I placed my order but it really worked with the eggs and the hollandaise sauce. I guess maybe because it is saltier than ham. I was less convinced about the tomato as the juiciness of it, at least in my mine, didn't really go with the rich hollandaise. Having said that it was a really tasty tomato so no complains, I just ate it first! The eggs were massive, perfectly cooked and very tasty and the hollandaise sauce was just delicious.





My dad had brill topped with a poached duck egg and bacon. Whilst I wouldn't be sure about eating fish for breakfast it did look very good.



The others had bacon sandwiches with a side of black pudding which also looked really good.

Overall I think this place would be worth travelling for. I'm thinking perhaps a holiday nearby so I can now try out lunch, dinner and afternoon tea!

http://www.hivebeachcafe.co.uk/