Recipease: Mexican Street Food

Slightly hungover from the BBQ the day before I got up early and headed over to Clapham to participate in another recipease class - the cooking courses set up by Jamie Oliver and taught by his staff. I did the knife skills course a few months ago, which I loved so the guys at work got me a voucher for my birthday to try out another, so I went for the mexican street food course as I was hoping it would help me recreate Wahaca style dishes.

I turned up and was welcomed by a very friendly lady who was to be our teacher for the day and given an apron and a seat while we waited for the rest of the class to arrive. The set up is great as the class is only for 10 people and everyone has their own work station and your ingredients are ready to go. The teacher took us through what we was going to make for the day and showed us the first section of prep we had to do and then let us go on do it but was constantly on hand to offer tips and advice.

The dishes are inspired by Jamie and his distinctive cooking style, we were told to add as much chilli as we like and make it personal to our tastes. We used a lot of chilli. In everything!

We begun by making a fiery ceviche, raw seafood is cooked in the acidic

juice and zest of lime and lemon. We used tiger prawns (the only seafood that was cooked quickly in hot pan to add colour), scallops, coley and a squid tube, all from a sustainable sources. We then added passata, lime and lemon juice and zest, garlic, chilli, spring onions, mixed herbs (basil, coriander and dill), worcestershire sauce and cucumber. It is mixed together and marinated for an hour to 'cook' the seafood. Seasoning as added just before serving otherwise the squid will go chewy. It was so fresh and tasty, lots of different textures due to the various fish and strangely refreshing.

We made a salsa verda, a chunky green salsa which uses whatever green herbs you have - we used coriander and mint mixed with garlic, green chillies, spring onions, tomatoes and lime juice. Both the salsa and cerviche was perfect served on top of our handmade gorditas.

Gorditas are a corn cake which I can only compare to a squashed scone that is deep fried, but they are described by Jamie as 'delicious little fluffy tortillas'. I found them a little bit stodgy and very simple but a perfect base for all the fiery toppings. The key when forming them is to make sure there are no cracks around the edges otherwise they crumble when fried.

And last but not least was the soft chicken taco cooked in chipotle sauce. The recipe is below as this was by far my favourite out of the amazing selection of dishes we created, it was so rich in flavour, with lots of depth and I think would impress friends at an informal dinner party - this is one I may have to make for you when you visit next Emily.

When everyone finished, we piled our food and a big wooden board and all sat down with a glass of wine (or beer in my case) and proudly tucked into our creations together. I demolished the chicken taco but managed to save a little of the salsa, gorditas and cerviche for the boyfriend to try when I got home - not a big fan of fish but he still thought the flavours were great!

Jamie's Chicken Taco with Chipotle Chilli Sauce - Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons whole cumin

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano

• 1 large dried chilli

• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled

• 8 chicken thighs on the bone - skins scored

• olive oil for frying

• 3.5 cups passata

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 1 heaped dessert spoon caster sugar

• 100g chipotle chilli sauce

• 4 flour tortillas

• 2 baby gem lettuce - washed and leaves picked off

• 2-3 limes

• small bunch of coriander

• 1 red onion - thinly slice

• 2 large tomatoes

• 2 strips spring onion - sliced on an angle

Method

• Put the cumin, oregano, dried chilli and garlic into a pestle and mortar and grind down (or pop in a small blender and whizz).

• Lightly oil the chicken and season with salt and pepper, then take 1/2 your dry seasoning mixture and rub all over the chicken.

• Add a lug of olive oil to a large pan and when the oil is hot fry the chicken on both sides until golden brown.

• Turn the heat down and add the passata, vinegar, sugar, chipotle chilli sauce and remaining dry seasoning mix. Turn the heat low, put a lid on the pan and simmer the chicken until cooked through. This should take 20 - 25 minutes, depending on how big the chicken is. Check it is cooked before removing from the heat. The sauce should be thick and sweet, if not remove the chicken and put the pan back on the stove and reduce the sauce until it is sticky and sweet.

• Next step is to assemble the taco. Remove the chicken from the sauce and pull the meat off the bone and discard the bone.

• Lay the flour tortilla on a flat surface and spread about a tablespoon of the sticky chipotle sauce like you would tomato sauce on a pizza base.

• Add the cooked chicken, spoon over some salsa verda, 2-3 baby gem leaves, corriander leaves, lime juice, chopped tomatoes, red onions and spring onions.

• Fold one edge in about an inch to form the bottom and then fold in both sides and wrap tightly, and tuck in!