Mexico: With VeeTee Rice

VeeTee rice have challenged some bloggers to come up with a recipe using one of their new range of four microwavable rice packs.  Having just returned from Mexico City I chose the Mexican rice (a spicy Mexican style rice with adzuki beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers) and received a hamper with the rice and some items based on the Mexican theme.

VeeTee’s new rice range is so easy to heat up in the microwave in just 2 minutes. The new varieties are Spicy Mexican, Thai Jasmine, Peri Peri and Pilau.

I made some quick and easy enchiladas stuffed with the rice and covered with a left over pasta sauce from the night before.  Here is what I served to Mr R for his Saturday brunch:-

Mexican rice stuffed enchiladas served with guacamole, roasted sweet corn salsa, mango and chili yoghurt and crispy tortilla pieces.

I prepped my salsa, yoghurt and guacamole first letting the flavours enhance.

Roasted Sweet Corn Salsa:

2 cobs of sweet corn

1 Tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Small piece of red chilli

Rind of 1 lime

Juice of ½ lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Take the kernels off the corn cob and fry in a small frying pan with the oil and butter already heated, stirring whilst the kernels cook and brown slightly.  Add S&P to taste before turning the heat off.

Put in a small bowl and grate the zest of one lime and add the juice of ½ lime.

(this salsa was so nice I will be making it on a regular basis!)

Chunky Guacamole:-

1-2 avocados, peeled and the flesh removed. (keep the stone)

Tabasco sauce as per taste – I used the Smoked Chipotle

Juice of ½ lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel the avocados and remove the stone.  Put the flesh into a bowl and roughly mash with a fork.

Add the Tabasco sauce and salt & pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with the juice of ½ lime.

Put the avocado stone in the bowl and leave it until serving as this will help the colour to stay green and not go brown.

Mango and Chili Yoghurt:-

¼ ripe mango (peeled)

4 Tbsp plain Greek style yoghurt (I used Total Greek)

Tabasco sauce as per taste – I used the Smoked Chipotle

Small piece of red chilli

Chop the mango slice and put into a bowl.  Add a small piece of red chilli finely chopped, Tabasco sauce to taste and 4-5 Tbsp Greek style yoghurt.  Mix thoroughly and put aside.

Crispy Tortilla Pieces:-

Take a packet of Mexican style wraps.

Cut two or three wraps into four pieces each and lay out flat on a baking tray or stone.  Brush lightly with cold pressed rapeseed oil, sprinkle with sea salt flakes, lime rind and brush with lime juice.

Bake 10 minutes in a hot oven (around 190o-200o) until getting brown and crisp.

Mexican Rice Enchaladas:- (using VeeTee Microwaveable Mexican Rice)

Heat the two packs of VeeTee Microwaveable Mexican Rice for 2 minutes in the microwave.

Lay the tortilla wraps out one at a time and fill the middle with the rice.

Roll up tightly and lay seam down in an ovenproof dish.  Roll each one up and place side by side.

Spread some tomato sauce over the top (I used some leftover pasta sauce with garden vegetables).

Top with grated cheddar cheese

Bake in a moderate oven (around 180o) for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Serve on a plate with the crispy tortilla pieces and small bowls of the side dishes.

Serve as a Sunday lazy brunch and think of Mexico!  Enjoy.

I was sent a hamper from VeeTee to create the recipe.  All opinions and photos are my own.

Mexico City: Contemporary, Vibrant and Colourful City -Part 2

After all of the sights and sounds of Mexico City I had experienced it didn't seem possible that we were only half way through our stay!  If you want to catch up on Part 1 click here.

It was Saturday and the place to go was to San Angel area, with its beautiful homes and which was once a separate village, where the Saturday bazaar and art market currently sell clothes, paintings, jewelry and more.

We enjoyed lunch at Saks, a busy restaurant opposite the square which provided us with a feast to restore us so we could enjoy the market further.

The next stop on our day was the home of Diego Rivera, one of Mexico's most famous artists who created many of the outstanding paintings and murals in the city.

The afternoon finished with an introduction to coffee tasting, hosted by the President of the Association of Specialty Coffee and Coffee Shops where we learned all about the coffee history and production in Mexico and then a lesson on tasting known as 'cupping' four different blends.

After a privately hosted evening and relaxation we returned to our hotel to sleep and start again in the morning.

Sunday morning we visited the Chapultepec Castle, high above the city centre with amazing views below helping us to get our bearings of the stretch and enormity of the city.

You can walk to the top or you can take the little train, remembering that Mexico City is already over 7,000' above sea level!

A short walk from the Chapultepec Castle was the National Anthropology Museum.  This museum holds a fantastic collection of authentic Mayan and Aztec artifacts, a subject that has fascinated me since grade school.  I was walking around in a daze completely immersed in the past that I had studied so many years ago at school.

After another lunch we visited the Museo Soumaya which houses over 66,000 pieces of art and holds the largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin outside of France, seeing such fantastic pieces really made my experience as I have long been a fan of Rodin.

Hard to believe but we woke up on the Monday and it was our last day.  We started with a breakfast meeting with the Mexico City Minister of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marques who was interested in our opinions of tourism in the city as seen by foreigners and what they could do to keep tourism up to date and fresh, encouraging more visitors to Mexico City.

As the rest of our day was free until late afternoon pick up for the airport one of the other members of our group, Anita and myself set off to visit MUCHO Chocolato Museum, run and curated by a lovely woman I met on my recent trip to Grenada Chocolate Festval.

Anita and I also managed to get reservations for lunch, our last meal in Mexico City, at the Pujol restaurant, one of the top 50 restaurants of the world.  We had a truly unique meal which I will be telling you about in much more detail soon.

I have tried to give you a taste for the diversity and excitement of Mexico City in this post and in Part 1. We never really scratched the surface of this fascinating part of the world and I really hope to re-visit to carry on where I left off.

I was a guest of Mexico City Tourism. All photos and opinions are my own.

W Hotel London - Afternoon Tea with a Twist

Afternoon Tea is one of my favourite indulgent pleasures - so quintessientally British! I was pleased to be invited by a blogger colleague Fiona who writes an extradordinary blog about London called London Unattached to join her for afternoon tea at W Hotel in London's Soho district.

You may remember a huge building on the corner of Wardour Street and Leicester Square called the Swiss Centre with the moving and chiming clock.  Well, the Swiss Centre has been replaced by W Hotel which I have walked past and wondered what was with the giant 'W' outside.

You enter via huge glass doors and into the elevator to the first floor where the reception for this luxury, contemporary and unusual hotel is located.

I am a preferred coffee drinker but the beverage to accompany afternoon tea has to be tea.  There was as extensive list to chose from of black, green and white teas. I went for the Organic English Breakfast blend so as not to over power the flavours of the food.

The list of teas on offer includes Chamomile, Jasmine Dragon Pearl, Japanese Sencha, Fresh Mint, Organic English Breakfast, Earl Grey and more.

When the tray appeared it was very exotic

Turned around we can see what is on offer!

Glazed Pork Belly Steam Bun (Pickled Shallots, Basil, Mint & Sweet Soy)

Thai Shrimp Cake Steam bun (green Mango, Peanut and Cucumber Relish)

Ovaltine Kulfi (Whipped Condensed Milk, Candied Fennel Seeds)

Mango and Sticky Rice Roll (Sweet Puffed Rice)

Pandan Macaron (Kaya Jam, Soy Sauce Powder)

Green Tea and White Chocolate Opera Cake

Afternoon Tea is available in the W Lounge daily from 2:00 until 5:00 pm for £29.00 per person.  For reservations phone 020 7758 1060.

Thanks Fiona for asking me to accompany you!  All opinions and photos are my own.

Borderfields Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oils

I get excited when I see the produce I am growing in my allotment (half plot size) so try to imagine the sight of the 15 acre Innovation Garden on the Hammond Food Oils and Hammond Produce's trial garden!

I was taken to a marquee in the middle of this 15 acres thinking this was a sort of Great British Bake Off but with veggies! I was there to learn about their cold pressed rapeseed oil branded as Borderfields.

At their Innovation Gardens, a 15 acre site they grow vegetables on a small scale trial basis to see if they are the sort of plant they want to grow commercially.  We were shown around the rows of beautiful and colourful vegetables.

But we were really there to learn all about their range of cold pressed rapeseed oils.

Rapeseed oil can be used instead of any oil for any purpose such as frying, baking, stir frying except deep fat frying.  It has a high smoke point allowing its use with higher heats before it burns.  It has half the saturated fat than olive oils, is high in Omega 3 & 6 (vital for good health and brain function) and high in Vitamin E.

You can easily trade across and use cold pressed rapeseed oil instead of olive oil and trade up replacing vegetable or sunflower oils for cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Borderfields currently have 25% of the cold pressed rapeseed oil market but there is scope for a lot of growth in this area. They currently produce 1,500 bottles per hour and are enlarging their range of flavour infused oils which currently includes Chili, garlic, lemon, garlic and ginger (a stir fry's best friend!), basil and original, pure cold pressed rapeseed oil.

I have rainbow chard on my allotment but these were amazing and beautiful.  Chef Philippe Wavrin demonstrated three recipes each using the Borderfields cold pressed rapeseed oil.

This mayonnaise was so easy to make that I will definitely be giving it a try.  Note the beautiful golden colour that comes from the oil.  You can add fresh herbs, lemon zest or other subtle flavourings.

I tried a vegetable I had seen but never tried before called kohlrabi.  It is a relative of the turnip family and I naturally assummed it would be bitter. It is really mild with a slightly sweet taste and perfect to cut into thin match sticks and dress with the rapeseed oil mayo above.

The winds were howling and the skies were grey but between showers we got out into the fields to find out just exactly what was growing.

Even the weather couldn't keep us from the vegetable patch.

Wish my cabbages had grown so beautifully! I think the wind in the fields blew all the bugs away!

Phil the head gardener of this project picked samples and told us all about them before slicing thin strips for is to taste.  You cannot beat the taste of a radish just pulled from the soil!

The only rainbow wasn't in the sky but the different collections of vegetables and in ths case the beetroot.

Or the cauliflower collection!!

After our brisk walk around the rows of vegetables we went inside the marquee for a colourful, healthy and delicious lunch all based on the vegetables growing outside and using Borderfields cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Jaipur Slaw

Baked Beets with Pomegranate, Orange, Basil & Feta

Fennel Risotto with Ricotta & Dried Chilli

Lemon & Garlic Rainbow Chard

Mixed Cauliflower Rice

Even the serviettes had vegetable on them!

After a delicious and healthy lunch we had Purple Carrot Cheesecakes! There is not a child on this planet that could detect this was made with carrots!  It was really creamy, tasty and beautiful.

A cup of coffee, wellies off and we were ready to get our trains home.  Armed with some fresh veg and a range of the rapeseed oils we left planning to switch to a healthier oil!

I was a guest of Borderfields and Hammond Food Oils to visit their Innovation Garden outside Nottingham.  I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions and photos are my own.