Cinco de Mayo
I love most things Mexican, the food, the culture, the cocktails, the bright colours and of course one of my heros, Frieda Kahlo. So it feels perfectly natural to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, (the Celebration of the Mexican victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862).
For our fiesta we combined the hot interiors trend of colourful botanicals with hot, fresh and spicy recipes including Grilled Pollock with Peach and Mango Salsa, and Strawberry and Basil Margaritas.
Grilled Pollock with Peach and Mango Salsa
Serves 4
Peach and Mango Salsa
1 Ripe Mango - skin and stone removed and diced
1 Ripe Peach - skin and stone removed and diced
½ Red Pepper –diced and seeds removed
1 small red onion – diced
1 tbsp lime juice
½ red chilli – diced and seeds removed
1tbsp olive oil plus extra for drizzling
Handful of fresh coriander chopped
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 large or 2 small fillets per person
Extra olive oil
Black Pepper
2-4 tsp butter
Preheat oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees for fan ovens.
Combine all the Salsa ingredients-mango, peach, lime juice, red pepper, onion, chili, salt, olive oil, and chopped coriander in a bowl and mix well. Check the flavour, you can add a little more chili, lime or salt as you see fit. Set aside
Place filets in a baking dish with a little drizzle of olive and a ½ teaspoon of butter on each fillet and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 6-8 minutes. Should easily flaky when ready, do not overcook.
Top the Pollock with the Mango and Peach Salsa and little extra coriander and serve.
Strawberry and Basil Margaritas
Per cocktail
3-4 strawberries stems removes chopped in to small pieces
1-2 tsp sugar syrup
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
35ml good quality reposado tequila
2-3 Basil Leaves slices plus extra for a garnish
Balsamic vinegar
Caster sugar
Ice Cubes
(optional drizzle with a balsamic syrup place 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part sugar in a small heavy bottom sauce pan and simmer for about 5 minutes until the sugar is dissolved, let cool)
Combine chopped strawberries, slices Basil leaves, tequila, lime juice and sugar syrup with 3 ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Shake really well and the strain in to a glass with 2-3 ice cubes and a sea salt rim then drizzle with either a few drops of balsamic vinegar or balsamic vinegar syrup and garnish with thinly sliced basil leaves and a strawberry slice.
Top your table with a Miles tablecloth and fill it with bright coloured flowers both real and made, pretty dishes and lots of delicious food. Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone, you certainly don’t need to be Latin to love this. Enjoy.
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I was recently reminded of something we used to make at summer camp called Bannock, an easy bread recipe that can be made on a fire using the last embers in a frying pan or wrapped around a stick.
I love how modern yet rustic this tart looks, it's an impressive dessert for any occasion, delicious served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and best of all it's really easy to make. You can replace the fruit and herbs with anything that's in season and voilà!
