Mexican lunch or "Por que no los dos?"

Where is my flan? I want my flan!

A couple of weeks ago we had my cousin Catherine (AKA Cuz) and her muy guapo chico Mexicano Oscar over for lunch. Anytime Cuz and I meet up for coffee or dinner or whatever, we refer to it as "Cousin fun time" (geeky, I know, but we find it funny). There were six of us, including my bro and Su, so it was Mexican cousin and partner fun time. Yay!

Catherine, a true Mexico-phile (if there's a proper word for could someone please enlighten me?), brought fish tacos (can't stop laughing at that), cabbage salad and pico de gallo, whilst we supplied guacamole, margaritas, nachos and flan!

Here is a summary of our conversations the week leading up to the lunch...

Sarah: Shall we have Mexican cousin-fun-time this weekend?
Catherine: I'll make fish tacos!
Sarah: Hehehe!!
Catherine: No really!
Sarah: Oh, ok! *stops laughing* Hard or soft tacos?
Catherine: *death stare* There's no such thing as a hard taco in Mexico.
Sarah: Oops.

I made the flan the night before, as it needs a long rest in the fridge before serving. The recipe is from Nigella Express, and is super-duper easy. All you do is melt some sugar, and use it to line a dish. The filling involves stirring together some condensed and evaporated milks, eggs and vanilla. Pour the filling over the caramel and bake in a water bath. Ta-dah. My pie dish didn't fit into a roasting pan, so I put it on the shelf above the water-filled roasting pan, hoping that the steamy atmosphere would have the same effect. As you can see from the above photo, it ended up a bit rough-and-ready looking, and had quite a few bubbles. I'm not sure if this is because of the water bath, or because I overcooked it. Either way, the end result tasted good, so I'm not complaining.

And here is the savoury food...
Pico de Gallo - tomatoes, red onions, coriander and lime juice

Cabbage salad with white onions. Notice the matching brown terracotta Graupera serving bowls. Half price at Minimax - love them!

My poor, poor attempt at margaritas - couldn't be bothered squeezing too many limes so I made short ones, haha.

Guacamole - finely chopped spring onions, salt, lime juice, avocado and fresh coriander. Freshly-made guacamole is absolutely addictive, and now I always buy avocados whenever I see ripe ones on special.


Nachos - more "Tex" than "Mex" but still tasty.

Barbecued fish with coriander, olive oil and chipotle chilli. Cuz prepared these and barbecued them.

On our soft tacos (also barbecued, placed in a bowl and then tented with a tea-towel to keep warm) we placed combinations of the fish, the salads, the guacamole and sour cream. So delicious! Cuz and Oscar brought Safeway homebrand tacos, which weren't spectacular, but they were the only ones they could find on short notice. Usually they prefer the Mission Brand soft tacos, so I'll definitely be trying those when I can find them.

Flan!
It turned out to have quite a few holes in it, but no-one seemed to mind too much. I thought it was ok, as I've never been a fan of that burnt-sugar taste, but the others quite liked it. And my Dad, when he came home and had the leftovers, really, really loved it!! Now I have an easy dessert to make for him, wahoo!

Gracias a Cuz y Oscar y todo por una dia muy bueno! (Y lo siento por mi espanol podrido).

Where is my flan? I want my flan!

A couple of weeks ago we had my cousin Catherine (AKA Cuz) and her muy guapo chico Mexicano Oscar over for lunch. Anytime Cuz and I meet up for coffee or dinner or whatever, we refer to it as "Cousin fun time" (geeky, I know, but we find it funny). There were six of us, including my bro and Su, so it was Mexican cousin and partner fun time. Yay!

Catherine, a true Mexico-phile (if there's a proper word for could someone please enlighten me?), brought fish tacos (can't stop laughing at that), cabbage salad and pico de gallo, whilst we supplied guacamole, margaritas, nachos and flan!

Here is a summary of our conversations the week leading up to the lunch...

Sarah: Shall we have Mexican cousin-fun-time this weekend?
Catherine: I'll make fish tacos!
Sarah: Hehehe!!
Catherine: No really!
Sarah: Oh, ok! *stops laughing* Hard or soft tacos?
Catherine: *death stare* There's no such thing as a hard taco in Mexico.
Sarah: Oops.

I made the flan the night before, as it needs a long rest in the fridge before serving. The recipe is from Nigella Express, and is super-duper easy. All you do is melt some sugar, and use it to line a dish. The filling involves stirring together some condensed and evaporated milks, eggs and vanilla. Pour the filling over the caramel and bake in a water bath. Ta-dah. My pie dish didn't fit into a roasting pan, so I put it on the shelf above the water-filled roasting pan, hoping that the steamy atmosphere would have the same effect. As you can see from the above photo, it ended up a bit rough-and-ready looking, and had quite a few bubbles. I'm not sure if this is because of the water bath, or because I overcooked it. Either way, the end result tasted good, so I'm not complaining.

And here is the savoury food...
Pico de Gallo - tomatoes, red onions, coriander and lime juice

Cabbage salad with white onions. Notice the matching brown terracotta Graupera serving bowls. Half price at Minimax - love them!

My poor, poor attempt at margaritas - couldn't be bothered squeezing too many limes so I made short ones, haha.

Guacamole - finely chopped spring onions, salt, lime juice, avocado and fresh coriander. Freshly-made guacamole is absolutely addictive, and now I always buy avocados whenever I see ripe ones on special.


Nachos - more "Tex" than "Mex" but still tasty.

Barbecued fish with coriander, olive oil and chipotle chilli. Cuz prepared these and barbecued them.

On our soft tacos (also barbecued, placed in a bowl and then tented with a tea-towel to keep warm) we placed combinations of the fish, the salads, the guacamole and sour cream. So delicious! Cuz and Oscar brought Safeway homebrand tacos, which weren't spectacular, but they were the only ones they could find on short notice. Usually they prefer the Mission Brand soft tacos, so I'll definitely be trying those when I can find them.

Flan!
It turned out to have quite a few holes in it, but no-one seemed to mind too much. I thought it was ok, as I've never been a fan of that burnt-sugar taste, but the others quite liked it. And my Dad, when he came home and had the leftovers, really, really loved it!! Now I have an easy dessert to make for him, wahoo!

Gracias a Cuz y Oscar y todo por una dia muy bueno! (Y lo siento por mi espanol podrido).