A couple of weeks ago I posted about a slow-cook chilli beef and a mojito inspired cheesecake I’d made and I hinted that the cheesecake in particular needed some tweaks and refinement. So, this weekend, as a practice run for my Mexican bistro night in June (which is now fully booked no less!), I made those tweaks and also tried a different recipe entirely for the chilli beef, this time using brisket which shreds deliciously. I know it seems very soon to be posting almost the same recipes again, but trust me, these are better and this marks part one of me posting my full Mexican night menu.

The results were a great success and the food happily enjoyed by some close friends who were eager guinea pigs for me. I’ve updated the cheesecake recipe on here and also added an alternative smoky chilli beef recipe for you to try. Recognition must go to the wonderful Thomasina Miers (TM) for the chilli beef as it was shamelessly stolen (with barely an adjustment made) from her Mexican Food Made Simple book. I’ve also added on here the guacamole recipe I used as an accompaniment (again, with a nod to TM). In later weeks, I will share the fantastically fresh and fragrant grilled salmon tacos with avocado cream recipe, but I don’t want to overwhelm you all at once! I will also return with the recipe for the chilli-chocolate mousse that’s on our menu and which, though rich, was pretty yummy, with a depth of flavour and warmth that means a little goes a long way.

One invention/adaption, my starter course (along with Nachos to share), was a little spicy sweet potato and black bean empanada, which worked really well and which I am very glad to have chosen for the menu as they are just as delicious made up and frozen ahead uncooked, so they can be simply put together on the night with minimum fuss. That too, I will return with at a later date, but the pics above will give a flavour of what our customers can expect on 24 June in Whitehead. Thanks again to Tracy at The Whistle Stop Cafe for taking a chance on me – both with the bistro night and with my cakes and bakes, of which more next time!

Recipes in this post:

• Slow-cooked smoky chilli beef
• Mojito-inspired Cheesecake (improved recipe)