Raw? Mexican? Good? YOU BET.

Last night we had some friends over for a cheeky mid week dinner. It was long overdue and a lovely, relaxed evening of fabulous food and company. When the dinner invitation was accepted I got a few dietary requirements: vegetarian and gluten free. I then got myself confused and added vegan into the mix as well. What to cook? Or not cook? I scoured some amazing blogs and finally decided on a raw mexican meal that I saw a year or so ago and have always wanted to eat – it was the perfect excuse! Add in a perfect summery evening and we had ourselves a lovely old time.

The food to me was a revelation. Seriously. I’ve never not cooked for a dinner party before. There was lots of chopping and mixing – but no cooking! The colours, the flavours I was completely hooked after just one bite.

I also made one of Gourmet Girlfriend’s salads that she recommended to me. I ended up just using black beans because I couldn’t get the turtle beans but it was still delicious! And look at it! LOOK AT IT. Try and tell me it’s not pretty. I ended up serving this with drinks and some gluten free tortilla chips. We scooped away until our hearts were content.

The dressing that went on that salsa…ridiculous. Cumin. Lime. Pepper. Garlic. Holy smokes!

Setting a table for a dinner party is like going to my happy place. Getting an idea. Trying something, changing it and then playing around just makes my heart sing. It’s OK, I know, I’m a weirdo.

We were going to make margarita’s, but settled on a big ol’ jug of mojito instead.

The taco’s that I made for the main were amazing. Do you hear me? AMAZING. The theory is that you replace what would be the meat element with a walnut, lime, soy & cumin mix – pulsed in the food processor. Then you have another salsa made from capsicum, red onion, shallots, coriander & cherry tomatoes spooned on top. Some avaocado, some chilli’s. Then instead of sour cream – an almond and lime mix whizzed in the food processor. A drizzle of lime. All wrapped up in a wombok cabbage leave. BANG!

Here was the other salsa.

Then some of Ruthie’s salad/salsa left over from drinks.

The walnut part. THIS WAS NOT MEAT AND THIS WAS FLIPPING DELICIOUS.

The “sour cream” made from almonds.

And the taco shells.

BANG!

Honestly, one of the best things I’ve ever made. I know as the hostess I am meant to look after my guests but I was too busy shovelling these into my mouth and saying “Seriously! How good is this? Isn’t it amazing?” to do anything else.

Some baked apples with lemon & orange zest & marscapone for dessert (made by guests) served with some lemongrass & ginger tea rounded off a delicious dinner.

Get the recipe here and make it. And make Gourmet Girlfriend’s salsa here. You hear me? Also NOTE: I DOUBLED THE RECIPE FOR 6 PEOPLE. It was still a little light on…

Comments

  1. Looks and sounds like a wonderful night.
    Carolyn

  2. Did it fill you though? I swear I’d wake in the middle of the night starving, I just can’t kick that protein and carb habit of mine…

    • It did! But without feeling full. And heavy. And woozy like you do after a big meal of meat and carbs. Who knew?!

    • Looks amazing and sounds lick ya lips delish! Even my meat eating Mexican food loving 19 year old son is impressed. He is keen for me to make this for dinner when his gf visits on the weekend. I love your description of how you felt after – Mexican food is great but can very much leave you feeling as you described.

  3. Yum! Vegetarian Mexican is my fav type of food. I am giving this one a whiz. Btw, I love your tea cups! x

  4. I just LOVE that you make food with friends an occasion. I like to make the same kind of effort when I have friends rounds. There are critics who say life is too short to spend ages fart arsing around with table decs and food. I say life is too short NOT to spend time making the everyday amazing.

    p.s I do not comment often, but I get some serious inspiration for some of my own dinner parties and gatherings from looking at all the pretty on your blog. True story!

  5. That looks divine. Your photos (as always!) have me swooning! Having recently gone on a health kick, I’ll definitely be trying out the recipe. Thank you!

  6. I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a while. I really must try it now the weather is warming up!

  7. Sounds delicious! I LOVE your home decor, so much colour!

  8. Wow. Mid week dinner. Impressive! I’m not sure if I’m most impressed that you are a wonderful domestic kitchen godess, or that you actually have a fabo social life!

  9. It was a beautiful meal and absolutely no hunger pangs in the middle of the night! Thank you Beth and Rob.

  10. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Yum, yum and another yum. You are such a domestic goddess!

  11. Ooooh. We’ve just started a 6 week vegan detox in the lead up to Christmas – I know what i’m making Saturday night! That looks amazing.

  12. I didn’t realise until I got to the end that I was drooling on myself a little. At work. At my desk. It’s ok because nobody saw, but I blame you.

  13. Yes, have to try it…. I did a raw food course but Chris asked me to “try my experiments out on other people”. I’m going to try this one him and see how I go…..

  14. This looks amazing. I really want to try it but one question . Where for you buy chipotle pepper or can you use chipotle sauce , I think I’ve seen that.

  15. This looks and sounds fabulous. I will definitely be making this in the near future.

  16. Wow! Everything from the food to the table setting looks devine. I’m keen to give this a go but will have to have some floury wraps in there somewhere!

  17. mwah. xxxx

  18. That all looks amazing!
    The food, the table…all of it!

    And now I want Mexican for dinner…after a little afternoon siesta.

  19. That looks freaking amazing Beth. You certainly know how to throw a dinner party. The table decorations were stunning and how good is Mexican food? It seems there was some unconscious channelling between our houses on that night because I also threw a Mexican dinner party on the same day for my husband’s birthday! http://mumtricks.com.au/daddys-mexican-fiesta-birthday-dinner/
    No where near as flash as yours though. And I think I ought to learn how to take a decent photograph! Have any tips? Probably get a proper camera for one, I’m just using my iphone!!

  20. That sounds flipping delicious. I’m seriously addicted to cumin, so my mouth is watering. x

  21. You know what would have been great with this … my Mexican shredded beef … kidding … sort of 😉 I’m so doing that salad. x

  22. This looks amazing. And great timing – I’ve been looking for ideas for a lunch this weekend that caters to vegetarian and religious requirements. The salsa is looking particularly good. Love a bit of corn in my salad.

  23. That table looks very attractive

    I think I enjoy stuff like that so much because frankly my job offers limited creativity

  24. The food you prepared looked amazing. I love mid-week dinners with friends – definitely a time to enjoy, as they don’t happen too often due to everyone being so busy. Your blog is great. Fifi

  25. Just popped in to say, I made the raw tacos after reading your post and it was AMAZING. So fresh and light and zingy and flavoursome. Thanks for the heads up. Sam has even asked if we can have it again this week. A winner for sure.

    rachel xo

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