Baja Fish Soft Taco Kit from Old El Paso

Did you know that today is the National Taco Day? To mark the occasion I cooked a quick meal of Baja Fish Soft Tacos, using a Soft Taco Kit from Old El Paso.
The recipe which inspired this kit originates from Baja California on the west coast of Mexico.

Image credit: Old El Paso

There's not much cooking involved. The kit contains 10 soft mini flour tortillas, Baja crusted fish seasoning and Naja sauce seasoning for soured cream.

You will need to buy 400g of white fish, a small tub of soured cream, a lime and fresh coriander. The kit also suggests to add some shredded red cabbage to the dish, but my guys are not big fans of red cabbage, and I am not quite sure about the fish and cabbage combination. I added a thinly sliced sweet red pepper instead.
You will also need some oil to fry the fish.
Add the Baja seasoning to the soured cream and mix well until combined. The flavours are sweet and spicy, mildly hot.
The fish seasoning is made with breadcrumbs, paprika, cumin, chilli, cayenne pepper, onion, herbs, marjoram, parsley etc.
Cut the fish into chunks, coat on all sides with the seasoning and fry in a big frying pan with the vegetable oil until golden and cooked through.
Warm the tortillas, and assemble your soft tacos by adding pieces of fish with the soured cream sauce, red pepper slices, torn coriander leaves and serve with a wedge of lime.

I bought a big piece of cod for this meal, to cut the costs, a cheaper white fish could be used.
It was very tasty. So good, that I will definitely buy it to cook again.
This kit is part of a new Restaurante range from Old El Paso, which is inspired by the delicous places to eat across Mexico.

The blurb inside the box says:
"The new Restaurante range is designed to bring the quality cuisine and vibrant experience of Mexico's restaurants simply to your dinner table".
I haven't visited Mexico in real life, and this kit allows me to travel through cuisines and cultures. Looking forward to exploring the whole range and discover new flavours.

Disclosure: I received the Baja Fish kit for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.

Beef fajitas with Old El Paso

Fajitas, who doesn't love them?! Full of flavours and textures, delicious fajitas are easy to make and messy to eat (or is it just our family? we all end up with moustache from the sauce). This Mexican classic could be prepared with a variety of ingredients. Some of them you can buy as kits, some come as separate products. Mexican food experts Old El Paso got in touch with me earlier this month, asking to try their range of separates (i.e. non-kits). They certainly know how to celebrate good food and create a Mexican fiesta at home.
Last week I received three of Old El Paso products: Seasoning Mix for tacos (garlic and paprika), Super Soft Tortillas and Squeezy Soured Cream Topping.

Beef fajitas
Ingredients:
450g beef, cut into strips
1 pack of Old El Paso seasoning mix for tacos in garlic and paprika
a squeeze of lime
3tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 sweet red pepper, cut into strips
1 avocado
gem lettuce, shredded
50g Cheddar cheese, grated

Cut the beef into strips, place in a deep bowl and mix well with the seasoning mix. Add a good squeeze of lime or lemon, and 1tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional). Chop the onions and slice the sweet pepper. Fry the beef in the deep frying pan with the olive oil. Add the onions and pepper.

Serve in warmed tortillas, with a selection of toppings, like shredded lettuce, grated Cheddar cheese, cubed avocado (or guacamole), soured cream and/or salsa. Assemble all the ingredients and enjoy the feast.

Old El Paso Seasoning mix for tacos (garlic and paprika) is a delicious seasoning mix, which is enough to make 12 tacos, or about 8 fajitas. Ingredients include spices like paprika, cumin, dehydrated onion, garlic, salt, oregano, marjoram and more. It is mild and bursting with flavours.

Old El Paso Super Soft Tortillas (flour) are perfect receptacles for any kind of filling, be it strips of chicken or ground beef, salad and cheese, guacamole and soured cream, salsa and tomatoes. They are a truly democratic food. Forget about knives and forks, roll the tortillas and tuck in with gusto.
I used it with beef cut into strips, but it will be great with the ground beef as well.
There are several recipes for beef fajitas on Old El Paso recipe page, choose which one you like best.

I love soured cream, and don't need a second invitation to add some to whatever meal I have. You see, it's my Russian genetic pool which just pulls me to add a spoonful of soured cream to a bowl of soup, salad or beef Stroganoff. And of course, it works great with the Mexican recipes as well.
Old El Paso Squeezy Soured Cream Topping comes in a handy bottle, and is lovely in fajitas.

For more information on Old El Paso products and recipes visit their site or follow OldElPasoUK on Facebook .

Disclosure: I received three Old El Paso products for the purposes of reviewing and testing a recipe. All opinions are mine.

Discovery Instagram competition

Do you love Mexican food? Then you must be familiar with the Discovery range of Mexican food. Are you one of the thousands of foodies who love snapping their kitchen creations and take photos of dishes when they go out for dinner?

Then you will love a new competition.

Discovery is launching a brand new Instagram page!  

Today is officially the first day of the Discovery Instagram competition.

What is this competition about?

"To celebrate the launch of the brand new Discovery Foods Instagram page at the beginning of July, we’re encouraging all you food fanatics to get creative in the kitchen. We’re looking for the most creative uses of Mexican food with great images to share with all our fans.

 

Simply create a delicious and beautifully presented Mexican meal using Discovery Food products and share your photo with us via the Instagram page to be in with a chance of winning one of 10 exciting prizes to the value of £25 every week for 4 weeks!"

  

To make sure Discovery find all entries, please can you include the following quote in your photo caption: 

'My #deliciousdiscovery entry for a chance to win £25 Amazon voucher with @Discoveryfoods'

Good luck! 

You can read all the T&Cs in great detail here.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Discovery

Cinco De Mayo (Fifth of May in Spanish) is a big celebration held on the 5th of May all over the USA and in some parts of Mexico. There will be fantastic feasts and colourful parades. If you fancy to have a Mexican-themed party this weekend, and are not sure where to start, Mexican Discovery kits come to the rescue. Just in time for Cinco De Mayo I received a lovely hamper of Discovery products including The Perfect Fajita Kit, salsa, fajita seasoning, soured cream and green jalapeno relish. This range from Discovery incorporates the zingy spicy flavors of Mexico, and it's fab for any meal, be it lunch or dinner. 

I have already reviewed Mexican Discovery fajita kits (see my post Quick Dinners with Discovery), which we enjoyed very much, so I was keen to try the other products from Discovery range.
I was wondering how hot the Green Jalapeno Relish would be, as I'm a wimp when it comes to the hot sauces, but it turned out to be not too hot and full of flavour. Its ingredients include tomatillos, green peppers, gherkins, jalapeno peppers, coriander and onion among a few other things.
I have also cooked a side dish of leeks and pears the other day, and added 2 tbsp of the relish to jazz it up, so you don't have to limit yourself just to the Mexican recipes while using this range, be creative and surprise your family and friends.

The Perfect Fajita Kit includes a pack of plain flour tortillas, a sachet of the seasoning and some salsa. 
You can cook the tasty fajitas in a matter of minutes. Quickly fry the pieces of chicken with a finely chopped onion and a sweet red pepper, add the Fajita seasoning and sauce from a jar and mix well (there is a packet of seasoning in the kit but I wanted to try the sauce in the jar).
Now assemble your fajita, by adding generous helpings of the green jalapeno relish and the soured cream.
The tortillas are soft and taste lovely. 
I wasn't very enthusiastic the last time when talking about the soured cream, and though I still prefer the fresh soured cream, the new Garlic and herb flavoured soured cream is an improvement on the plain variety.
Salsa is made with tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, coriander and lime juice, and could be a nice alternative to tomato ketchup, or added to stews and wrapped sandwiches.

Have a feast!
For more information on Discovery range and recipe suggestions please visit the Discovery website.

P.S. I received the Discovery products above for the purposes of reviewing, all opinions are mine.

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What to do if you have some leftovers like Discovery soured cream and Green Jalapeno relish?
Here are a couple of suggestions for you.

For a side dish of courgettes, leeks and pear
you will need:
2 courgettes
2 leeks
1 pear
2 tbsp green jalapeno sauce
olive oil
salt, pepper
Slice the courgettes, pear and leeks and fry in the pan with the olive oil. Season well. Add the green jalapeno sauce. Stir regularly, add a bit of water and cover the frying pan with the lid to speed up the cooking.
Serve as a side dish to any roast meat or the toad in the hole.

Chicken with soured cream and jalapeno relish
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
olive oil
salt
3tbsp Discovery soured cream
3tbsp Discovery Green Jalapeno relish

I used the chicken breast on the bone, but you can use just single deboned breasts. Roast the chicken in the oven at 180C. Spray with the olive oil before roasting and season with salt.
Cook for about half an hour.
Mix the soured cream with the green jalapeno relish and spread over the chicken liberally. Roast for another 10 minutes.
Serve with the roast tomatoes and wholegrain basmati rice (I love the Tilda wholegrain rice for its nutty taste).