Join twowildtides on the country challenge. Each week, we’re going to be heading to a new country (in spirit). Primarily, we’ll be cooking a meal from each country; but we’ll also be watching travel documentaries, reading travel blogs, and listening to music. During the global pandemic, travel is largely inaccessible. We want to reignite our wanderlust, satisfy our travel bug as much as we can, and learn some new things along the way. I have a feeling our bucket list will have a number of items added to it through this experience as well. We created a simple alphabetical spreadsheet with all the countries of the world, and each week we will draw a random number that corresponds with a country on the spreadsheet.
Today marks one year of the country challenge!
And what better way to celebrate than by taking the challenge to one of my favourite countries? That’s right, we’re bringing Mexico to the kitchen tonight. I’ve been to Mexico three times and can’t wait to go again when the pandemic ends. Check out this post about why you’ll want to visit Mexico too:
Mexico is a massive country geographically and each region is diverse. To pick one dish that represents the whole country is nearly impossible, especially from an outsider’s perspective. So, I asked a friend and former colleague from Mexico, who has been living back in Mexico, and who just happens to be a chef, his opinion on what we should make this week. His suggestion: enchiladas– and he was kind enough to share his recipe.
I love having a drink going while I cook, so of course, I started the evening with some margaritas. I also whipped up some easy fresh guacamole to snack on as a little appetizer. Chips and guac come with just about every meal in Mexico and I could honestly eat it every day. My guac recipe is simple: one avocado, half an onion finely chopped, half a tomato seeded and finely chopped, half a jalapeno finely chopped, a few sprigs of cilantro finely chopped, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mash it all together and serve it with tortilla chips.
I won’t share my friend’s enchilada recipe. But I will tell you that it contained tomatillos, which I had never tasted before. They are delicious and so refreshing– it was so unexpected and it may sound strange but they are like apple/tomato/onion hybrids.
The enchiladas were fairly easy to make and so yummy. We were eating these leftovers for days and certainly not mad about it! The sauce was tangy and hot, yet still fresh and satisfying. They were also really filling. We’d absolutely make enchiladas again and I am keeping the sauce recipe handy for our next taco night too. Mexican night was a grand success.
Let us know what you think!