Wednesday Night Supper Club: Mexican Fiesta

Credit: Catherine Roscoe Barr

Our Mexican feast included stuffed jalapenos, chipotle shrimp and beef tacos

Every week I participate in a fabulous gathering of wonderful women and food. Last week our Ladies’ Supper Club went with a Mexican theme and prepared an incredible feast worth its weight in Aztec gold

On the menu: stuffed jalapeno peppers and pan-fried shrimp in chipotle sauce for appetizers, and tacos with beef and chorizo filling (and, of course, all the trimmings) for the main.

I based the recipe for stuffed jalapenos on one from the Canadian Living Cooks cookbook and I made up the shrimp recipe based on a dish called Camarones A la diabla that I had at an amazing restaurant in Toronto, called Mariachi’s.

My lovely friends made everything else, including the meat filling, and I wasn’t paying attention but I’ll tell you what I think they did (and I make my own meat filling fairly often so, don’t worry, I am a credible source).

Ingredients

Stuffed Jalapenos

• 10 jalapeno peppers, halved and seeded
• 1/3 brick cream cheese
• 1/3 cup salsa
• 1/3 cup grated cheese
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Chipotle Shrimp

• 2 dozen raw shrimp
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Beef and Chorizo Taco Filling

• 500g ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 4 chorizo sausages, cut into 1/2 inch medallions
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Instructions

Stuffed Jalapenos

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Combine cream cheese, salsa, cheese and bread crumbs in a medium bowl, stirring well to combine.
3. Generously stuff jalapeno halves with filling.
4. Cook until topping is brown and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Chipotle Shrimp

1. In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute.
3. Add shrimp and cook until they start to turn pink.
4. Add sauce from chipotle peppers (reserving the peppers themselves*) and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Beef and Chorizo Taco Filling

1. In a large frying pan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink.
2. Add taco seasoning and stir to combine.
3. In a separate large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.
4. Add sausages and cook until they begin to brown
5. Combine beef and sausage in a large serving bowl

* freeze the leftover chipotle peppers so you can use them in my Off-the-charts Black Bean Chili recipe – the best chili on planet earth (if I do say so myself)!