Mad Mex

08/02 MAD MEX

There is a hunger that strikes hard late afternoon. A hunger which cannot be satisfied with a mere meal, only tamed by a desparate rampage through the fridge. This dystopian scavenge drove me to create a grilled Mexican jumble, which is an excellent way of faking a plan where there was nothing but a lone tortilla lying in the fridge. All the ingredients here were the last bastions of their kind; the three mushrooms fated to be together for all time, the crippled capsicum and the last surviving egg.

All the ingredients were grilled simultaneously between a griddle, a frypan and in a oven grill. A feat of juggling that Cirque du Soliel fear to stage. Arranged together in a post-apocolyptic jumble on a so-hipster board and downed with an iced cider. Either the heat of the sun, the spice from the food or the stress of grilling in heat triggered darwinian survival instincts. This Mad Mex meal is fuel for the melting road ahead.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1 Egg
1/2 Capsicum
1/2 Avocado
1/2 Tortilla Wrap
3 Mushrooms
10g Parmesan
Chilli Powder
Salt + Pepper

What I did - 

Time to get the circus up and running. Pans at the ready. The main fact is that most of these ingredients don't need cooking, they just need resuscitating. The three cooking heats here are fun to juggle, can all be used or singularly if its all thats at hand. Its all about sending heat into the soul of the ingredients.

In the Grill: Heat as high as possible, start to grill the mushrooms with their round cloudy heads up. When they start to darken, before they get a burnt toupee, turn them over and blanket with grated parmesan and grill again until blackening. The juices will pool in the mushroom, and are blisteringly hot which will keep the cheese molten.

On the Griddle: Preheat the iron griddle for a few minutes so that its scalding. Cut the capsicum into large pieces, and then use a rolling pin (or heavy can) to bash them flat - This makes sure they grill evenly and release all their sweet juices. Then place them on the griddle carefully to avoid any hot splatter that they spurt. Scorch for about five minutes a side until burnt black lines appear. before you turn the first side, throw the tortilla onto the other side of the pan and toast until the pasty white becomes a lined tanned bronze - think Donatella.

Out of the frypan: Small drizzle of oil, crack the egg over and turn the heat on. Don't stress about this part, its just frying an egg. Even if it cracks just clean it up onto a place with a spatula. There's something satisfying about such a hot mess.

Arrange all the scorched pieces on a plate (or wooden plank to impress). Spoon out some pale green curls of avocado on one side and let a sandstorm of salt, pepper and chilli attack the plate. Eat in the sun while trying not to sweat. Then open a cider because its all about survival.

JG