' FRIJOLES NEGROS with CORNBREAD .'

Cornbread with Black Turtle beans & Smoked chipotle salsa , Mexican-style chorizo , White maize kernels , Lime , Guajillo chilli , Tomatillo salsa verde , Sour cream , Queso fresco and pea shoots.

                In the heat of the summer I always enjoy my mexican food, weather its cobs of corn charred on a hot grill plate, generous butter and smoked salt or Fajitas done on the barbecue, the pairing of mexican and summer are perfect. Cornbread was the inspiration and hero of the dish here and to this I added nine other components to accompany the beautifully sweet starch. Below I've made a list of the preparations in some kind of order and by their titles.                                                                                  
   cornbread - I made the cornbread by sifting all purpose flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl I beat eggs, milk, and melted butter and to this I gradually added the flour mix beating to form a batter. I then poured the batter into a lined loaf tin placing into a 180 deg.c. oven and bake the bread for 25 minutes before removing, de-panning and set aside to be cooled on a wire rack before being torn apart to be plated.                                                                            
  queso fresco - This is a soft curd cheese made from coagulating cows milk with white vinegar, the result is similar to ricotta but with a sharper taste and more bleached curd. To make the queso fresco I heated some cows milk in a saucepan until just before boiling point, to which I then added a little white vinegar and removed from the heat stirring to separate the curds. I then ladled the curd from the whey and strained through some cheese cloth, the cloth corners were then gathered and the curd was hung in the fridge to drain excess whey before being crumbled for plating.                                                          
  chorizo - To make this meat mix I simple placed onion, garlic, jalpeno peppers, oregano, cumin, thyme, and a little oil in a food processor blender to make a paste. To this I added pork mince and mixed to incorporate, the meat was then fried off in a hot pan before being set aside for plating.                  
  tomatillo salsa - Into a saucepan I placed tomatillos, onion, garlic, green chillies, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, salt and a little white vinegar. To this I added water and brought to the boil before reducing to a simmer and cooking the tomatillos until soft about 10-15 minutes. The salsa was then poured into a blender and pureed to a green salsa verde sauce.                                                                                          
  turtle beans - These were soaked overnight before this preparation and then placed into a saucepan with a little olive oil, smoked paprika, onion and a bay leaf and sauteed before being covered with water and simmered for around 40 minutes. Once cooked they were drained and set aside to be plated.      
 smoked chipotle salsa - Using some of the cooked beans I added them and some onion, tomato, smokey dried chipotle peppers, green chillies, salt,vinegar, sugar, garlic paste, lemon juice and some smoked paprika into a saucepan with a little water bring to the simmer before removing to cool.                
 white maize - I simply cut the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife, dressing the kernels in a light coating of olive oil and lime juice I pan fried them in a hot skillet until just showing colour before I removed them from the heat and allowed them to cool for serving.                                                              
 guajillo chillies - These were simply sliced thinly, the sour cream and pea shoots were store bought.