Gran Luchito Supper Club at Casa Morita

Supper Clubs have been around for a little while now in the UK, but I had still yet to visit one. That is until I received an invite to sample the Gran Luchito Mexican chilli paste at Casa Morita. Casa Morita is a lovely authentic Mexican restaurant in Brixton’s Market Row, owned by husband and wife team, Carlos and Sarah. The place is cosy and rustically cool.

There are six of us dining, one of which is Gran Luchito’s owner Fergus and also his marketing assistant, Maria. It’s a bit of an overkill to have two representatives for such a small group, but both are charming and charismatic. There’s no mistaking that the night is all about getting to know this bad boy of a product, Gran Luchito.

Supper Club guests

The chilli paste is made using rare Mexican chillies that include the smoked chilli, Pasilla Oaxaca. We try a small bit on fresh beetroot and tacos, and Boom! – it certainly packs a punch, but doesn’t knock you out. Think of it like a blow to the ribs rather than a full-on upper cut. Yes there’s heat, but lots of flavour too. The smokiness from the chillies really comes through and the agave nectar that’s also in it gives it a lovely sweet note. Its consistency is more jam-like and not really a paste at all – it’s rich in colour, rich in heat and rich in taste.

chorizo quesadilla

The menu for the evening is specially designed for the Supper Club to show off Gran Luchito uses. I have a chorizo quesadilla to start. The chorizo is finely chopped with melted cheese on top. It’s spicy enough on its own, but then there is the nice hint of smoke from the chilli paste. For main I have the prawns with Mexican rice. It’s a very rustic dish and the Gran Luchito is used very subtly here, which is good as it doesn’t mask the flavour of the prawns, rather compliments it instead.

Prawns with Gran Luchito

What’s not so successful is the dessert. We are supposed to have ice-cream with a Gran Luchito infused dark chocolate sauce. But there’s a little confusion in the kitchen and we end up with hot, milky, drinking chocolate with a side bowl of ice-cream instead. It didn’t work at all, the hot chocolate split leaving a film of chilli oil floating on top – not very pleasant. It’s a shame as I was quite looking forward to seeing how the chilli would work with the dark chocolate.

vanilla ice-cream with Gran Luchito hot chocolate

We’re each given a jar of Gran Luchito to take home. It goes really well with eggs and I’ve already been spicing up my breakfast with it – a great kick-start to the day. I look forward to experimenting more.

Gran Luchito retails at £4.99 and is available to buy at Casa Morita: 9 Market Row, Brixton, SW9 8L and other outlets across London, or online at
www. gran.luchito.co.uk

Food I Fancy dined as a guest. Many thanks to Gran Luchito for the invite.