Chef Ariel Fox cooks healthy latin-inspired dishes for her family and friends

In this episode of ITK Eats: Dinner Party, chef and cookbook author Ariel Fox (@chefarielfox) hosts an epic dinner party for her family and friends featuring her signature healthy Latin-inspired dishes. From the food to the drinks to the decor, the Spice Kitchen author clearly knows how to get the party going! 

Fox decides to kick off her meal with ceviche rojo, using fresh yellowfin tuna and homemade aguachile, which is made from blended cucumber, serrano chili, prickly pears, coconut water, grapefruit juice and lime juice. “Ceviches are one of my favorite things,” says Fox. “To me, it just goes hand-in-hand with sitting on a beach somewhere.” Fox’s next starter is a Mayan hummus, which is made from roasted pumpkin seeds instead of chickpeas. 

Rounding out the appetizers is an aesthetically pleasing tropical fruit, chocolate and cheese board, which adds a colorful aesthetic to the starters, as well as Fox’s signature esquites, the chef’s fresh take on Mexican street corn which uses a spicy cashew crema instead of the traditional aioli. In another unique twist, Fox’s esquites feature a 50/50 blend of corn and cauliflower, adding additional textures and nutrients to the dish. 

The delicious appetizers all lead to the main event—pozole, a traditional Mexican stew which Fox has prepared ahead of time, because it takes multiple hours to make. To Fox, pozole is the quintessential family meal. “Any time I’m trying to get people I care about together, [pozole] just screams to me,” says the chef.   

Accompanying the amazing spread of food is a cocktail called the “Hiatus Passion Fruit Highball,” made from Hiatus tequila blanco and passion fruit liqueur poured over ice and topped with tonic water. For dessert, Fox serves a healthy take on tres leches cake, which even impresses one of Fox’s friends who is a pastry chef! 
Overall, it’s clear that Fox’s innovative recipes were a hit with her guests, and the hostess did an amazing job creating an ambience in which to enjoy the food!

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