Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.7

Rick Stein’s journey begins to draw to a close as he heads east from Oaxaca to the Yucatan Peninsula – a place once frequented by real pirates of the Caribbean, including our own Sir Francis Drake. Here, where the Europeans first landed over five hundred years ago, the local folk have lighter skins and bluey-green eyes.

They feast on the hottest chilli of them all, the habanero, and give slow food a new meaning as they bury and cook their Pibil dishes below ground on hot rocks. This was the playground of the ancient Mayans, their pyramids gleaming like gold above tree-lined canopies and where dishes like Papadzules and Sikil Pak are still enjoyed in small villages across the countryside.

Rick ends his journey feasting on grilled seafood in Tulum along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

 1. Sardines in tortillas with spicy tomato sauce and refried beans

Sardines in tortillas with spicy tomato sauce and refried beans

Pan de cazon, literally translated as bread with dogfish, is a dish popular in Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico in Yucatan. I had it a few times and liked it but I was surprised to find that the dogfish tasted more like tinned sardines. So I tried making this with a couple of tins of sardines and it was really lovely. I can’t say too often how much I love the way the Mexicans combine something crisp with a sauce, so you get a satisfying textural complexity.

 2. Deep-fried coconut prawns

Deep-fried coconut prawns

If you have been anywhere by the sea in the Yucatan peninsula you will have had these deep-fried king prawns with a coconut batter. Curiously to me, they often come with an apple sauce, but less frequently they’re served with a papaya and habanero dipping sauce, which I like. The other problem is the batter is often too sweet, so this is my version with no sugar.

Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.6

For Mexicans, their most revered dishes come from the south and their Mecca is undeniably Oaxaca, where locals still dress in traditional costume, bringing to life the enduring descriptions of writers like D H Lawrence, who fell in love with the area.

This is the land that coined the phrase ‘people of the corn’, the former site of the desert empire of the Zapotecs, and the home of Mexico’s national cheese queso oaxacana. Totally off the beaten track and across the Chinantla Mountains, the muggy breezes of the Mexican Gulf transform eastern Oaxaca from desert to a tropical paradise.

Rick delights in exploring this hidden land where you can smell the tropical fruit from roadside stalls long before they come into sight, where vanilla still grows wild and cacao orchards are harvested to make superb chocolate.

 1. Chilli chocolate truffles (Trufas de chocolate y chile pasilla)

Chilli chocolate truffles

These are addictive. Pasilla chillies are dried and have a gorgeous fruitiness about them, so this combination of chocolate, a hint of fruit and not too hot chilli makes for a great treat. The recipe calls for the truffles to be dipped in batter and fried just long enough to make them crisp on the outside but still slightly gooey inside. Alternatively, if you just refrigerate them and don’t add the batter, you have petits fours to go with coffee.

 2. Hot red chilli sauce

Hot red chilli sauce

Some like it hot and some like it hotter! This is a very hot sauce and good for splashing over anything from chilaquiles to chips.

Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.5

Rick heads to the capital – a melting pot that encapsulates a country that, despite its narrow stature, crosses three time zones. For that simple reason, locals casually refer to the city as ‘Mexico’, and not much has changed to the food that fed the former seat of the Aztec Empire.

Scenes captured by Diego Rivera in his murals still come alive in the city’s bustling markets, and working men’s taverns still offer pulque, the alco-pop of the ancients. But the most precious Aztec legacy are the chinampas – floating vegetable gardens found in the criss-crossing intersections of canals to the south of the city. They are an inspiration to the city’s top chefs, including Eduardo Garcia, endearingly known as chef Lalo.

Heading south from the capital, Rick travels to the city of Puebla, which conjures up images of Cortez and the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It is a city with impressive European architecture, talavera pottery and the home of mole, Mexico’s most famous meat stew.

Finally, Rick travels to the deserts of Oaxaca, where mezcal, one of the country’s most iconic drinks, is produced.

1. Chicken mole poblano

Chicken mole poblano

I have always had a problem with mole poblano, chilli and chocolate sauce, since I first tasted it in Mexico about 15 years ago and find it is often too sweet for my taste. Yet, I’m not unfamiliar with using chocolate in cooking, and a little in a rich red wine sauce works wonders. What I do like about mole poblano is the mixture of two dried chillies, mulato and pasilla, which gives the sauce a dark roasted fruitiness with just a hint of heat.

2. Tortilla soup with chipotle chilli, tomato and avocado (Sopa Azteca)

Tortilla soup with chipotle chilli, tomato and avocado (Sopa Azteca)

In Mexico, as with so many other dishes, soup is all about the bits that you add – in this case, avocado, chilli flakes, coriander and often a lick of soured cream. This dish is often made with pasilla chillies, but I like it with chipotles. I’ve also had sopa Azteca with extra shredded meat from a cooked chicken and even crisp pieces of chicken or pork skin.

3. Fried tortilla chips in green salsa with fried eggs and crumbled cheese (chilaquiles)

Fried tortilla chips in green salsa with fried eggs and crumbled cheese (chilaquiles)

I doubt whether you would ever find a breakfast buffet in Mexico that didn’t contain chilaquiles. They’re a perfect way of using up stale tortillas, which are cut into triangles, then fried or baked and known as totopos. Basic chilaquiles are then simmered with either salsa verde or salsa roja until they start to soften. This recipe is for the green-sauce version, with a fried egg, some crumbled cheese and a little soured cream and chopped coriander.

Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.4

Leaving the Baja Peninsula, Rick explores the western mainland. He lands in the town that placed tequila – and probably Mexico – on the world map and the metropolis that gave us mariachis and dishes like carne con chile; a city so loved by its people that they insist on repeating its name twice – Guadalajara Guadalajara.

But Rick is no stranger to Mexico, and for family holidays he often flies to the tropical beaches of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Nothing matches the view from these picture postcard beaches as waiters create theatre with the famous Mexican flaming coffee, its flames blending with the evening sky as the sun sets over the Pacific. Being a hopeless romantic, Rick can’t resist a visit to Casa Kimberly, bought by Richard Burton for Elizabeth Taylor, where they still serve her favourite cocktail – a chocolate martini – as well as Mexico’s favourite celebratory dish, chiles en nogada.

In Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.4:

 1. Carne con chile

Carne con chile

The classic ‘chilli con carne’ made with beans and minced beef is more of a Tex-Mex recipe. In Mexico, home cooks make carne con chilli for their families, using cubed beef or pork in a rich chilli sauce with or without tomatoes, with beans and or rice on the side. Serve this version with corn tortillas and any number of your favourite toppings. Carne con chile, commonly known in American English as simply “chili”, is a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat, and often tomatoes and beans.

 2. Buñuelos with spiced guava syrup

Buñuelos with spiced guava syrup

You will find them in many different forms all over Spain and Latin America and traditionally the flat ones were shaped over your knee. These days they arrive at the stands ready-fried. When you order, they’re crushed into a bowl and hot cinnamon and guava-flavoured syrup is poured over the top of buñuelos .

Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.3

Rick enjoys a hearty steak and eggs American diner special and bids a fond farewell to his trusty Ford Mustang as he heads across what is reputed to be the busiest border crossing in the world – San Diego to Tijuana – to begin his Mexican adventures.

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He follows the Pacific coastline down to Ensenada, sampling flour tortilla burritos and fresh fish landed, marinated and cooked on Popotla Beach, before visiting the Valle de Guadalupe – Mexico’s best-kept secret for fabulous wines and the jewel in its culinary crown for Baja Med cuisine.

 1. Fish tacos ‘Ensenada’ (Tacos de Pescado Ensenada)

Fish tacos ‘Ensenada’

For many years the beaches on the north coast of Cornwall were patrolled by Australian lifeguards. One was Rudy, who used to return year after year so we filmed a sequence about a trip he’d made to Ensenada on the Baja California coast, where they made fabulous fish tacos. We cooked some on the beach in Cornwall and I always thought one day I’d get to Ensenada, find the tacos and stand on the beach with that memory.

 2. Baked crab ‘poblano’ with achiote

This dish comes from a great restaurant in Valle de Guadalupe. It was one of those occasions when I had no expectations of any great food until I tried this crab dish, scented with achiote and pasilla chilli. I should have asked for the recipe, but we had to leave for more filming so this is my interpretation.

 3. Chicken burritos with pico de gallo

Chicken burritos with pico de gallo

As much as I bang on about the wonderfulness of corn tortillas, flour ones do have their place. They are much better for bigger fillings like this one, and the gluten content in the flour makes for a proper wrap.

Watch Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico ep.2