Rick Stein is a huge Mexican food fan so his latest book is dedicated to the popular cuisine.
The Road to Mexico follows the British celebrity chef as he retraces his steps from a trip to California and Mexico in 1968.
Back then, the food was a revelation.
''My memory is of the sourness of lime, the freshness and head of the salad and the red salsa, a comforting mouthful of salty, spicy pork and the warm alkaline smell and taste of corn tortillas.
''I had never tasted anything so vivid, so demanding so exciting. It's no exaggeration to say that this meal changed my life.''
So this year he started his journey in San Francisco and Baja California and worked his way down to the southernmost tip of Mexico, eating, drinking and experiencing Mexican food.
''I am besotted with the food.''
Ensenada fish tacos with chilli and coriander
For many years the beaches on the north coast of Cornwall were patrolled by Australian lifeguards, originally because they had the surf life-saving skills that were unfamiliar to the locals.
For me, this meant many summers of friendship with pleasant Australians, all of whom seemed to be sunny and optimistic. Well, you would be, wouldn't you, with a summer in Cornwall and lots of locals finding you irresistible?
One such lifeguard was Rudi, who used to return year after year. Everyone was extremely fond of him - so much so that we filmed a little 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 by the lifeguard hut, and Rudi took Chalky, my Jack Russell, out for a little surfing lesson.
Sadly, when back in Australia five years later, Rudi died of cancer and I always thought that one day I'd get to Ensenada and find the tacos.
Serves 6
Ingredients
12 15cm corn tortillas
600g cod fillet
100g plain flour, seasoned with pinch of salt and 6 turns black peppermill
1 litre corn or vegetable oil
For the batter
200g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
275ml ice-cold beer
For the toppings
¼ small white cabbage, finely shredded
1 avocado, stoned, peeled and diced
Pico de gallo salsa
hot chilli sauce, such as Cholula or Huichol
For the chipotle crema
2 chipotles en adobo
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 Tbsp soured cream
Juice of ½ lime
Method
Warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan, in a microwave or in the oven. Get your toppings - shredded cabbage, diced avocado, pico de gallo salsa, and hot chilli sauce ready. Mix the ingredients for the crema and set aside.
To make the batter, sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a roomy bowl. Using a balloon whisk, incorporate the beer until you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
Cut the fish into fingers about 1cm thick. Heat the oil in a large pan to 190degC. Dip a few pieces of fish into the seasoned flour, shake off the excess, then dip them into the batter. Fry for 2-2½ minutes until crisp and golden.
Repeat until you've cooked all the fish, draining each batch briefly on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
Sprinkle lightly with salt.
Serve immediately in warm tortillas, with the toppings on the table for guests to help themselves.
Rhubarb galette chez panisse
Going to Chez Panisse was inevitably a high point of California for me. Alice Waters at Chez Panisse has for years been my ideal - she runs a small local restaurant serving what's fresh from the market and with a menu that changes every day - and meeting her only reinforced that. I've chosen the rhubarb galette from the many dishes I tasted.
The restaurant's pastry section is the sort of place you'd love your teenager to work, surrounded by Californian citrus fruit, baskets of rose petals and the new season's rhubarb. Would that every youngster aspiring to become a chef could join such a kitchen.
I did ask Alice if my stepdaughter Olivia could do a stage there. And she said yes.
Serves 8
Ingredients
225g plain flour
pinch salt
170g cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes
80ml ice-cold water
For the filling
500g rhubarb, cut into 6cm long batons (save any trimmings)
finely grated zest of an orange
200g granulated sugar
pinch salt
juice ½ orange
1 Tbsp muscat dessert wine
30g unsalted butter, melted
30g caster sugar
2 Tbsp sugar, for the glaze
To serve
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Method
In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt. Add the butter and process briefly. Sprinkle over the ice-cold water and pulse for about 5 seconds, until just moistened.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead it 2 or 3 times until it comes together. Pat the dough into a disc. Lay a sheet of baking parchment on your work surface and dust it with flour. Roll out the dough like a pizza to make a 35cm circle, 4-5mm thick. Transfer the parchment to a baking sheet and chill the pastry.
Heat the oven to 220degC/Fan 200degC. Toss the rhubarb in a bowl with the orange zest, sugar, salt, juice and wine and mix well. Arrange the rhubarb on top of the pastry and sprinkle over any remaining sugary mixture.
Leave a border of 5-6cm around the edge of the pastry, fold that in and crimp to form a border. Brush the fruit with melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar, then repeat this process three times.
Bake the galette for 10-12 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 200degC/Fan 180degC and bake for a further 30-35 minutes.
To make the glaze, cook the rhubarb trimmings with 75ml of water until soft. Strain the liquid from the pulp and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Pour this back into the pan and let the sugar dissolve, then reduce to a thick syrup.
Leave the galette to cool, then brush it with the glaze.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Kuku sabzi Persian frittata
Samin Nosrat lives in San Francisco and trained at Chez Panisse. She is, I suspect, about to become very well known in the UK with her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. While waiting to film her making this dish, I picked up a copy of the book and was instantly captivated because it's about learning to cook instinctively.
So often when someone says they can't cook you feel like telling them, just trust your taste. A lot of people simply don't taste as they cook, which would be anathema to Samin.
This wonderful Persian frittata says it all.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
400g green chard
300g spinach
1 large leek, trimmed
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 bulbs spring ''wet'' garlic, or 1 large clove of garlic, sliced
20g mint, chopped
20g basil, chopped
100g coriander leaves and stems, chopped
9 eggs
1½ tsp salt
12 turns black peppermill
45g unsalted butter
For the side salad
1 cucumber, finely sliced
200g radishes, trimmed and finely sliced
15g mint, roughly chopped
15g basil, roughly chopped
120g feta cheese, crumbled
For the dressing
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 bulbs spring ''wet'' garlic, or 1 large clove garlic, sliced
¼ tsp salt
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ Tbsp lemon juice
Method
Wash the chard, strip out the stems and chop them, then roughly chop the leaves. Wash the spinach, then roughly chop the leaves. Cut the leek into quarters lengthwise and then into 1cm slices. Wash the slices well.
Heat 4 Tbsp of the oil in a frying pan. Add the chard stems, leeks and whichever garlic you're using and sweat gently for 15-20 minutes until soft. Set aside.
Put the spinach and chard leaves in a separate pan with the water that clings to them after washing and wilt for 3-5 minutes until soft.
Drain them in a colander and when cool enough to handle squeeze them into a ball, chop and set aside in a large bowl. Add the chopped herbs, then the sweated leeks and garlic.
Break the eggs into the bowl, mix well and season with salt and black pepper. Heat the oven to 175degC/Fan 155degC.
Add the remaining oil and the butter to a 25-30cm ovenproof non-stick frying pan or a casserole dish. Pour in the egg mixture and cook it over a very low heat for about 10 minutes until set.
Use a spatula to check the bottom is golden brown. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the top is cooked and firm.
Place a baking sheet on top of the pan, then flip the frittata upside down and slide it on to a plate. Serve it warm, at room temperature or cold with the salad.
For the salad, mix the cucumber, radishes and herbs in a bowl, then sprinkle with the feta. Crush the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar, then mix in the spring garlic or garlic clove and the salt. Add the oil and lemon juice and toss well.
