This week I’m continuing my global travels, cooking recipes that are considered classics in their native lands, and which I’ve never had a crack at myself.

So pop the Factor 30 in the overnight case because we’re heading to Mexico.

The cuisine of Mexico is rich and varied, not just the ‘tortillas, rice and beans’ cooking that’s been exported around the world. Chili Con Carne isn’t even Mexican, for a start; it originated in Texas!

Look behind the tortilla curtain and there’s a colourful cornucopia of dishes. Fiery tomato salsas, the freshest fish ceviches, popping with fresh lime juice. There’s machaca, a spicy shredded beef dish that’s like the best potted meat you ever tasted.

Whole bellies of pork are stripped of their fat, which is steamed then fried into huge sheets of crispy crackling. On the east coast they serve huachinango, snapper baked with olives, capers and peppers, a dish that can be traced back to the first Spanish conquistadors.

From the hundreds of dazzling street-food dishes (known as antojitos) to the huge family feasts where goats or lambs are roasted slowly to melting succulence, there’s a whole lot more to the food of Mexico than meets the eye. I am indebted to the incredible chef Alex Stupak for this recipe. I first heard about him when he was the pastry chef at Chicago’s Alinea, one of the best restaurants in the world. He pioneered a lot of the modern pastry techniques like liquid gels and ice-cream you could flambé, that sort of thing.

So it was a great surprise to the culinary community when he next appeared in New York, opening up a modern Mexican restaurant, called Empellón.

The story goes that he walked to work through a Mexican neighbourhood, and became obsessed with the colours and flavours, so he taught himself the basics, undertook some pretty serious research across Mexico, and went from there. Now his food is held up as some of the finest Mexican cooking on Earth; they get through a staggering (and wrist-throbbing) 250 avocados a day just for the amount of guacamole they make.

His latest book, ‘Tacos’ is an incredible tome, full of vibrant, tempting takes on the classics, where he uses the humble flour tortilla as a canvas upon which to paint beautiful, eye-catching works of edible art. I recommend it highly.

Fish tacos - another Mexican classic

Here is my slightly edited version of his mole poblano sauce, served here with baked chicken. Mole is one of the classic Mexican sauces, originating, it’s thought, in Puebla. The tale goes that a travelling archbishop happened upon a humble little convent, and the poor nuns, rather taken aback at this impromptu drop-in, had almost nothing to offer him. A cockerel was swiftly dispatched, and a desperate cook made up a sauce using the ingredients she had to hand.

She made a sort of gravy from chilis, bread, ground nuts and tomatoes, finishing with a little dark chocolate, a throwback to the Aztecs, for whom cocoa was always used as a savoury ingredient, long before someone decided to sweeten it (though thank the stars someone did!)

The archbishop was delighted with his chicken, and asked about the sauce. The nun replied that she just made a ‘mole’, meaning ‘mixture’, and from there the reputation spread, with endless refinements along the way. Now, it’s as ubiquitous as gravy is in Great Britain, a lovely rich, soul-satisfying sauce that can be spooned over anything from poultry to fish, red meat or seafood.

It’s also a great vegetarian option (if one omits the lard) for serving with grilled or roasted squashes. It looks like a hugely daunting recipe, but it’s pretty easy once you get going, and freezes very well. I have small portions in the freezer, ready to warm up and spoon over almost anything I can think of when I fancy a little trip to spicy Central America.

FOR THE MOLE POBLANO:

1 onion

10 cloves garlic

200g tinned plum tomatoes

250g dried ancho chilis, seeded

55g dried pasilla chilis, seeded

2 tablespoons lard, diced

25g ground almonds

25g toasted hazelnuts

25g pecan nuts

50g raisins

80g brioche, cut into cubes

1 tortilla / wrap

A pinch of ground cloves

½ tablespoon freshly-ground black pepper

50g toasted sesame seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

½ tsp ground cinnamon

25g bitter chocolate

Maldon salt, to taste

Sugar, to taste

Sunflower oil

FOR THE CHICKEN:

4 thighs and 4 legs of corn-fed chicken

4 limes

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

EXTRAS:

Long-grain rice

Fresh flour tortillas

Fresh coriander

METHOD:

First, the mole; pre-heat the oven to 190°C / Gas 5. Peel, then cut the onion into thin wedges and toss with the garlic in a tablespoon of sunflower oil, and tip into a high-sided baking tray. Roast in the oven, tossing occasionally for about 40 minutes, until nicely caramelised and browned all over.

Add the tomatoes and bake for a further 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Set to one side. In a dry frying pan toast the seeded dried chilis for a few minutes and transfer to a bowl. Cover with warm water and allow to soak for about an hour, until soft. Toast the brioche in the oven until golden.

Toast the tortilla until deeply golden, and shred into the brioche. Remove the chilis from the water, squeeze dry and place in a blender with enough of the soaking water to make a smooth paste, then tip into a clean saucepan.

Whizz the roasted onion and tomato mixture, and add this to the pan. Set to simmer very gently.

Add a little of the lard to the frying pan and, in separate batches, fry the nuts followed by the raisins, getting good colour each time. When cooked, spoon into the saucepan. Add the remaining lard and gently sizzle the sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, black pepper, fennel seeds and cinnamon, then tip the whole panful into the simmering chilis.

Whizz the brioche and toasted tortillas to fine crumbs, and add to the pan. Cook the whole lot down to a thick paste. Add the chocolate, season to taste with salt and sugar and simmer gently for another 10 minutes, adding water if necessary.

Give the whole lot a final whizz in the blender and set aside. Place the chicken on a baking tray, and drizzle with olive oil and lime juice.

Season and roast until cooked through, nicely golden and crispy. Serve over fluffy rice, with plenty of mole, along with tortillas and some fresh coriander.