Mexican Food Made Simple

Tommi whips up a few fresh Mexican recipes to blow you away. There’s a guacamole full of fire, a Mexican chile with some surprising ingredients and a raspberry sorbet laced with tequila. Who knew pork scratchings were a huge hit in Mexico? Tommi finds some as big as bathmats and tests out the tiny British versions on some rather dubious moustachioed men. Plus she invites three armed policemen to lunch and meets a man who knows all there is to know about Mexico’s sacred spirit - mescal.

No Mexican worth their salt would ever sit down to eat without some salsa at hand, so this episode's first course is Tommi's roast tomato and chilli salsa. In Mexico City, Tommi visits a street-food stall that has been delivering the goods for over thirty years. Back in her kitchen, Tommi claims to have a recipe that will make the humble sardine sexy.

Tommi's quest to find the perfect quesadilla leads her from the ancient pyramids of Monte Alban to the mountain town of Santo Tomás Jalieza, where three generations of women have been following the same recipe since they were girls. Then, back at home in her kitchen, Tommi shows us her simple twists on the classic: a quesadilla with chorizo and good old-fashioned spud. After discovering why Mexicans take breakfast so seriously, Tommi makes her own spicy fried egg with hot chilli-tomato sauce, before later heading to a bustling market to seek inspiration for a punchy, tequila-laced dessert.

In search of the ideal spectator snack - a big meaty sandwich called a torta - Thomasina gets a ringside seat to Mexico's favourite sport, Luche Libre. Here the masked wrestlers leap on top of each other, catapulting from the ropes. Back home in her kitchen, Thomasina shows us how to make a torta packed with chorizo, avocado and refried beans. Plus there's a recipe for a pretty poached plum dessert with rose petal syrup.

Not a lot of people know that empanadas originally came from Cornwall, inspired by the humble pasty - a favourite dish of the tin miners who came to work in Mexico in the 19th century. Thomasina's hunt for the best empanadas in the country takes her to the Oaxacan valleys and a small village called Ocotlan, where a lady called Carmelita whips them up in her backyard. Plus Tommi shares the recipe for her all-time favourite spicy crab noodles, and an exotic and zesty passion-fruit jelly.

You may think of prawn cocktail as a kitch '70s dish, but in Mexico it is half Bloody Mary and half seafood starter. Tommi whips up her version, complete with a generous helping of tequila; and possibly the most delicious dessert in the world, churros - crisp, warm doughnuts dipped in a rich, melting chocolate sauce. Plus, having visited the main meat market in Oaxaca, Tommi is inspired to create a hot chorizo and squash salad, before trying to pick up a partner at the Danzon, a weekly street dance in Mexico City where the locals strut their stuff in their best ballroom outfits.

Chocolate originally came from Mexico and was so valuable it was used as currency. Once only nobility could afford it; now Mexicans use it in so many different ways. Thomasina Miers takes a trip to the tiny town of Teotitlan del Valle, where a local girl shows her how to make rich and aromatic hot chocolate the traditional way. Then she heads to cosmopolitan Mexico City to find out how the capital's hottest mixologist uses chocolate to make a mean martini. Back in her kitchen, Tommi creates her own chocolate recipe, deliciously indulgent chilli chocolate truffles. Also on the menu are a warm corn and chilli salad, and tacos filled with spicy chicken tinga.

Passionate about Mexico’s celebrated street food, Thomasina Miers concludes her culinary quest around Mexico City and Oaxaca as she combs their fabulous markets for recipe inspiration. Tommi takes a ride along the scenic canals of Mexico City in a boat that’s more of a floating dining room - there’s even a barbeque on board - and pokes around the kitchen of Mexico’s most famous artist, sea bass coconut ceviche and caramelised bananas flambeed in tequila.. At home in her kitchen, Tommi dishes up some tasty black bean tostadas, sea bass coconut ceviche and caramelised bananas flambeed in tequila.