Roasted red tomato and chilli salsa

Ebullient English chef, restaurateur and television presenter Rick Stein takes us on a food and travel journey from San Francisco right down to the tip of Mexico and shares recipes from a vibrant and colourful cuisine.

Char-grilled beef tacos with spring onions & guacamole

There is an avenue in Oaxaca with stalls displaying sheets of thin, lightly salted beef. At other stalls you buy the corn tortillas, guacamole, spring onions, coriander and salsa, and sit at long Formica-topped tables with a pile of tortillas to make combinations of the beef. This recipe is based on that experience.

SERVES 8

900g rump of beef, very thinly sliced by your butcher into about 12 slices salt

30 whole spring onions olive or corn oil, for brushing

16-24 x 15cm corn tortillas guacamole (see recipe, right) roasted red tomato and chilli salsa (see recipe, far right) lime wedges, to serve

1 Lightly sprinkle beef with ¼ teaspoon of salt and set aside for about 10 minutes.

2 Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until it’s smoking hot. Brush the onions and beef lightly with oil.

3 Griddle the onions for 2–3 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate; keep warm. Griddle a few of the beef slices for about 20 seconds per side, then slice into strips.

4 Warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan, in a microwave or in the oven. Serve with the beef, Guacamole, Salsa and lime wedges. Continue to cook the remaining slices of beef while your guests start eating.

Guacamole

This recipe was given to me by Diana Kennedy, the revered English cookery writer on all things Mexican, when I visited her in Michoacán about 17 years ago. It’s a really good one and I always remember her saying, “You must leave the mixture a bit lumpy.”

SERVES 4

1 jalapeño or serrano green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

½ small white onion, finely chopped

¼ tsp salt

1 large ripe avocado, or 2 small, stoned and peeled juice of ½–1 lime

1 small handful coriander, chopped

1 Pound the chopped chilli in a pestle and mortar with the onion and salt. When they’re broken down to a lumpy paste, add the avocado and break up the flesh roughly with a fork.

2 Stir in the lime juice to taste and the chopped coriander.

Roasted red tomato & chilli salsa

SERVES 8-10 4 ripe plum tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, skin on

1 whole red jalapeño or serrano chilli

¼ tsp salt

1 small onion, finely chopped juice of ½–1 lime (to taste) small handful of coriander, freshly chopped

1 Heat a dry heavy-based frying pan until hot. Add the tomatoes, garlic and chilli, and roast them until they’re softened and have brown patches all over them. Remove the garlic and chilli first. You can roast all the ingredients in a 200°C/ fan 180°C oven for 15–20 minutes, but the frying pan method is more authentic.

2 Roughly chop the tomatoes when they’re cool enough to handle. Peel the garlic and put it in a mortar and pestle with the chilli (stem removed). Bash to break them up, then add the tomatoes and salt, and continue bashing until you have a thick pulpy sauce. Alternatively, you can pulse everything in a blender to this point.

3 Stir in the chopped onion, lime juice to taste and the chopped coriander.