>> Pati Narrates: Los Cabos, Mexico.

Down at the Southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, one of Mexico's most popular tourist destinations is also one of its newest cities.

But there's a unique history here that dates back centuries.

>> The pirates used to come and hide right there in the bay of Cabo San Lucas.

>> I'm following this Chef and food historian off the beaten path to find traces of that European pirate influence still alive today.

It's the same technique as pizza!

I'm taking that European influence into my kitchen too with a mouthwatering, cheesy, veggie-loaded Mexican lasagne.

Look at all those layers!

And a crispy and plump shrimp salad topped with the tastiest roasted vegetable vinaigrette.

You have to make this lasagne in your home.

You do, you do!

♪ ♪ >> I love dishes where you can get many things in one forkful, and lasagne is just perfect for that because you have different fillings, the sauce, the crispy cheese on top, you have the soft pasta, and I am making an outrageous Veggie-loaded Mexican Lasagne, and you are going to love it.

We'll make 2 different fillings, one sauce and one topping, and we won't get frazzled because I'll walk you through it!

The first thing we'll do is a salsa roja.

I'll add 2 pounds of ripe roma tomatoes.

So this is a traditional Mexican salsa roja.

Very basic, but really delicious.

2 serranos, 2 garlic cloves.

Just enough water to cover my ingredients, and I'll place it over medium-high heat, and I'll cook this until the tomatoes are really soft and mushy.

For my first filling, I'll add 2 tablespoons of butter.

My kids love lasagne, so when we're not eating tacos, my boys are asking either for pasta or lasagne, and I think they have the same cravings I do when hungry, they wanna have something that has a lot going on in the same baking dish.

I'll add 2 cups of thinly sliced leeks, 1.5 cups of thinly sliced scallions, and if you notice with these 2 ingredients, they're like mild versions of onion, and the leeks are just lovely but people don't use them that much, I love leeks.

When people think of Mexican food, they don't think much about vegetable options or grains or beans, people usually think meat, cheese, tacos, and it's true, we love meat, cheese and tacos, but we have a universe of possibilities when it comes to veggie side dishes and fillings.

I'll chop 2 garlic cloves.

Lasagne is always a crowdpleaser in my house, and I mean everywhere I go, and I think it just speaks about a lot of people coming together to eat lasagne, because lasagne is always big and meant to share, and when you make it Mexicana, it says even more things.

The next thing I'll add is half a pound of sliced mushrooms.

Mushrooms usually scream for a lot more salt than other vegetables because they're so watery and spongey, so I'm adding 1 teaspoon of salt, some freshly ground black pepper.

I want to quickly sear before they start letting out their juices.

It's very easy to just make them bland.

You have to help the mushrooms shine, and I think browning really does it, and butter definitely helps.

I have here 1 pound of baby spinach that I just blanched in hot boiling water.

You have to make sure you really strain the spinach because I don't want a soggy lasagne.

Yes, the lasagne will have fillings and sauce and it's supposed to be wet inside and crispy on top, but it has to be the right kind of sauce and moisture.

I don't want it to be soaked in spinach liquid, so I'm pressing as much as I can, and you have to press a lot with the spinach, and you can see how much liquid is still coming out.

And I'm watching my veggies here - oh, look at this!

You can see how beautiful the mushrooms are browning, mmm!

I'm going to mix here 2 eggs with 2 cups of ricotta cheese because we are going to make this spinach, mushroom, leek, scallion layer be cheesy, thick and puffy.

Then I'll add 2 cups of ricotta cheese.

We want it to cool before we add it to the ricotta and egg mixture because we don't want it to cook the egg and ricotta mixture.

Okay, now I'll continue making my tomato sauce or my salsa roja, and I have here my cooked tomatoes.

Super soft, mushy, the skin has come off, and I am dropping everything in here.

That's another thing Italians and Mexicans have in common, we just love our tomatoes and we love our tomatoes ripe, soft, juicy and sweet.

I'm also adding the garlic cloves.

So I have my 2 chiles, and I'll add 1 first.

I wanna add heat a little at a time because I want to make sure it's the amount of heat I want.

1 teaspoon of salt.

Just a slice of an onion.

(blender whirs) You know what Mexicans use this salsa roja for?

Everything!

Enchiladas, chilaquiles, tacos, quesadillas, just like this for everything!

Taquitos, carnitas, everything.

I'm gonna taste for heat.

Mmm, it's feisty and so spicy, so I won't add this other chile, I'm gonna set my saucepan over medium heat, and I'll add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

So once it's hot we'll shock the sauce, let it season and thicken.

I wanna add 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.

Because it's gonna go in the lasagne, I want it to be much thicker and intensely flavored.

Then I'll add 1 cup of vegetable broth.

Then we'll let this cook for 3 - 4 minutes, turn it off, and this is our salsa roja.

My spinach, mushroom, leek, scallion mixture has cooled.

I'll start adding my egg and ricotta mixture a little bit at a time.

Ooh, look how pretty!

As it bakes between the lasagne sheets, that egg and ricotta are gonna cook as in quiche, they're gonna make volume.

I'll add some black pepper, and another teaspoon of salt because we added a lot of cheese and eggs, and now we'll make the next layer, and the next layer is gonna have more of my favorite Mexican ingredients.

It's going to have zucchini, corn and poblano peppers.

I don't want soggy, wilted zucchini, that has no room in my lasagne, nor yours.

When I cut into the zucchini, you can see all the water that's coming out.

I mean, look at all the drops!

As I slice it, I'll add 2 tablespoons of olive oil in here because I want it to start heating.

So we'll do 2 zucchinis, and then season them with salt and pepper.

When you sear the zucchini, you are making it lock whatever moisture is gonna stay inside.

We just want them to brown quickly on one side, then the other.

They brown really nicely.

So yes, you could grab all these ingredients and blanch them, and throw them in the lasagne, but then what's the point?

You need to make sure everything you add in there is irresistible.

So let me add some more oil and butter to the pan.

So for this lasagne layer, I'll cook some onions with poblano and corn.

We'll do 1.5 white onions.

It may seem like a lot of onion to you, but it's not because it's gonna wilt.

You don't want stingy, thin fillings, you want chubby, substantial fillings.

I'm adding 4 poblano chiles that I've roasted, peeled and thinly sliced.

I'll add 1 teaspoon of salt.

This is such a classic Mexican combination, it's used in so many ways.

If you added cheese, you could have the most spectacular quesadillas.

If you threw in some shrimp, chicken or beef tips, fajitas.

And the last thing I'll add here is some corn.

Just gonna shave my kernels off this corn.

I'll cook this for, like, 10 seconds because I don't want to overcook the corn, and I still want it to be crunchy.

I have everything I need, my fillings and sauce, I'm just gonna cook my pasta and I'll be ready to build.

>> Pati: The inspiration for this lasagne, a fusion of Mexican and Italian cuisines, comes from an unlikely place.

Los Cabos, one of Baja peninsula's most popular tourist destinations right down at the bottom tip.

Luxury hotels, fine dining, shopping, sailing all in the comforts of a beautiful blue bay.

But just off the beaten path away from Cabo's modern exterior, this restauranteur and food historian is discovering traces of a rich culinary history.

>> People who used to come for vacations used to say there was no history in Baja or no history in Los Cabos because everything seemed new.

When I started working in restaurants, I knew it was more than they said it was.

>> She began working in Cabo San Lucas as a waitress when she was a teenager.

Today she owns and operates some of the most successful restaurants in Cabo, but her passion for Baja's culinary history has led us to the tiny village of Miraflores, just a short drive away from Cabo.

>> Cabo has always been so important because its famous histories.

The pirates used to come and hide right there in the bay of Cabo San Lucas.

>> The perfect place to hide!

>> Exactly!

>> Pati: As she explains, some of those pirates, including Europeans from England, France and Italy actually stayed and settled in with the native and Spanish people already living in the Southern tip of the peninsula, like right here in Miraflores.

So tell me about the combinations that have given us the food you are now finding.

>> In my research, the missionaries combined whatever they had then, and they adapted from what they had here at the time.

>> Pati: And because tasting history is always better than just talking about it, she's taking me to the home of one of her very good friends.

You found an old recipe that tells a bit of the past history of Baja in her family.

>> As long as it's delicious though, it's the links, there's links to the future, you're finding the links to the past.

>> You're making masa, but not like for a flour tortilla, this is masa like for pasta.

>> Yes.

>> So it's that Mediterranean, Italian, Spanish influence, right?

>> Correct.

>> Ooh!

You didn't know these recipes before, you're learning them as you go?

>> Yes.

>> It's the same technique as pizza!

(laughs) >> So a few garlic cloves we sliced.

>> Oh, so Leti's telling me just like the Italians, this soup that seems to be like a pasta soup, you have to eat it right when it's ready, right when it's al dente, so thank you Italy, but you're welcome for the chiles that go in there (laughs) >> Mmm.

Mmm!

Italians need to come to Baja to try this pasta soup because it has so much personality - >> I mean, it's great she's researching for these recipes, travelling all over to find them, and it's great that you're doing that, it's great you're sharing them, and it's really great that I'm eating them.

>> So we have everything ready, and now it's time to build.

I took my lasagne noodles out of the boiling water, and I drizzled a little olive oil so they wouldn't stick to one another.

I already buttered my baking dish, so I'll add about 1/2 a cup of the salsa roja so the lasagne is not dry at the bottom.

Layering the noodles.

I'll add half this mushroom, spinach, ricotta filling.

So this first layer will be a little spongey and cheesy, and then I'm adding my second layer which is the poblano, caramelized onion and corn.

Having a lasagne with all these layers of Mexican ingredients is making me really happy.

Then I'll layer half the zucchini slices, and to this layer I'll add about a cup of the salsa roja, and then we're gonna repeat!

Last layer of lasagne noodles, and then I'll add what remains of my tomato sauce.

Then I'll add 2 cups of Oaxaca cheese which is mild and melts really nicely.

I'm gonna add 1 cup of queso cotija which is like Mexico's version of parmesan.

It's dry, salty.

This is what a lasagne should be like, it should be tall, overflowing, and now you wanna make a little tent with the foil because I don't want the cheese as it melts to stick to my aluminum foil.

Let's pretend the lasagne is going camping.

I have my oven at 375 degrees, and I'll bake my lasagne for 40 minutes, remove the foil, and then put it back in for another 20 minutes so the cheese really melts and browns.

We need a salad to go with our lasagne, so I'm gonna make something really new because when I went to the Baja Peninsula I got so inspired to try new things and mix ingredients that I know in different ways, so I'll make a dressing and roast some vegetables to be the base of that dressing.

I'll chop about 1 cup of red onion.

This will be a very different salad because I'm combining ingredients that have strong yet different personalities, and I'm going to make them be friends while they roast in the oven.

Then I'll add some shallot, and I don't usually combine red onion with shallot but they go really nicely together.

Jalapeño and I'm keeping the seeds and veins.

Then I'll try to get about 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger.

1/2 a cup of olive oil, 1/2 a cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of salt.

My oven is set at 450 degrees, and now I'm just gonna roast this for 10 minutes.

Woah!

Lasagne looks amazing!

I love it when the cheese browns like that, mmm!

So it needs to rest for like 10 minutes before I can cut into it, so back to my salad, I'm gonna top that salad with some shrimp.

I'm just gonna season these really big shrimp with salt and pepper.

Growing up, shrimp was always seen as a delicacy, I mean shrimp was quite expensive in Mexican cities.

A few times we went to hotel buffets, and you know how they always have the shrimp station?

My dad used to say "you need to go get the shrimp!"

and I'd think I don't know if I want it - "but there's shrimp!

", he's like, "If there's shrimp, you have to eat it!"

I'm gonna get my vegetables that have been roasting out of the oven.

This is a happy oil.

I can smell the ginger, jalapeño, shallot and red onion.

So I'll let them sit here for a minute while I take my shrimp off the grill.

Perfecto.

Okay, I'm gonna put together my vinaigrette.

1/3 cup of red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of honey, about 1/2 a teaspoon of dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

I'll try to get the oil first without all the veggies.

And all that is going into the vinaigrette, so there's no reason why you should have a boring vinaigrette ever!

I have my Boston lettuce.

The shrimp are just gonna go everywhere!

Because we need something crunchy, cashews on top.

Mmm.

Sounds good.

Woah!

Look at all those layers, and it smells mmm!

Look how pretty, how pretty.

I'm gonna start with the lasagne.

Ah, it has so many veggies!

Super veggie powered.

Mmm.

Mmm, mmm!

It's really awesome.

Come see!

You have to see.

It has that cheesy crust, that mushroom spinach ricotta cheesy layer, it's so fluffy and kind of spongey, and then the onion and corn layer with all that tomato base.

You have to make this lasagne in your home.

You do, you do, you do!

Let me try the salad and shrimp.

Mmm, mhmm!

So light, and it has all those flavors from the roasted vegetables, but they're so nuanced and suave and just wrapped around the shrimp in such a delicious way, and the shrimp is plump and really crisp and I have so much food!

I mean look at this salad, it's like for 10 people!

I don't wanna eat this all my myself - you guys, Kev, join me?

Success, success!

Yeah!

Oh, oh, oh!

Of course!

>> I wanted lasagne all day!

>> I know!

(laughs) It has so much cheese!

>> Lots of cheese.

>> I'm so happy with it.

>> Kevin you're missing out.

>> Kevin!

We have to feed Kevin.

(overlapping chatter) >> Pati Narrates: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit PatiJinich.com, and connect!

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