Paloma

For ➊ drink
4.5 cl reposado tequila (or any good quality blanco)
juice of half a ruby grapefruit
1.5 cl of agave syrup or sugar syrup*
7.5 cl club soda
a squirt of fresh lime juice (optional)

Pour some kosher salt on a plate. Rub half of rim of a highball glass with grapefruit wedge; dip rim of glass in salt..
Mix the grapefruit juice, tequila and sugar syrup until well mixed.
Pour over a tall glass filled with ice and top up with soda water. You could add a squirt of lime juice. And rim the glass with salt.**

*To reduce your sugar intake, simply leave the sugar out. It's less sweet but delicious.
**Combine grapefruit juice, lime juice, and sugar in glass; stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in mescal, add ice, and top off with club soda. Garnish with grapefruit wedge.
***Replace the fresh grapefruit and soda with sparkling grapefruit lemonade.
***Or have a related Margarita.

Little is known about the historical origin of the Paloma, the most popular tequila-based cocktail in Mexico. Some believe that it is named after La Paloma ('The Dove'), the popular folk song composed in the early 1860s. Diffords guide states it was created by the legendary Don Javier Delgado Corona, owner and bartender of La Capilla, in Tequila, Mexico.
More Paloma recipes @ https://www.liquor.com/slideshows/paloma/#gs.PclY1XI

Margarita

For ➊ drink
9-12 cl fresh squeezed lime juice
3 cl Cointreau, triple sec or another orange liqueur
4.5 cl oz Blanco tequila
kosher salt (optional)
lime wheel
Glass: Cocktail or rocks

Add the ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or rocks glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish with a lime wheel.
For a slightly sweeter drink, add a dash of agave syrup (one part water, two parts agave nectar) before shaking. Or replace the Cointreau with it.

*Do another version, try 6 cl tequila, 3 cl lime juice, 3 cl agave syrup (1 part water/ 1 part agave nectar)
**Or have a related Paloma.

Grilled fish with green mango pico de gallo

For ➋-➍
1 firm green mango cut into brunoise
¼ cup red bell peppper cut into brunoise
¼ cup red onion cut into brunoise
1 tbs minced coriander
½ ts kosher salt (less if you use regular salt)
1 tbs lime juice
1 serrano chilli minced with seeds (optional)
1 ts of favourite hot sauce (optional)
2 fillets of fish (salmon, swordfish and halibut are all good choices)

Put the green mango, bel pepper, onion, coriander, salt, lime juice, chilli and hot sauce in a bowl and toss to combine.
Use a paper towel to dry the surface of the fish and salt and pepper. Grill over charcoal, broil or pan-fry.
To serve, just top the cooked fillet with a dollop of green mango pico de gallo. For a creamy tropical side dish, cook polenta with a 50/50 mixture of coconut milk and water along with some green curry paste.

Try the regular pico de gallo. Or the similar salsa fresca.

Pico de Gallo

For ➍/ 50 cl
4 plum tomatoes, seeded & chopped
3 onions, finely chopped
2 fresh chili peppers, mild or hot, seeded & finely chopped
2 tbs red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1½ ts fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 ts lime juice
salt & pepper

Combine ingredients in a glass bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 m before serving or refrigerate it overnight.
Serve with Che Guevara's ceviche or another ceviche. Or with grilled tuna or salmon.

In 1953, the Mexican communist painter Frida Kahlo painted this Naturaleza Muerta Con Sandias (Still Life with Watermelon), coming close to the ingredients of a pico de gallo, combining fruit and peppers, in ever changing combinations, depending on the region. Sometimes it is closer to a (fruit) salad than a sauce, especially when the pieces are roughly chopped in not too small pieces. (Artist suggestion from the wonderful Feasting on Art site.)
Try the similar salsa fresca.
Or the green mango variation.

Salsa fresca

For ➍
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small white onion, diced small
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbs fresh lime juice
coarse salt and ground pepper
50 g (½ cup) loosely packed fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

In a medium bowl, stir together tomatoes, white onion, jalapeno, garlic, and fresh lime juice. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and stir to combine. Let sit at least 15 ms (or, covered, up to 4 h). Stir in corinder leaves just before serving.
Serve with tortilla chips or as a condiment for grilled steak or shrimp.

Try the similar pico de gallo. Or the http://foodz.blogspot.be/2015/05/grilled-fish-with-green-mango-pico-de.html.
Alternate.

Mexican hot chocolate with tequila & cayenne

For ➋ servings
70 cl milk
125 g premium dark chocolate, broken into chunks
6 tbs cocoa
2 tbs cane sugar
⅛-¼ ts cayenne (or paprika)
12 cl tequila (or white rum)
10 cl heavy whipping cream
ground cinnamon for garnish

Warm the milk in a medium size heavy saucepan on medium heat, watching carefully.
Add the chocolate, the cocoa and the sugar.
Heat until the chocolate dissolves, whisking to combine all ingredients.
Season with the cayenne pepper. Start with ⅛ teaspoon and season to your taste.
Pour the warm milk into 2 large mugs and add 2 oz of tequila.
Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle whipping cream with cinnamon.

The Roux mystery: Mayan hot chocolate

For ➋
50 cl boiling water
1 chilli pepper, cut in half, seeds removed
125 cl light cream (or non-skimmed milk)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
250 g bittersweet chocolate, crushed
2 tbs sugar (or honey)
1 tbs ground almonds
whipped cream*

Boil water in a large saucepan. Add pepper and cook until reduced to 25 cl. Remove pepper. Strain water.
In a saucepan heat cream over medium heat. Add vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. When bubbling, lower the heat. Add chocolate and sugar. Whisk until melted. Take of heat. Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon. Add chilli flavoured water to taste.
Serve in small cups, with (crushed) almonds or hazelnuts and a dot of whipped cream.

*Optional.
**Replace half of the cream with strong coffee to change the taste to mocha.

When the gypsy Roux, played by Johnny Depp, receives his favourite kind of chocolate from Juliette Binoche in 'Chocolat', it's a kind of chocolat chaud, reminiscent of the original Maya chocolate drink. This brew was suggested at What's Cooking.

Sopa de lima (lime chicken broth)

For ➏
2 limes
6 tortillas
1 chicken breast
6 chicken livers*
1 red onion, finely chopped**
8 garlic cloves
6 lime slices
chopped coriander
corn oil (or peanut oil)
1.5 l water***
a pinch of salt

Quickly sautée garlic until brown in oil.
Slice tortillas into strips and fry them until golden. Place them on paper towels to absorb oil.
In a large pot, fry the onion**, add 1.5 l of water****, add the salt, chicken livers*, garlic and chicken breast. When the chicken is cooked, shred the chicken breast and chop the liver* into small pieces. Strain the broth through colander.
Add the shredded chicken and chopped livers* to the broth, and the juice of 2 limes.
Serve with some coriander and a slice of (grilled) lime.

*Replace livers with a second chicken breast or with chopped bacon. Braise bacon and add at the end.
**Add a few chopped tomatoes and a seeded chopped chilli, and let cook for 20 m with the fried onion. Then add other ingredients.
***Or chicken broth.

This classic of Yucatan supposedly dates from Mayan times.

Che Guevara's ceviche

For ➍
200 g firm white fish fillets*
juice of 15 fresh limes**
250 g cooked prawns
2 tbs chopped coriander
5 green onions, chopped
1 red onion, diced
2 avocados, peeled, pitted & chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
pico de Gallo***
2 ts salt
1 pinch black pepper

Cut the raw fish into cubes and spread out single-layered in a large dish. Pour in enough lime juice** to cover the fish. Cover dish, and refrigerate for 24 h.

Remove fish from the refrigerator, and mix in prawns, coriander, green onions, red onions, avocados, tomatoes, and celery. Stir in pico de Gallo**** to taste, and season with salt and pepper. Cover. Refrigerate for another 12 h.

Serve as appetizer, with ice-cold, almost frozen (Mexican) beer and a slice of good bread.

*Double quantities to serve as a summer dish.
**About 50 cl bottled juice. Lemon juice can be used instead, or a mixture of ⅔ lemon and ⅓ grapefruit juice.
***Pico de Gallo is a Mexican sauce with tomatoes, chili peppers and onions. Use canned salsa (a Mexican taco dip sauce might do) or make it yourself.

Believed to be the preferred ceviche of South American revolutionary Che Guevara and close to Mexican versions of a ceviche. Picture shows Castro and Guevara (r.) in the Miguel Schultz prison in Mexico in 1956, where he wrote his Poem to Fidel before taking off on the disastrous Granma expedition.
Ceviche is popular from Mexico through all of South America, especially in Peru and Ecuador. Some say that pre-Hispanic peoples cooked fish with a fruit called tumbo. The Incas ate salted fish and a chicha-marinated fish dish. The Spanish contributed the Mediterranean custom of using lemons and onions.
Other historians believe that the ceviche's origin is Arabian, imported to Peru by Arabian immigrants, or, as seems more likely, by Spaniards with Arabic heritage, and re-interpreted by the Peruvians of the coastal area.
Most likely, the name comes from the Spanish word 'escabeche' meaning 'marinade', derived from the Arabic 'sikbaj'. While the basic of ceviche stays the same, cooking fish in a cold way by putting it in lemon juice or lime juice alcohol, there are local variations.

Serpent's chocolate

For ➋
150 g extremely bitter chocolate
4 tbs strong espresso coffee*
½ tbs butter
3 egg yolks, creamed
3 egg whites, beaten

Melt the chocolate slowly with the coffee on top of the stove. Stir and when it forms a cream remove from heat.**
Add the butter and the egg yolks immediately stirring in well.
Cool the chocolate cream.
Fold in the egg whites gently. Refrigerate for 24 h.
Remove about 30 m before serving. Embellish with a dot of slightly sugared whipped cream or a drizzle of amaretto.

*Alternatively, use 1 tbs of brown rum and 3 tbs coffee.
**Slow melting in the microwave can achieve good results. You might need to adjust the liquid.

(Slightly) Mexican, bearing the name of the Serpent God who brought chocolate to the world .