Vegetable

This smoky rub has endless possibilities: sprinkle it on potatoes before roasting, rub it on chicken breasts before grilling, or use it to season steaks before searing or halibut before roasting. For a garnish, mix a couple of tablespoons of this spice mix with half a cup of crème fraîche and drizzle it over soups.

My dad used to hunt, and quail was his favorite game, so grilled quail regularly appeared on our dinner table. When pressed for time, my mom would marinate the quail in store-bought Italian dressing spiced up with chile powder, grill it, and serve it as an appetizer followed by carne asada. In this recipe, I create the marinade from scratch, with just the right amount of chile powder. Squeeze a lime over the quail and don’t be afraid to eat it with your hands—it’s messy but delicious! This marinade is also great with chicken.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of baking the puff-pastry tart, just serve this wonderful chutney alongside the goat cheese for your guests to spread on crackers. I always have the chutney on hand to stir into hummus or to slather onto a piece of grilled chicken. The creamy goat cheese is the perfect counterpoint to the smoky-sweet chutney.

When you see how easy it is to make this salsa from scratch, you will never want to buy a jar again. And forget bagged chips! It takes almost no effort to make your own at home. In my version of this classic recipe, the cheese is seared (asado) rather than deep-fried, resulting in a lighter alternative that really brings out the sweet flavor of the panela cheese. If you don’t want to go out of your way to purchase the panela cheese, substitute a moist mozzarella.

This recipe plays on my favorite combination: spicy and sweet. Don’t worry about the chicken drying out in the oven—all of the flavor and juice is sealed in by the crunchy pecan glaze. Drumettes are the part of a chicken wing that, when separated from the rest of the wing, looks like a miniature drumstick. You can carve the wings yourself, ask your butcher to do it, or purchase frozen drumettes in the freezer section of the supermarket (thaw them overnight in the refrigerator).

In Tijuana, as soon as the days get a little warmer, the street vendors start to appear with giant bunches of squash blossoms. I grew up eating squash blossoms sautéed and stuffed in quesadillas, served with fresh raspberries. The addition of mascarpone, an Italian triple-cream cheese, takes the dish to a whole new level.

These guys are spicy! If you’re afraid of the heat, you can use güero chiles, but jalapeños are exactly the right size for an appetizer. Oaxaca cheese, like mozzarella, is a mild-flavored white cheese that is excellent for melting. It’s popular for quesadillas in Mexico.

There are several varieties of avocado, each with a slightly different flavor. For this recipe, I use Hass, the most common type sold in supermarkets in the U.S. Choose ripe avocados (slightly firm but yielding to gentle pressure), and be sure to remove any brown spots before you start. If you don’t have time to prepare the garlic-oregano crostini, this creamy and luxurious spread is great on any savory cracker.

Taquitos, also known as flautas where I grew up, are corn tortillas that are stuffed, rolled, and fried. Shredded chicken or beef is the traditional filling, but here I use mushrooms and pair them with a tart tomatillo salsa for a great vegetarian dish.

This blend of two classic flavors, combined with a hint of chipotle, makes for a fast and easy party favorite. You can make these 3 days ahead and store them in an airtight container.

To create these vegetarian egg rolls I use wonton wrappers, which can be found in the refrigerated section in well-stocked supermarkets. You can use store-bought prune sauce in place of the California Chile–Prune Sauce; just mix some ground California chiles into the prune sauce. Either purchased or homemade, spicy prune sauce is the perfect counterpoint for fresh avocados.

Cuitlacoche is a fungus that makes corn kernels swell to ten times their normal size, turning them an inky black color. Its smoky-sweet flavor is a cross between corn and mushroom. I grew up eating cuitlacoche stuffed in a quesadilla or in a squash blossom. It’s a delicious, earthy addition to everything from quesadillas to empanadas. If you can’t find canned cuitlacoche in your local Latin market, substitute sautéed wild mushrooms for an equally delicious result.

I had to include Baja sushi because I think the fusion of Asian techniques and Mexican ingredients is phenomenal! This recipe, which uses a spinach crêpe as a wrapper instead of nori (seaweed), comes from my friend Andres Brambila, who owns Negai, a wonderful sushi restaurant in Tijuana.

Deviled eggs might not be the first thing you think of when planning an appetizer menu. But when sprinkled with smoky ancho chile and bright cilantro, these retro bites are always the most talked-about dish at any gathering at my house. I use a spice grinder to pulverize the dried chile, but you can find already ground ancho chile in many supermarkets and in Latin markets; you’ll need 1 teaspoon.

Crab cakes get a festive kick when coated in crunchy panko bread crumbs mixed with cilantro and then topped with a simple guacamole. This is the guacamole that was made on a regular basis at my house when I was growing up. I don’t like fussy guacamoles that mask the fresh flavor of a perfectly ripe avocado. This crab cake mixture is eggless and is baked rather than fried, yielding a lighter dish with more crab flavor.

For many years a professional cook who specialized in seafood dishes prepared the meals at my parents’ house. Pedro Rocha would go to the fish market with my dad, bring home whatever had been caught that day, and turn it into an incredible meal for the family or for my father’s friends (who often came just for the food). Many of my seafood dishes are inspired by or derived from dishes Pedro taught me to make. This is one of them, and it’s always a favorite with my friends. As soon as we figure out how to get Pedro a passport, we’re opening a fish restaurant in the United States!

This is a simple, refreshing dish that perfectly represents the current trend in Baja-Mediterranean cuisine: the fusion of local ingredients and cooking techniques with European (mostly Mediterranean) ingredients, with an occasional Asian ingredient showing up in the mix. Variations of this dish pop up in restaurants all around Mexico, some adding spicy avocado dressing or fresh orange juice to the mix. I like to keep it simple to let the fresh taste of the ingredients shine through.

Fresh rosemary grows rampant in my backyard, which is only part of the reason these skewers top my list of favorite appetizers. Rosemary adds smoky flavor and a decorative flourish to a simple shrimp starter. Check the USDA plant hardiness zones to see which herbs thrive in your area. Fresh herbs make a huge difference in any dish, and you’ll save money by growing them at home instead of buying them. The Mediterranean rosemary pairs nicely with the smoky chipotle and fresh cilantro.

Leftover caponata will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to a week. Toss with warm pasta; serve on top of meat, chicken, or fish; or simply serve it with some toasted bread or crostini.