Book review: Meat-free Mexican by Thomasina Miers

As the woman behind the largest chain of Mexican restaurants in the UK, Thomasina ‘Tommi’ Miers’ affection for Mexico hardly needs an introduction. Her passion for Mexico saw her pack in her city job, move to the country and pursue a culinary career. After returning to the UK she won the 2005 series of MasterChef and a year later set up the Mexican street-food restaurant chain Wahaca.

Her travels opened her eyes to Mexican food. In fact, Miers explains in her introduction that Mexico has 50,000 different native plant species – 200 different types of chillies alone – compared to the UK’s measly 2,000 plants, but it’s taken eight books before she has penned this collection of purely veggie recipes.

Meat-free Mexican is a vibrant and versatile book, with easy mid-week supper ideas (think of dishes like pumpkin soup, chile non carne, and a few solid pasta recipes with a Mexican twist), sitting next to pages featuring the likes of chargrilled courgettes with whipped feta and blackened chilli-lime dressing, certain to elevate a reader’s Mexican cooking to a whole new level.

Chapters are scattered with an abundance of chillies and Mexican herbs (as well as instructions on where to find rare ingredients or their substitutes). Take the molten dark chocolate ancho cake, inspired by a pudding she ate in Mexico City, steeped with the sweet notes of ancho chilli, which Miers recreates using the “foolproof” twice-baked method also used by St John restaurant. Meanwhile, the pages dedicated to sangria and margaritas are enough to put a smile on anyone’s face: I will definitely be whipping up a batch of mango slush puppy frozen margs for my next dinner party.

While vegetables are the star, the recipes are also light on dairy, meaning many are vegan or provide a vegan option. Meat-free Mexican ties into Miers’ passion for sustainable cooking to help tackle the big issues impacting the food industry – namely the impending climate crisis and soil degradation.

Meat-free Mexican by Thomasina Miers (Hodder & Stoughton, £25)

Recipe from Meat-free Mexican: Summer poblano peppers with crunchy cauliflower salad and wild herb mole