Mexican chef Santiago Lastra on his first cookbook and a new menu inspired by Frida Kahlo

0:12Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco and this week I speak with celebrated Mexican chef Santiago Lastra from Michelin-starred coal. We discussed his upcoming cookbook, Mexican Soul, a new style of cooking, and the best spoke menu he created, inspired by Tate Modern's major exhibition, Frida, the Making of an Icon. It was a pleasure speaking with him.

0:43Santiago Lastra, welcome back to Monaco Radio. We love to have you here. You're kind of almost our neighbor as well, right? Yes.

0:50Santiago Lastra:Yeah. Well, thank you so much. I'm very, very happy to be back. And yes, we're neighbors. I think about like 10 minutes walk. Which is nothing, especially on a beautiful sunny day like today. Yeah, it's great. It was a good walk. A lot of interesting projects coming up on your way. But before, you know, we talk about this very exciting news. How's everything in the world of coal? You know, I was telling you that I never forget the Paloma I was drinking there. It's a fantastic restaurant, I have to say. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean, like we are approaching our sixth year, which is incredible.

1:22Santiago Lastra:Yeah, we've been open now for a while and it's a great experience to be part of this transition, right? Between being a new opening and be a bit more of an established restaurant. And it's great, you know, like the things that you learn on the way. And I guess something about consistency that is really beautiful. There's something about doing things every day for years that makes you grow and gives you perspective. So it's a really great time for Cole. It's very exciting to have the best team we ever have. And now we are launching our new summer menu that is just fantastic. I'm very proud of working with the people that we're working there and to be creating with a little bit more.

2:03Santiago Lastra:It's not freedom, but more like more natural, you know, that you have this natural creativity that is just flowing. So it's pretty cool. And I have to say, when you launched Kohl as well, I generally think it helped to change a little bit the perception of Mexican cuisine in London. I mean, of course, it was not the first one, but don't you think? And I think now it kind of evolved in many ways, at least here in the London scene. How do you see that? Yes, I mean, I'm very happy to see so many Mexican restaurants opening up and people craving and craving tacos and Mexican food all around the city.

2:36Santiago Lastra:and yes I mean I think we did our part and we keep doing our part trying to raise the standard of what Mexican food can be and become and it's just great. My dream is to be able to share the meaning of quality of Mexican culture in the world. That's why I'm here and I think we've been doing good and it's great to see other people doing it as well. Talking about Mexican culture there's an exhibition coming up at the Tate Modern which I think this is everybody's been waiting for this one, which is dedicated to Frida Kahlo. So tell me, how do you get involved in something like this? No, you know what?

3:11Santiago Lastra:Like I get goosebumps when you mention Frida and the exhibition. I still like so excited about this and what an honor it is and how amazing this exhibition is going to be at the Tate and is the biggest exhibition or the longest exhibition the Tate, modern, has ever had. And it's about a Mexican artist, you know, and that for me is just insane. I've been looking up to Frida since I'm a kid. It was probably, her house was probably the first museum I ever went. Growing up in Mexico, you look up to Frida and her husband, Diego, as the references of art. I remember to be a huge fan of Frida, but I didn't know the impact that she had in the world.

3:58Santiago Lastra:When I moved out of Mexico, I realized that a lot of people knew Mexico through Frida Kahlo. They will be like, oh, where are you from? I'm from Mexico. Oh my God, like Frida Kahlo. And I was like, whoa, that's cool. It will not be like, oh, like a sombrero or like a piñata, you know? You're like, it's more like, you're in Mexico as this amazing artist. And that's so cool. And it's just, Frida's name has been growing and growing with the years. And this exhibition is about, But it's not only about Frida's work, it's more about how she became an icon and how her work had an impact and her life and her philosophy that go beyond the paintings and keeps growing with a community in different areas, in tattoo artists and graffitis and merch.

4:46Santiago Lastra:and it's just so incredible to see her, well, like to understand more about her journey, about her life and about her work and also about how much of an impact she had and she still have. Is it true that you were from the same place where she was born? Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, yes, I'm born in, it's called Coyoacán. So it's basically where Frida Kahlo born as well. So we're born in the same area. If you see my passport, it says Coyoacán. as a birthday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I grew up in a different place in Cuernavaca that is 45 minutes south of Mexico City. But I still have that reference of Coyoacán that is quite big for me.

5:28Santiago Lastra:And every time, I think it's one of my favorite areas in Mexico, just to, in Mexico City, just to walk around. It's very inspiring, very colorful, full of like amazing little restaurants and markets and crafts, a lot of flowers as well. When you want to buy flowers, you go to Coyoacán. That's fantastic. Well, let's talk about your project then with Tate Modern. So from the 25th of June to the 31st of August, there'll be a special menu inspired by Frida Kahlo. So that must have been quite special to you as well to make it. When the Tate approached me, they were asking for me to do a menu for the exhibition.

6:05Santiago Lastra:And I was like, wow, this is such a great opportunity to create something special. I didn't want to do something, just something that I know how to do. It was more like to create something unique, tailored for Frida. And I didn't know where to start. But what I did was to just take a week and a half of work. And I literally just immersed myself to try to absorb as much information about Frida Kahlo as I could. I went to Paris with a bunch of books, rent a little Airbnb. And I immersed myself in her story. I bought her diary and I was reading diary and trying to understand what Frida likes. Because at the end of the day, when you're a chef and you want to create a dish or a menu for someone, you want to know what they like.

6:58Santiago Lastra:And if you know what they like, you can create the perfect menu. So I didn't know Frida personally. So I wanted to learn about her life, about the things that she loved. There's no documentation about her personal life as much. But I read the diary. I went to Mexico to see how people do mole, like in Puebla. It said that her favorite dish was mole. There's a place called Puebla where they do this mole poblano. There's a traditional sauce. So I went to Puebla after Paris to learn how to do this sauce. Paris was so important as well because she went to Paris to do this exhibition. and it was like the only exhibition that she did abroad.

7:40Santiago Lastra:And she was in the cover of Vogue magazine and it was like the first Latino American woman in the cover of Vogue. She had this like very intense experience in Paris and that's why I went to Paris to see like, like, I don't know, like to get some of the vibe of her trip. And then in Mexico, learning about the sauce, the mole poblano, and also just watching her movie. There's a movie of Salma Hayek, Frida. I watched her in the plane from Paris to Mexico. I already watched it before, I watch it again and I'm just like trying to absorb more and more. Then I went to Mexico City, visit her house again.

8:14Santiago Lastra:And then suddenly just walk. I just walk around Coyoacan and just trying to like come up with the idea of a menu. And then suddenly something clicked and everything came to me and I knew what I was doing. And for example, the first course is called La Casa Azul, the very famous. But give us an idea of the food or of what. Yeah, so the menu is a journey of her life. And three main favorite things that she had in different stages of her life. When she born and her work, when she got engaged and married and her mature life, and then when she passed. So then in every stage of her life, I wanted to pick one main favorite thing.

9:02Santiago Lastra:The first dish is called La Casa Azul. It is the place where Frida born. It's a blue house in Coyoacán. It's where she born and where she starts painting. And she loved her house. So she used to do dinner parties there and she would invite lots of people. And also her favorite color was blue. So I create a blue sauce. So the dish sits around this blue sauce that is made with cabbage that when you cook the cabbage in an alkaline solution, not sour alkaline, it turns, like the red cabbage, it turns blue, like bright blue. It's incredible. So it's like a chemical reaction. And then what I do is to make a blue sauce that then you serve with a brush and you brush your own tostada.

9:51Santiago Lastra:and then the tostada sits in the middle and around that you have this, like some sort of carpaccio of tomatoes with a salsa matcha. And then the idea is that you paint your tostada and then you squeeze a lemon on top. So then that makes the blue sauce turn Mexican pink. So then like the people can interact and squeeze the lemon and reveal their own paintings and interact with Frida's favorite color, painting their tostada, but also revealing this beautiful Mexican pink that is very traditional in Mexico. Oh, I'm very hungry. Well, I very much look forward to try the menu because I saw, I think the final one, Viva la Vida, there's some buñuelas as well.

10:32Yes, yeah.

10:33Santiago Lastra:Yeah, so sorry, just really quickly. So the second course is a tamal that is called Frida's Mole and it's inspired in the love that she had for Diego, her husband. Diego's favorite dish was the mole poblano and she learned how to do the mole poblano to, you know, to make him happy. And we know that Frida's favorite thing in the world was the love towards her husband. And Diego's ex-wife teach her how to make mole. And they used to hate each other, but then like that they became friends. And it's a tamal, so it's a steamed cake that we serve with short ribs and the mole poblano on top. So that's the second course.

11:13Santiago Lastra:And then the third course, we, yeah, it's called Viva la Vida. And it represents another thing that Frida liked. She had polio when she was born and she had this horrible accident and she was always in surgery and struggling in her health, but she was always thriving. And I think one of the things that she really liked, and I think she realized that, well, we can express it in this dish is life, like to live. Their last painting is called Viva la Vida, and it's a painting about life and about color and watermelons. And I think there is nothing more amazing than eating a fresh watermelon. So the dish is inspiring that painting.

11:55Santiago Lastra:There is three ice creams, one that is made with sorrel, one yogurt, and then one that is made with strawberries. They're all dressed with chamomile, so they can taste like pineapples and serve with buñuelos that also celebrate life and parties in Mexico. Oh, fantastic. Well, you're generally giving a taster here. And, Santiago, if I may ask, I know there's still a few months to go, but you are going to publish a book as well called Mexican Soul. That's super exciting. What can you tell us about the book? I think it's going to be out in August. Yes, it's out in August, and I just cannot express how exciting it is.

12:29Santiago Lastra:What a summer, right, for you. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the thing is that Mexican Soul is the result of years, years of this question, of why no one really makes Mexican food outside Mexico in their home. And if they do it, it becomes complicated. For me, it was complicated as well. So then try to make Mexican food accessible and try to also as much as possible to make a book that serves as a tool for people to understand how Mexican food is put together. So in the first part of the book, we talk about Mexican regions because Mexican food is much bigger than Italy, but it also has these regions, right?

13:11Santiago Lastra:So different regions will have different techniques, different ways of cooking, different flavors. So we explain all the regions of Mexico and how they taste and how they cook in different regions. And then the flavors, you know, like what Mexican flavor is, you know? So we go a little bit in depth into what makes Mexican food so delicious. And so sour, sweet, fatty, spicy. And we have different recipes of traditional Mexican food that have those flavors. And then in the second part of the book is what we call Mexican soul cooking. That is, with whatever you have in your cupboard, you can open it and then do Mexican food.

13:49Santiago Lastra:Like, when you have, like, that is what makes everyone cook Italian food. Because when you open your cupboard, you have pasta and you have garlic and then olive oil. And you can make a pasta and you can make Italian food. But then the problem is that Mexican food, you have to buy lots of ingredients. So then in this book, I design these dishes that are super easy recipes that you can do with whatever you have in your cupboard. So if you have papadums and some beetroots and some burrata, you can make some tostadas. If you have potato mash and you can add a little bit of starch, you mix it and you can have a masa where you can do tamales and tortillas.

14:25Santiago Lastra:You can make a salsa using paprika and pepperoncino and honey and rub lamb with that and cook it and have amazing barbacoa. So then at the end of the day, we're trying to make Mexican food a bit more accessible for people to just to go for it and cook with us. And also like, well, I'm very excited for people to see it because it's been like three years on the making to put myself in the shoes of people at home. like how difficult it is to cook at home because you have a lot of limitations of like time, like budget, like all these things. And then, yeah, so then that is what the book is all about.

15:02I think there was a need for a book like this because you're right. I mean, people love eating out Mexican food, but I think there's a fear like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make this, you know, at home because they might not understand the ingredients. But this is so cool. You're doing, you know, like I say, Italian food, everybody knows, you know, just grab pasta and the sauce. But you're doing this for Mexican cuisine.

15:23Santiago Lastra:Yeah, I'm so excited. I mean, like, I'm very excited to see it. And also, like, there is a lot of Mexican cookbooks out there. But they always have, like, the first option is the Mexican ingredient. And then you can use a replacement. But you don't want to make food with replacements. You know, like, if you don't have Ojasanta, you can use tarragon or whatever. It's more like we do the recipes with the substitutes as the main dish. And I literally went to the local supermarket here and I bought the ingredients and then I cooked the whole second part of the book with those ingredients. I didn't buy anything online.

16:01Santiago Lastra:I didn't bring anything from Mexico. It was everything from the local supermarket. So then I have a theory. If I can do it, everyone can do it. Thank you, Santiago Lastra. His special menu will be available to the 31st of August at the Tate Modern Restaurant, and his book, Mexican Soul, will be out in August.