>> Pati Narrates About halfway down the Baja Peninsula on the Eastern coast, the city of La Paz is home to one of the most unique, humbling, thrilling experiences in the world.

Here in the Sea of Cortez just below the surface you can swim face to face with the largest fish in the sea, the whale shark, and I'm diving in.

And in La Paz the sea gives in so many ways.

Amazing!

Woah, mmm!

In my kitchen a light, tender flaky Pan Seared Halibut with 5-Pepper Sauce.

And crunchy, packed with flavor Coconut Rice.

But first, I can't wait for these - empanadas with my favorite ingredients of all time, wait for it, sardines!

Maybe you're saying "I'm gonna turn off the channel, I don't want to watch Pati anymore, what is she doing?"

No!

Stick with me.

I'll convince you that sardines deserve a comeback.

Mmm.

♪ ♪ >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: ♪ epic music plays >> La Costeña.

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>> Pati: Over my many travels throughout Mexico, you may think I've seen it all, but no.

There are so many hidden gems to be uncovered.

New flavors, new experiences, new adventures.

In La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur is a treasure waiting to be opened.

This part of the city sits on the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula with beautiful beaches, charming restaurants and a relaxed atmosphere, what more do you need?

How about sharks!

One of the main draws to La Paz is the whale shark.

We're gonna go make new friends.

A gentle giant that can grow up to 40 feet long.

Moving slowly through the water, they feast on plankton, not people.

So for an absolutely new experience, you can hire a boat to take you to swim alongside one of these magnificent creatures.

Look at that!

>> Wow.

Did you see that?

I was swimming right next to it for, like, a full 5 minutes.

Did you see?

It was really incredible.

Incredible.

Pati: There are few things as relaxing as seaside dining.

La Paz has a breezy stroll along its main beach, and there's no better place to people watch than here.

It started off as a cart, but has grown into a dining destination.

I'm here with the owner Juanita and her sister Elsa, and they're sharing with me the fascinating story of this place that started with just a food stand.

So the specialty of the Bismark when Juanita's mom started was a gigantic turtle.

>> So since 1992 it was prohibited to hunt, cook and offer the giant turtle - >> Jacques Cousteau called the Sea of Cortez "the world's aquarium".

With such an abundance of sea life they have a bounty of ingredients to create hit after tasty hit.

>> Machaca means you take any kind of meat or fish and dehydrate it, shred it, then cook it.

I've never tasted smoked marlin machaca.

It's my first time in La Paz.

Mmm!

>> It tastes a little bit like fresh tuna.

It just has a lot of personality.

It's not too strong but it's telling you "I'm here, I'm different and I'm delicious."

>> Mmm!

Mhmm.

Mhmm.

The lobster taco is buttery, really light, not so fishy, almost creamy.

They're well known not only for their tacos, but also for their empanadas - And this is a marlin empanada.

Woah!

Mmm, my favorite.

the dough is sweet!

>> Swimming with that whale shark was one of the most incredible experiences in my life.

Another memorable thing that happened in La Paz was eating these amazing Marlin Empanadas, and I'm gonna show you one of my favorite empanada recipes which is the Sardine Empanadas that I'm gonna make right now.

I chopped half of this white onion, and I have my pan set over medium heat.

I'll add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

I have half a pound of white button mushrooms.

You don't usually think of mushrooms and sardines together because sardines have such a strong flavor.

It ends up being that they go really well together.

Some freshly ground black pepper.

Half a teaspoon of salt.

Let's talk about sardines.

I have very strong opinions about sardines because I love them!

When I first said I'd make sardine empanadas, maybe you're saying "I'm turning off the channel, I don't want to watch Pati anymore, what is she doing?"

- No!

Stick with me.

I'll convince you that sardines deserve a comeback.

You have them in your pantry, they'll wait for you forever!

They never expire!

So get a can of sardines.

Now I'll chop about a 1/2 pound of ripe roma tomatoes.

I want all the seeds in there because I want my filling to be a bit saucy.

1/2 a cup of pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives, and I want them in chunks.

I want to be able to bite into them.

Now I'm gonna add one of my favorite ingredients of all time which is picked jalapeños.

So when we first moved to this area, we went for the weekend to the Eastern shore and there was this really fabulous pizzeria, and we asked for a pizza and when they asked me what toppings I said pepperoni and pickled jalapeños and the guy looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about and I said "you don't have pickled jalapeños for your pizza?"

and he said "no, I don't know what that is."

I was in such shock 'cause in Mexico it's just either a topping you choose to add from the beginning, and if you don't choose to add it from the beginning you know what they do?

They give you little containers with them because you're supposed to add them to whatever kind of pizza you get.

And the juices are yum 'cause they're very vinegary.

All I need to add now are the sardines and that's the filling for the empanadas.

We have our puff pastry that has been thawing, so I'll just roll this to about 1/8 inch thick.

You don't have to use a fancy ring mold for this, you can use anything that cuts.

Any cookie mold, you could use a cup.

So I'll start filling my empanadas, and before that I'll separate the egg yolks from whites, and I'll use egg whites as egg glue to stick my empanada, and I'll use my egg yolk as an egg wash to glaze the empanada, and I'll just brush a little of this egg white around just on its edges, and then I'll stuff this empanada with about 1 tablespoon of the filling, but it is an overloaded copious amount of filling in this tablespoon.

And then we use the egg white to stick the dough.

See?

So I'm making like a half moon.

With the fork, you just go around and press, and that helps seal the sides of the empanada, and also decorates it a little.

Then you grab your egg yolk and brush it on the top.

After they bake it'll give them a deeper, more golden brown.

Much more appealing.

I have really strong, positive feelings towards sardines because I don't know if I've told you before, but my dad is the best torta maker in the world, and his most famous tortas are one, ham, cheese, avocado and tomato, but the other which is his favorite is a sardine torta, so he grabs the crusty Mexican bread and then smashes sardines right out of their tin.

He smashes avocado, adds thin slices of white onion, pickled jalapeños, and those tortas are incredible, so we loved sardines growing up and I think I've passed on this appreciation for sardines to my boys.

I'm gonna bake my empanadas anywhere from 20 - 22 minutes in my oven, which has been preheated at 400 degrees.

>> Pati: Adventures in the kitchen are every bit as rewarding as those of the sea, and at this restaurant that's just what I'm diving into.

Carlos?

>> Hi Pati, how are you?

>> Chef Carlos Valdez has a different approach to Baja cuisine.

Using the gifts from both sides of the Sea of Cortez, he's a master of both land and sea.

>> Gracias Carlos - (toast in Spanish) >> He also delights in presenting ingredients that are a bit unusual.

Carlos starts me off with some local raw clams.

Mmm, mmm!

Amazing!

>> I've never tasted it, it's just clean, impeccable.

Very sweet and I can still taste it after I swallowed it, and there's a big sweet echo in my mouth, it's just delicious.

>> Woah!

>> "Geoduck", okay.

It's "geoduck" so how do you prepare it?

>> Okay, so 15 seconds in hot boiling water, okay.

>> The clam tastes like a cross between a scallop and sea snail, it's very pleasant.

>> Pati: It seems I came to La Paz to taste things I had no idea I was going to taste.

And Carlos made sure that would continue.

>> Woah!

>> So the chicharron which is typically pork cracklings or the pig skin, he now took it from the entire pig's head.

It's deep fried then pressed, and then seasoned.

>> This is my first time eating pig's tongue.

Mmm.

Mmm!

The pig's tongue is just - I love beef tongue, but this has a very different flavor, it's very soft, the chicharron brings that out, it's so tasty.

It is an incredible taco, and I can really taste the taqueria experience, but it is taking it to the sublime.

>> The empanadas are ready, and look at how beautiful they are.

The color, see how the dark brown has that golden hue?

And you can see how much they puffed up, so let me grab one, and mmm, the filling!

Mmm.

That filling has so much personality.

I can taste the pasty flaky strong flavor of the sardine, the soft bite of the mushroom which helps balance it out, the briny olives and the very light bite of the pickled jalapeños - it's delicious because it's all wrapped with that sweet puff pastry, so that's one amazing thing about empanadas, it is at the same time so light and so packed with flavor.

Being in La Paz where I ate so many different kinds of delicious fish in so many delicious ways made me inspired to come home and cook a fish recipe that will really let that fish shine, so to go along with that fish I'm gonna make some coconut rice.

I'll add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and I have my pan set over medium-high heat.

2 cups of rice, and you can use long, extra-long white rice or jasmine rice.

I'm gonna half about 1/2 a cup of white onion, and I'll chop it as fine as I can.

I don't want to bite into pieces of onion, I just want it to season and help me with the texture, but I want it to do it in a discreet way.

3 cloves of garlic, and I'll also chop them really fine.

3 cups of chicken broth.

I love making rice with chicken broth because the broth really makes it homey.

Then just 1 cup of coconut cream, I want it to have a coconut taste, but I don't want it to be a dessert rice.

1 teaspoon of salt.

When it's actively bubbling, like really aggressively bubbling where the bubbles are so aggressive they don't even know where to go, that's when you cover it, reduce it to low heat.

Now we'll make a Pan Seared Halibut with 5-Pepper Sauce.

I'm going to start with the sauce.

I have here peanut oil, I love the nutty deep flavor peanut oil has, I'll add 1 cup of it.

2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil.

1 cup of white wine vinegar, and you see how the vinegar reacts with the oil soon as you add them because oil and vinegar, boom!

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar, and this is a lot of fun, I feel like I'm back in 10th grade chemistry class.

2 teaspoons of salt.

1 cup of chicken broth.

Then that's it, the sauce will cook over low heat for about 3 minutes, and now I'll get my 5 peppers to be dressed with that sauce, and I already have 1 yellow bell pepper.

I'm not a super fan of green bell pepper, but when I'm using both red and yellow, I bring in the green for a pop of color, and I think the sweetness of the red and yellow balances the bitter aftertaste of the green bell pepper.

And we'll add more peppers you guys!

'Cause this has no heat, we'll add a jalapeño.

You love the jalapeño just like I do.

We'll use a whole jalapeño.

And then a manzano chile which you have to get to know.

It is absolutely stunning, it is fiesty, it is spicy, it is a lot spicier than the jalapeño.

This makes me so happy, because when I moved to the U.S. 20 years ago and I moved to Texas, you could find jalapeños and serranos, and if you were lucky, poblanos and that was it, and today you can find most of the chiles you find in Mexico.

That makes me happy because you guys are getting to have a lot more tools in your kitchen.

Then we'll add more color and flavor.

We'll sliver a red onion into what we call "plumita" or little feathers.

So I know the manzano sounds intimidating, but this sauce is going to tame the heat in here.

2 tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lime juice.

Just a little bit more salt, and it'll keep getting better as I cook the fish.

I have my super fresh halibut because I'm friends with my fish monger.

All I'll do is add some salt and pepper, then continue with the peanut oil, I'm adding about 1 - 2 tablespoons.

I'll cook my fish skin side down first so the skin has the opportunity to crisp really nicely, and also I'll be able to see as it cooks from the bottom up so I'll know when to flip it.

This is a really nice sight because you can see how the color of the fish starts transforming from raw and more pinkish to a white cooked color.

It's really good to read the signs.

The fish is telling you when it's cooking and up to where it's cooking, so when it gets to halfway, I'll flip it and then I know I'll cook it for 1 - 2 more minutes.

What we do in Mexico with the crispy skin that's already flavored is we take off the skin, grab a corn tortilla, and turn it into a taco, and in fact that's what I'm gonna do.

Just watch this come together, okay?

I'm gonna garnish my coconut rice with some sweetened coconut flakes that I seasoned with some cinnamon and salt and baked in the oven a few minutes.

Grab my fish, mmm.

So you can see it's very pretty, and I'll add my 5-pepper salsa.

Garnish with a little basil.

Mmm.

The fish is so flaky and soft, and the sauce is so light and vinegary.

It's not that spicy at all.

Let me heat a tortilla in here.

Mmm.

It's so delicious!

It's sweet and savory coming together, and it's soaked up some of that 5-pepper sauce so it's nice and vinegary.

And I mean Mexicans, we love to taco anything, right?

So you don't have to make a taco out of this, but if you love the crisp skin - Mmm, mmm, mmm!

This fish, just like this with the rice and the sauce, is absolutely delicious, but if you have a corn tortilla handy wouldn't you want to eat it like this?

>> Pati: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com, and connect!

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @PatiJinich.

>> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: ♪ epic music plays >> La Costeña.

Taste that transcends.

More information at: mexicorico.com A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

>> Coronado Dulce de Leche Caramel, proud to support Pati's Mexican Table.

♪ Avocados from Mexico >> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Mexbest.

Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.