In the capable hands of dedicated cook, caterer and teacher Lula Bertran, a dash of innovation and a measure of imagination can transform conventional Mexican cookery into Nuevo Cuisine, which rivals the more traditional foods served in restaurants.

Fish in filo? Mango mayonnaise? Beans in a bundt pan? This is not your conventional Mexican cooking. It is what happens to the food in the hands of a free-spirited cook like Lula Bertran.

Bertran, of Mexico City, is not a professional chef but a dedicated amateur who has involved herself in catering, teaching and food writing. From a wealthy background, she works because she wants to, and goes at it demonically hard. Recently, she labored intensively in and out of the kitchen to coordinate guest chefs, cooking demonstrations and food for an ambitious gastronomic conclave in Tijuana.

That is where she presented such imaginative dishes as shrimp on a pool of mango mayonnaise garnished with strawberry halves and with crisp fried cilantro that she sprinkled with salt, lime juice and ground chile pequin.

In Mexico City, Bertran carved a reputation for cooking classes that were so ornate they became a social occasion. Dressed in their best, her well-off students sat down to sophisticated meals presented with fine china and silver--and passed the recipes on to their cooks. Irked at such frivolity, Bertran abandoned the classes and now teaches only serious students, at considerable cost.

She says that Mexico has not produced a nuevo Mexican cuisine equivalent to the new American cuisine of the United States. “There is not one movement, not one thought,” she remarked, meaning there is no unified approach to a new style of cookery. The best traditional Mexican food is still found in the towns and the homes, she said, not in the restaurants. Chefs occupy a lowly position, unlike the celebrities of the United States. “Nobody gives them the importance they have,” she said regretfully.

The indigenous cuisine is not highly regarded either. “If you want to have guests in your house in Mexico, you will never serve Mexican food. You will serve French or Italian,” Bertran said. Her own attitude is, “Mexican food is fantastic, don’t be ashamed to serve it.”

Bertran does not cook classically but presents Mexican ingredients in new and fanciful ways. “The very orthodox people in Mexican cooking simply can’t understand this,” she said, comparing their cool reaction to the attitude of traditional French chefs at the onset of nouvelle cuisine.

Bertran does not claim to be starting a movement and emphasizes that hers is an individual approach. “I don’t say it’s Mexican cooking,” she clarified. “I always say, this is the way I present my Mexican food.”

Bertran, who has written monthly food articles for Mexican Vogue, was nourished on French haute cuisine in the home of her grandmother. “At 12 or so, I knew how to do a galantine and I didn’t know how to do Mexican rice,” she said. More recently, she lived in Rome and studied Italian cuisine. She is also a great admirer of Japanese food design.

Married to Alberto Bertran, a businessman with interests along the border, Bertran lives part of the year on a boat at San Diego, the rest of the time in a home in Las Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City. Her home was not damaged in the recent earthquake, she said.

Several San Diego-area chefs were invited to participate in the Tijuana culinary gathering, held at the new Fiesta Americana Hotel there, and Bertran was anxious for Mexican chefs to witness their more exalted status.

In one of the cooking demonstrations, Bertran, dressed in chef’s whites, showed what innovation can do for Mexican cookery. The dishes were not solely her creation, she emphasized. They were developed through an exchange of ideas among Bertran; Patricia Silva of Queretaro, whose specialty is traditional cookery and sauces; Roberto Rangel, pastry chef of the Hacienda de Los Morales in Mexico City, and Victor Nava, who has a catering service and pastry shop in Mexico City.

“Mexico has a wonderful kitchen (meaning the repertoire of dishes), but why always do we have to present our dishes in clay, the folkloric thing?” Bertran mused.

Rather than clay, Bertran placed fish in a case made of filo dough. This she shaped into a ruffly container with lid inspired by the design of a flaky Mexican bread called campechana. The fish was marinated with orange juice and herbs. And the accompanying Salsa Borracha (drunken sauce), was a spicy-sweet mixture of pasilla and ancho chiles, piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cones), herbs and spices. Orange juice and tequila substituted for the traditional “drunken” ingredient, pulque.

First courses included the shrimp plate and a walnut soup that evolved from chiles en nogada. This old-time Mexican dish consists of poblano chiles stuffed with meat and fruit, topped with walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. The sauce became the foundation for the soup. The stuffing was eliminated. And the chiles were diced and stirred in with the pomegranate seeds.

Ideally, the soup would be white, speckled with red and green. However, fresh walnuts, available for a brief season in Mexico, are needed for this effect. Darker, dried American nuts will turn the soup a dull brown, Bertran warned.

The dessert was a delicately flavored ice cream made from prickly cactus fruits that were peeled, juiced and blended with sugar, egg yolks, tequila and whipped cream.

Devoted to such artistic aspects of cooking as garnishing and the carving of fruits and vegetables, Bertran finds unlikely ways to present ordinary dishes. She makes chilaquiles, the rustic dish of cut-up tortillas soaked in chile sauce, unrecognizable by hiding the tortillas in a coating of refried beans. Bertran molds the combination to suit the occasion, shaping it like an ancient Mexican pyramid for a large event or in a bundt pan for an effect that is easier to copy. The unmolded “cake” is cut into wedges and served with its garnishes--cheese, sour cream, avocados and radishes.

FISH CAMPECHANAS

WITH SALSA

BORRACHA

4 sprigs oregano

1 bay leaf

4 whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

4 (4- to 5-ounce) fish fillets

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon kirsch

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons onion shreds

Few fine shreds orange peel

4 Filo Campechanas

Salsa Borracha

Lightly toast oregano, bay leaf, cloves and cumin in small skillet to bring out flavors. Place fish fillets in single layer in baking dish. Combine orange juice, wine, kirsch, toasted seasonings, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pour over fish. Top each fillet with some onion and orange peel. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes to 2 hours, turning once. Roll each fillet, making sure no solid ingredients from marinade are inside fish roll. Leave fish in marinade, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees 10 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with fork. Drain fish. Place 1 roll in bottom half of each Filo Campechana. Add top. Flow Salsa Borracha around Campechana. Serve at once. Makes 4 servings.

Filo Campechanas

8 sheets filo dough

Melted butter

Place 1 sheet filo on flat surface. Keep remainder of filo covered to prevent drying. Brush sheet lightly but evenly on both sides with butter. Cut in halves lengthwise, then crosswise, making 4 squares. Stack squares. Form into shallow container, pulling edges so they point upward. Place on baking sheet.

To make top, butter another filo sheet on both sides. Cut crosswise into 4 strips. Fold 1 strip around itself to make center. One by one, fold other strips around central strip to make rose. Top should be larger than bottom. Place on baking sheet.

Prepare remaining filo in same fashion, making 4 containers with tops. These may be baked at once or prepared in advance and allowed to stand, uncovered, until baking time. Bake at 400 degrees 5 to 7 minutes or until browned. Campechanas may be baked in advance, then placed in oven and reheated just before serving. Makes 4 filo containers.

Salsa Borracha

4 dried pasilla negra chiles

1 dried ancho chile

1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon marjoram leaves

l/2 teaspoon oregano leaves

l/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup crumbled piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cones)

Water

2 tablespoons oil

2 cups orange juice

1/4 cup tequila

Toast chiles on griddle or in heavy skillet until crisp. Do not allow to burn. Remove seeds and veins and soak chiles in hot water 20 minutes. Toast thyme, marjoram, oregano, cumin and bay leaf on griddle until thoroughly dry and crisp. Grind spices. Place chiles in blender with 3/4 cup of their soaking liquid and blend until pureed. Add ground spices, pepper, onion and garlic and blend. Soak piloncillo in just enough water to dissolve it. Heat oil in saucepan. Add chile mixture, then piloncillo and heat. Stir in orange juice and tequila and simmer until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 2 2/3 cups.

SHRIMP WITH MANGO

MAYONNAISE

1 1/2 cups white wine

2 lemon grass leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

12 jumbo shrimp

Mango Mayonnaise

Fried Cilantro

3 large strawberries, halved

Combine wine, lemon grass, salt and pepper in medium saucepan. Bring to boil, add shrimp and boil 5 minutes. Drain. Shell shrimp, leaving on tails. Remove veins.

On each of 4 individual serving plates, make pool of 2 tablespoons Mango Mayonnaise. Arrange 2 shrimp on mayonnaise. Add spoonful of Fried Cilantro. Garnish with strawberry halves. Makes 6 servings.

Mango Mayonnaise

1 cup packed mango pulp (1 large mango)

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

Combine mango, lime juice, vinegar, lime peel, salt, cayenne and pepper in blender and blend until mango is pureed. With blender running, add olive oil in thin stream. If mayonnaise is very thick, thin with a little water so it will flow freely into pool on serving plates. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Note: Canned mango, rinsed of syrup, may be substituted for fresh mango.

Fried Cilantro

6 cups cilantro leaves, loosely packed

Oil for deep-frying

Lemon juice

Salt

Ground chile pequin, optional

In preparing cilantro, remove stems, using leaves only. Do not wash. Rub off any dirt with towel. Fry cilantro in several batches. Place in strainer or deep fryer basket. Lower very gradually into oil. When cilantro stops crackling, it is done. Remove and shake lightly in paper towel to drain. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and chile pequin to taste. Makes 6 servings.

WALNUT SOUP

1/3 cup, rounded, shelled walnuts

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1/4 cup French bread crumbs

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Dash ground cloves

2 tablespoons oil

1 quart chicken broth

Salt

1/2 cup diced peeled poblano chile

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Remove as much of thin brown skin as possible from nuts. Combine vinegar and water. Add enough vinegar mixture to bread crumbs to moisten. Grind nuts and bread crumbs together. Add cumin, pepper and cloves. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add ground mixture and fry, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add chicken broth and bring to boil. Just before serving, season to taste with salt. Pass diced chile and pomegranate seeds in separate bowls to add as desired. Makes 4 servings.

CHILAQUILES AND BEAN MOLD

1 cup oil

2 (1-pound) cans refried beans

1 (12-ounce) jar green chile salsa

1 1/2 cups water

Salt

20 corn tortillas, cut into wedges and fried crisp

1 whole chicken breast, cooked, skinned and shredded

Sour cream

Pepper

Sliced avocado

Sliced radishes

Mexican fresh cheese or feta cheese

Heat oil in skillet. Add beans and fry, stirring with wooden spoon, until they form paste thick enough to be molded. Line 10-cup bundt pan with bean paste, saving about 3/4 cup for top. Set aside.

Combine chile salsa and water in saucepan. Bring to boil. Season to taste with salt. Add tortillas. Immediately turn off heat. Push tortillas gently down into sauce until covered. Do not stir. Cover and let stand until liquid is absorbed.

In prepared pan, make layer of 1/3 of soaked tortillas. Top with half chicken shreds, then 1/2 cup sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Make second layer of 1/3 of tortillas, remaining chicken, 1/2 cup sour cream and salt and pepper. Cover with remaining tortillas and pack down into pan. Cover tortillas with layer of reserved beans and press into pan. Bake at 350 degrees until heated through, about 30 minutes. If desired, mold may be made 1 or 2 days ahead of serving, refrigerated and then reheated. Unmold on serving plate. Garnish with avocado, radishes, cheese and additional sour cream. Cut into wedges to serve. Makes 8 to 12 main course servings.

HELADO POTOSINO

(San Luis Potosi Style Ice Cream)

4 red cactus pears, about 1 1/4 pounds

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

7 egg yolks

1/4 cup tequila

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups whipping cream, whipped

Peel cactus pears and press through sieve to extract juice. Discard residue. Combine sugar and water in small saucepan and bring to boil. Beat egg yolks until creamy. While continuing to beat, add syrup in thin stream. When yolk mixture has cooled, add cactus fruit juice, tequila and vanilla. Fold in whipped cream. Turn into 2-quart container and place in freezer until firm. Makes 2 quarts.