If you enjoy margaritas, but prefer just a little bit of sweetness, this recipe is for you. It’s still got the margarita kick, but it’s not sickeningly sweet like some of the fruit concoctions made at restaurants. Usually they are simply too sweet for me. But this one, from a Phillis Carey cooking class, was just great. A little bit of fruit, a little sugar on the rim, and a goodly sock of tequila. [I had a 3 ounce margarita total, so don’t get excited.] Don’t use frozen strawberries, as that will make the margarita more like a smoothie. As usual, photographing beverages is a bit difficult – I snapped this at the class, balancing a cafeteria tray on my lap with nothing but the printed recipes as my decorative backdrop!
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Every few days I look at some new food blogs. Surely I shouldn’t be spending any more of my time reading more and more food blogs, but I can’t seem to help myself. If you notice the Foodie Blogroll thing on my sidebar, it lists a bunch of blogs. That list changes every day. They aren’t my lists (my personal blogroll is down on the bottom of my page – those are the ones I follow regularly), but is a commercial site that gives food bloggers some visibility. Once in a great while my blog shows up on the list.

Sometimes the blogs linked there are in foreign languages. Scratch those. Sometimes they’re ones I’ve already examined or watch regularly. This time it was a new one, so I started reading LaDue & Crew’s last month of posts. And what did I spy but a kumquat recipe. Hmmm. I still have oodles of kumquats. Well, I did – most of what’s left (below) will be used in a reprise of this recipe it’s so good!

You know about kumquats, right? They look like miniature elongated oranges. But boy, do they pack a punch. It’s the SKIN that’s sweet. The juice inside (which unfortunately contains a few seeds) is super-tart. The kind that makes your mouth pucker and you stand taller for a few seconds. If you eat them out of hand, you simply must chew some of the rind with the juice or you’ll be shaking your head and wanting to spit it out.

This comprises the end of my kumquat harvest.

So, what I found over at LaDue & Crew was a story about an Asian pear dessert with poached kumquats in a vanilla-scented syrup. What can I tell you about this dish: my DH said “fabulous, honey.” Then he said “it is so unusual, and different. I expected something kind of blah from looking at it. It didn’t LOOK like how it tasted, that’s for sure. It just looked like slices of apple” [no, it was Asian pear, though they have the texture of apple]. THEN, he said “wow, it is just this unbelievable combo of the pear, kumquat with the mint.” I garnished with the mint, and it’s a super addition to this recipe. Our recommendation: each and every bite must include a piece of pear (about thumb size), one slice of kumquat, AND a tiny slice of mint.

It took very little time to make this – except for slicing and de-seeding the little kumquat gems. That probably took 15 minutes. Maybe you can recruit one of your children to help with that, if you have some around. You make a simple syrup, really (half sugar, half water) with some lime juice added. I used Splenda so my DH could enjoy this too. The syrup is simmered very briefly with a half of a vanilla bean (the seeds scraped out into the syrup as well as the pod). That’s it. Then the warm/hot syrup is poured over the pears, and it’s allowed to cool, then you refrigerate it. I think next time I’ll just put the whole batch into a plastic bag so you can turn the bag over a few times during the cooling process, because the pear slices that were IN the syrup had a much more vanilla-accented flavor than the ones on top which had almost no contact with the syrup. The benefit to using Asian pear is that it can sit for hours without darkening. Because the pear isn’t cooked, you see.

Next time I think I’ll make a double batch of the syrup, because it is scrumptious. I wanted more of it. The next morning, after the pears had soaked for 12+ hours, the flavor was sensational. I think marinating overnight, or at least 8-12 hours is essential. I might also try putting a dollop of creme fraiche on top too. Just for fun. We ate the remainder yesterday with some Fage Greek yogurt – for breakfast. The flavors were still fabulous. Thanks to LaDue and crew for this great recipe.

I also made a kumquat salad dressing (for greens). I’ll be writing that up in the next few days. So stay tuned if you’re searching for kumquat recipes.
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A year ago: Grilled tri-tip roast with tequila marinade and cherry tomato relish
Two years ago: Tangerine vinaigrette

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When I bought my Fagor pressure cooker, I recall watching a video (on a DVD included in the package) and one of the recipes was for risotto. Really, I thought? You can make risotto in a pressure cooker?

Well, I’m here to tell you this recipe worked like a charm. I rarely make risotto, for two reasons: (a) rice is a high glycemic carb; and (b) it’s labor intensive. But, as you probably know, risotto is also downright delicious. It’s probably been 2 years since I’ve made risotto, but I think I might make it slightly more often with this new recipe.

We had a nice thick ribeye steak for dinner, a green salad, an artichoke, and this risotto. Arborio rice always lives in my cupboard, even though I rarely use it.  I had some already-prepared mushrooms (leftovers) so I decided to add them to the mixture. I wasn’t sure the mushrooms would withstand the pressure cooker method, so I added them in at the end (along with the garlic and parsley and Parmesan cheese).

First you saute the onion, then add the rice and cook it briefly in olive oil. You add the white wine and let it evaporate, then broth is added and you let it do its pressure cooker thing. Mine pressured for five minutes. Once I removed the lid there was just the perfect amount of liquid in the pan, but once I added the mushrooms, it thickened up some, so I did end up adding a bit of water. Taste the rice to see if it’s cooked perfectly – still slightly firm to the tooth. You do not want to overcook it, that’s all. You may need to try your pressure cooker. The creaminess was perfect. And it was really tasty. Next time I might add a bit more Parmesan. If you’re eating this as your entree, it’ll serve 2. As a side, it’ll serve at least 4, maybe 5.
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A year ago: Brownie-Bottomed Pudding Pie (easy)
Two years ago: Mexican Chopped Salad (oh, a real favorite)

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Well, it’s a good thing my friend Norma needs some “new” kind of cookie, because I’d about run out of recipes to try, to make soft chocolate chip cookies. Her doctor has told her she can’t have any more chocolate or nuts (too much potassium). She said coconut sounded really good.

Nary a coconut cookie recipe did I have in my collection because it’s not a flavor I crave. Well, I do have a cranberry noel that has coconut on the edges, really nice for Christmas, but I don’t usually make them other times of the year. They also have nuts in them, so that one’s out.

I turned to an ancient cookbook that belonged to my mother, called The Spice Cookbook by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey. It has recipes of ALL kinds from soup to veggies, but using spices. Sure enough, it had an orange coconut cookie that sounded good. I wanted to use butter instead of shortening, and I only had low-fat sour cream. Plus I had tangerines instead of oranges. No matter. All those substitutions worked just fine.

These cookies are soft. The batter is soft too. Just what Norma likes. And believe it or not, I liked them too. They were easy to throw together, easy to bake, and very easy to eat! The lemon and tangerine rind in the cookies gave it a lovely citrusy flavor. The coconut isn’t overwhelming, but I used shaved coconut (dried), not covered in sugar. If you use the store-bought shredded coconut I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the cookie batter by a couple of tablespoons. I haven’t heard back from Norma yet as to how these cookies taste. . . I’ll report later on that.
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A year ago: White Chicken Chili

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A chicken breast with the garlic flavored panko & Parmigiano crumb crust

We eat a lot of chicken around our house. I don’t always blog about it because I’m making chicken by recipes I’ve already posted here at Tasting Spoons. The other day I got a hankering for some Italian flavors, and I remembered a chicken dish  grandmother Ethel made (a grandmother through a former marriage). She’d dip chicken pieces in egg, then a dry herb mix, then in bread crumbs that had a lot of canned Parmesan added to it. Well, I never, ever buy that stuff anymore, so I decided to play around with what I would use.

Evaporated milk on the right, crumb cheese mix on the left

Knowing that sometimes Southern cooks soak chicken in buttermilk before they pan fry it, I thought maybe I’d soak the chicken in evaporated milk to which I’d add some garlic powder (you could add some onion powder instead or in addition to). I didn’t have time to soak the chicken much (ideally do it for a couple of hours), but I did while I put together the panko crumb topping. I grated some fresh Parmigiano, gathered some fresh herbs from my garden (Italian parsley, oregano and thyme) and put them into my separate dipping trays.

Meanwhile, you need to prepare a big flat baking sheet, line it with foil and give it some pan release spray. Dip the pieces into the milk again, then into the crumb mixture, put them on the baking sheet (without pieces touching) and bake for an hour at 350. Pretty darned easy, really. You want the garlic flavor to predominate. Using panko assures you the crumbs will be nice and crunchy on top. You can use boneless, skinless chicken, but I usually include the skin to bake, but I don’t eat it. Only problem with that is that all the tasty cheesy crumb topping sticks to the skin. But it you use skinless, the chicken will likely dry out more. You can’t have it both ways, unfortunately. This was really good. Next time I might add in some lemon zest to the crumb mixture. Italians are crazy about lemons, so that would be a natural fit.

Serve this with some colorful, green vegetable (I did green beans) and a green salad. In the past, before I was concerned so much about carbs, I served this with herbed, buttered noodles.
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A year ago: Mango Strawberry Salsa
Two years ago: Lemon Velvet Gelato/Ice Cream (a real favorite around our house)

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A week or so ago we had SO much fun with our friends Barbara & Bob, visiting this restaurant in Indio. It’s new. We’d not heard about it, but Barbara said, trust me, you’ll like it. Oh my, yes we did. With a very Southwest-looking gate entrance, valet parking available, huge grounds, and a fantastic building, there wasn’t anything not to like.

Obviously you need to be in or around the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area to visit this place. So I’m sure I’ll lose a bunch of readers right now . . . that’s okay. Those who do visit the area or live nearby will be glad to know more about Jackalope Ranch. The restaurant is part of a group that includes several other Valley restaurants (Kaiser Grille, Prime Chop House, Hog’s Breath Inn).

As the population boom has expanded in the valley east of Palm Springs, it’s spread further east toward Indio. More and more subdivisions have popped up, more and more shopping attractions too. Our second home is in Palm Desert, about 5 miles away, west of Indio. We met our friends at Jackalope. Go to the patio outside they said – we’ll meet you there. The only hitch was that we had to BE THERE at 3:15 pm. WHAT, I said? 3:15? Really. Barbara said yes. Again, she said, trust me. We didn’t have lunch, which was a good thing.

The bar area outside probably seats about 100 people. If you sit closer to the restaurant, around a huge bar, there are misters to keep you cool. They spit out a fine mist about every 3 minutes or so. We, instead, sat further out, to what we hoped would be a less noisy space (yes, it was). We overlooked the pond and waterfalls pictured above. Listened to the birds. We sat carefully in the shade. Bob kept moving our cantilevered umbrella to keep all 4 of us out of the sun. It was in the low 90’s the afternoon we were there, but comfortable enough (dry heat, remember, in the California desert).

Jackalope Ranch is a huge restaurant – done in dark woods and kind of upscale country/cowboy decor. They have a mammoth indoor bar too, where there is a large digital indicator of the temperature of the draft beer they draw from a tank. Bob, who is a beer drinker, thinks that’s really “cool.” Every time they pull a tap beer, the temperature rises a degree or two, so it’s a game to see how long it takes to get the temp back down. The restaurant features barbecue (all kinds) and steaks. And a bit of everything, really. We didn’t eat in the sit-down restaurant, but spent all our time out on the patio.

So now, on to the food and drinks outside. Seven days a week from 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Jackalope Ranch offers all their bar food, margaritas, well drinks and house wine at HALF PRICE. What a huge bargain. You can easily eat your (early) dinner there, which is what we did. If  you get there later than 3:30, you may not find any outdoor seating. It’s very popular, although now that the weather is warming up, you might have a better chance.

We had their homemade guacamole and multi-colored chips. We had their version of nachos – with some pulled pork sprinkled all over the top (yum). We had margaritas and wine. Then Bob ordered a pulled pork sandwich. I didn’t taste it, but since I’d tasted the pulled pork on the nachos, I’d say it was delicious. Barbara and I ordered a wedge salad that was really refreshing. We were there for exactly 3 hours and 15 minutes. What fun we had. Would I go again – you betcha – in a heartbeat. Except that during the summer months it’ll be hotter than heck on the patio, so we may not go until late Fall. But go again we will.

It’s located right on Highway 111 (that’s the main drag all the way through the Coachella Valley). It’s east of Jefferson, on the left, about a half a block past the date shake place. Look for the big gate.

A year ago: Dijon Chicken Breasts with Panko Crust

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Last week I went on the Tustin Garden Tour. As with lots of communities, I suppose, there are garden clubs here and there. Every year our local one offers up 4 or so home gardens to view. Always fun and interesting. Fun to see other people’s back yards (of course, it’s mostly about the plantings, but you get to see everybody’s outdoor patios of all shapes and sizes, from small to gigantic, humble and elaborate). You also know that for weeks prior the homeowners labored like slaves to get their yards looking the way they do on garden tour day.

Another view in the same garden - isn't that just beautiful?

At one of the homes, as we entered around the shady side of the house, what did we see but this lettuce garden (above photo). It’s a riddling rack – that’s a wine thing – vintners (champagne makers in France started it, I think) poke filled bottles of champagne in these racks and periodically the bottles are turned – which helps the sediment to drop into the neck – makes for easier removal before corking the bottle permanently. And here (right) was a doorway into a cottage (or maybe it was a garage) in the lovely backyard.

Back to the riddling rack – this gardener (Rosemary) had somehow fitted all the holes of an old rack with something (either draining cups or mesh and wire) to hold a small amount of soil. And she’s growing all kinds of lettuces in them. She bought small plants (not grown from seed) and they’d been growing to reach the state you see. She hadn’t yet harvested any of the lettuce. It looks SO pretty. So fresh and fun.

Sometimes you can find riddling racks at junk or antique stores. Most people wouldn’t even know what they are. Now you do, and maybe you too can grow your green salad in it.

A Year Ago: Lemon Oregano Vinaigrette

Two Years Ago: Caramelized Carnitas Tacos (part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration)

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Pear matchsticks, shallots, walnuts and Parmigiano add contrast

Shopping at Costco isn’t exactly like browsing in your local outdoor farmer’s market, but I always make a circuit in the cold fresh-veggie storage area at my local store. They have the pre-washed, mostly trimmed haricot verts, those tender, baby green beans. Two pounds worth. But they’re very nice, so every month or so I buy a package and find new and different ways to use them. This time I found a recipe that’s been knocking around in my to-try file for just ages. A cold salad with pears, walnuts and Parmigiano in a walnut oil dressing. Sounded nice. My friend Darlene had given me the recipe years ago (her note said it was fabulous), and it looks like it came from Bon Appetit, but it’s not available on the epicurious website, so maybe it’s really, really old. I did change it slightly, so I suppose I could get away with saying it’s my recipe now . . . maybe.

This miniature version of the “big” Alligator chopper is perfect for mincing shallots and garlic.

If you have an herb garden, here’s the recipe to use some of the product – Italian parsley, fresh oregano and fresh thyme. The recipe called for basil too, but I don’t have basil in my garden yet, so I substituted mint, which is flourishing everywhere I don’t really want it to. Such is the way with mint, as you probably know. You whisk up a walnut-oil dressing with shallots, and then some julienned pear is added in, along with the Parmigiano. Oh, and some chopped walnuts. Make enough of the finished dish for just what you’ll eat, as any leftovers soaking in the dressing will turn the beans that sickly gray-green nobody enjoys. Just add more dressing to more pre-cooked beans later and it’s an all-new salad. What I changed: (1) mint instead of basil, (2) a pinch of sugar added to the dressing; and (3) less pear and Parmigiano. So if you’d like more pear, more Parmigiano, don’t like the pinch of sugar, you’ll know what to do. I made enough just for two servings, and had some of the dressing leftover, which went well on a garden salad.
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Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click link to open in MC – 14 contains photo)

A year ago: Armenian Rice & Noodle Pilaf
Two years ago: Beer Margaritas

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Did you know it’s halibut season? At our local Costco, they have fresh Alaskan halibut that is unbelievably fresh and tasty. Most of what they have is in large portions – I should have invited some guests to come over as we have leftovers to serve probably another 4 people. The fish I bought was $20. What a bargain.

Now, if I can just get you to make this recipe. I think it’s going to have to go into my favorites list, it’s that good. Will you trust me about this? And, the recipe came from Cooking Light, too! Imagine that. Healthy and tasty too. According to the write-up from September of ’07, this recipe was created by Lia Huber and first printed in the magazine in March of ’04. The recipe received the test kitchen’s highest rating, and continues to be a staff favorite. I can see why. This may be my new, forever go-to recipe for halibut.

This  is VERY easy to make. Truly it is. Trust me on this too. The aioli is just mayonnaise, minced fresh cilantro, a bit of fresh minced chile (serrano) and a minced garlic clove. The breading is merely flour and cornflake crumbs (with salt and pepper added in). You dunk the halibut into a mixture of milk and egg white, then into the breading mixture. You pan fry the halibut about 4 minutes per side, put on a dollop of the sauce and it’s done. How easy is that?

My DH made mmm noises all through dinner. A good sign. I served the fish on a bed of mashed potatoes (a real treat) and alongside I served some fresh asparagus, made according to Marie’s recipe from over at A Year from Oak Cottage. It’s called crumbled asparagus, and it’s become one of my favorite ways to make asparagus. So now, will you please go out and buy some halibut and make this?

A few changes have been made from the Cooking Light recipe: (1) I used less serrano because it was way too hot; (2) a full cup of milk is more than needed for dipping; (3) less cornflake crumbs were needed; (4) I also made this with regular mayo since I didn’t have any fat-free, and I made more sauce than the recipe called for. So those changes have been incorporated into the below recipe. The nutrition count below assumes you eat all the dipping and dunking mixture, which you probably won’t.
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If you really like halibut, and have time to make it, I have one other recipe here on my blog for Halibut Osso Buco.

A year ago: Shrimp, Bacon & Vegetable Chowder

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If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you already know that I am married to a sailor. He’s a pleasure sailor, not a sea captain-type, but he’s been one since he was 6 years old, when he found his first abandoned leaky rowboat floating in the marshes after a big spring storm in his hometown, Ocean City, New Jersey. He hid the derelict boat in a tiny inlet on one of the marshy islands and waded to it at low tide. With no oars for the rowboat, he couldn’t get very far. Finally, his father heard about his somewhat risky adventure, and figuring that if his son was that determined, he ought to buy him a real rowboat (a 12-foot Bateau) at age 7.

When I met Dave he owned a Catalina 27, and shortly after we married we bought an Endeavor 38, a sloop. I wanted it mostly to entertain on it. He wanted it to sail, of course. In either case, it’s a beauty still, I’ll admit, even though I don’t hardly sail. I get seasick, you see, if I get into open ocean. But Dave enjoys going to the boat regularly, kept at a dock in San Diego (even as a double amputee he’s quite agile at it). He sails for the day, or a jaunt of a few days with his sailing buddies.

My hubby reads sailing magazines like I read ones about cooking. And rarely do the two interests intersect. His magazine articles are full of words like “floating sheeting-point tracks” or “wing keel.” Sounds mostly like Greek to me still, even after 25+ years of marriage to a sailor. But one day recently Dave wanted to tell me about a story he’d just read, written by Deborah Shapiro (pictured above in her galley, with some of her on-board dishes) in the recent issue of Cruising World (May, 2009). First he pointed to the gorgeous photo of this boat, the Northern Light, and began telling me about the couple who sail it. The boat is a 40-foot cutter-rigged steel ketch (see, more of those words again – see vocabulary at the end of this post).

That’s the kind of photo that sends chills up my spine. But sends thrills up Dave’s spine, and those of most saltwater sailors. “Rail down” (in the water), it’s called. See how the boat is tilted, the wind filling the sails and leaning it over on its side. Sailors love to have pictures of their boats rail down. That’s macho, you know. But it makes my stomach lurch as I look at it. There, at the helm, is Rolf Bjelke in his yellow slicker. Likely his wife Deborah, the first mate, took the photo.

They met in Fiji in 1980. Rolf is Scandinavian, and was sailing his boat, obviously stopping in Fiji. At the time Deborah (from the U.S. of A) was a novice at small boats. But she was willing to learn. A year or so later she suggested they sail to the Arctic as a “training trip.” [Can you imagine – sailing to the Arctic as a TRAINING trip?] Yes, well, off they went. Some months later on their sailing journey, Deborah had not jumped ship, nor had Rolf put her ashore at the first port. They happened to be shopping in Boston. She spotted some Corelle dinnerware. You know Corelle, right? The glass dishes that don’t scratch and don’t BREAK! Having used some grungy scratched plastic dishes since 1967, my guess is that Rolf didn’t much care about how his dishes looked. Nor did he believe the Corelle dishes were unbreakable. The salesclerk demonstrated – she flung the plate “like a Frisbee” to a tile floor. It landed unbroken. So purchase them they did, and off they went, continuing their odyssey (Arctic to Antarctica). And that began the nearly continuous sailing they’ve done ever since. Rolf and Deborah are now accomplished documentary filmmakers, photographers and authors. Put them in port somewhere and they get itchy to get back into cold-cold water somewhere, in places most people would never see, could never see, except from a boat.

Deborah, along with the Corelle dishes (and a few other dishes purchased along the way – some rimmed china soup bowls especially acquired for a favorite Swedish pea soup that must be grazed through a little jot of mustard placed on the rim, plus a couple of ceramic mugs acquired in 2000) have logged over 22,500 miles aboard Northern Light. Rolf has skippered Northern Light across 214,000 miles (equal to the distance from Earth to the moon). Whew. I’m tremendously impressed.

In 1989 Rolf & Deborah actually sailed to the Antarctic peninsula and let the boat get frozen in the fast ice (that’s why they need a steel-hulled boat) for the entire winter. If you look at the photo of the boat above, just to the right of Rolf you can see a roundish shape – that’s a clear bubble skylight that allows Rolf & Deborah to peek up into the landscape without opening hatches which would let in the frigid sub-Arctic air. It was after that winter they wrote two books about the experience.

They wrote Time on Ice: A Winter Voyage to Antarctica as a shared endeavor, each chapter penned by one, then the other. Deborah wrote Letters from the Sea too. Perhaps the subjects aren’t for every reader, but I like Deborah’s writing style, so I may try to find one or both at my local used bookstore. Even though there will be lots of words and phrases I won’t understand. And since I’d like to know what they did, stuck down below on their boat for months on end, frozen in the ice. Scrabble? Solitaire? Reading? I mean, how many books can you really take for a winter stuck in ice? Surely they didn’t cook a lot. Couldn’t waste either food or the propane to cook it with. Write? – well yes, they obviously “worked” some too. And likely cuddled a lot to keep warm. My curiosity is piqued.

So here’s a salute to the Bjelkes and to Corelle. The dishes are still being made, and I’d guess Deborah & Rolf are still using theirs. Now I want to know what kind of hand cream Deborah uses!

– – – – –
Photos reproduced by permission from Deborah Shapiro and Cruising World magazine. Yes, I did get permission from Deborah – she responded to a special kind of email called sailmail (messages mostly read by marine radio) as they are sailing somewhere out in the wild blue ocean, nowhere near an internet connection. But do remember, even if you’re confined on a sailboat frozen in the Arctic, some people still like nice dishes. I can appreciate that feeling. For the record, I don’t own any Corelle dishes. On our boat we have some clunky, heavy duty plastic dishes that have knife scratches just like Rolf’s did. And, in case you’re interested, Rolf & Deborah’s ongoing articles will be in upcoming issues of Cruising World. I’ll be reading them. And yes, we have a photo of our boat rail down too. And, I really have learned a lot of nautical language even though I pretend I haven’t.

Nautical Vocabulary Lesson: (mostly defined by my husband):
Ketch – two-masted sailboat, with foremast taller than the aftermast, stationed ahead of the rudder head (fore means toward the front of the boat or the pointy end as my hubby likes to tell novices; aft, or after- means toward the back, the stubby end; the rudder is what steers the boat)
Sloop – single-masted sailboat with sails both fore and aft of the mast
Galley– a kitchen on board a boat (but you knew that one already, right?)
Cutter-rigged (ketch) – a sailboat rigged for heavy weather sailing
Floating sheeting-point tracks – adjustable points on the boat deck for controlling the sails
Wing(ed)-keel – a winged-shaped form at the bottom of the keel (the keel weights the boat AND keeps it from tipping over when you’re rail down among other things)

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