Rocky Point Shrimp Cocktail

My friend Ernie Bunch, the Vice Mayor of Cave Creek, has been coming to my open mic night, about two or three times a month, for the past 10 years. He has a very natural sound, down to earth, folksy and definitely western. We are currently at CODY’S every Tuesday night from 7-10. Ernie usually orders the Rocky Point Shrimp Cocktail, which is my recipe. He called me this morning saying that, “He wanted the recipe, but will cure the shrimp in Key lime juice rather than steaming or boiling it!”

I told him that was a great idea. So, find below the recipe. This is a recipe that my wife, Chef Kathy, developed, after we went to Rocky Point Mexico about 15 years ago. It’s delicious and is just the right thing for those days, poolside when it’s too hot to eat.

Enjoy

Rocky point Shrimp Cocktail /Gazpacho

Just add Cocktail shrimp to below recipe to taste and top with 4 or 5, 6-8 (per pound) cooked shrimp tail on!

4 C Tomato juice

2 C Tomatoes, diced

1 Cucumber, peeled and diced

1 CLOVE Minced garlic

1 Avocado, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1/2 Green bell pepper cut into ¼" pieces

1/2 Large White Onion, finely chopped

1/2 Jalapeno pepper without seeds, finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1 lime

2 TBL Light olive oil

1/4 C Fresh parsley, chopped

2 TBL Red wine vinegar

1 TSP Fresh basil chopped

2 TSP Tabasco sauce

1/2 TBL Dried Mexican oregano

1 TSP Honey

Salt to taste

4 C Tomato juice

2 C Tomatoes, diced

1 Cucumber, peeled and diced

1 CLOVE Minced garlic

1 Avocado, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1/2 Green bell pepper cut into ¼" pieces

1/2 Large White Onion, finely chopped

1/2 Jalapeno pepper without seeds, finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1 lime

2 TBL Light olive oil

1/4 C Fresh parsley, chopped

2 TBL Red wine vinegar

1 TSP Fresh basil chopped

2 TSP Tabasco sauce

1/2 TBL Dried Mexican oregano

1 TSP Honey

Salt to taste

1. Put everything in a large bowl. Mix together allow flavors to marry in the refrigerator for a few hours. As we say around Cave Creek, go take a nap with someone you love. A few hours later the shrimp is ready and so are you!

Hurricane a poem by Daigneault

The devil had a party

Tuscaloosa rides rotting, gnashing teeth

A few short minutes

All held dear, shredded trash

Timbers and TVs, babies and board games

A living city took to flight

A few short minutes

The monster howled, lives and memories were lost

Everything, that is every thing lost

Hopes and worries and tomorrows plans

A few short minutes

This quintessential crime

And standing in the wreckage

a stranger with a camera

This ultimate pornography

Served with America's morning coffee

A shattered woman, more than alone

Knee deep in shredded sorrows

“I don’t know how to do this”

She said, with her voice shaking

Well be right back

after a word from our sponsors

Easy Shrimp Tacos, Mmmmmm!

Shrimp Tacos

The little fish taco stands along the Sea of Cortez in Mexico sell these delicious tacos. It's a great deal $1 per taco and $1 per ice cold beer. Sitting on the beach watching the fishing boats come and go. Hands down that's the best time you can have for $2. Make sure to use the seafood salsa (Salsa Por Mariscos)we posted a few days ago, to give their tacos that special taste. It goes well with any fish!

12 Corn Tortillas, warmed up on a comal or frying pan

1 LB Frozen Breaded Shrimp, deep fried

1/4 Head Green Cabbage Shredded

2 Hass Avocados, pitt removed and sliced

1/2 White Onion, minced

1/2 Bunch Cilantro, chopped fine

6 Wedges of Key Lime

6 Chile Tepins

Salsa por Mariscos

1. Place two tortillas, on top of each other, on each plate.

2. Place 2 of the shrimp in the center of the tortilla.

3. Top with cabbage, avocado slices, onion and ciltantro and set 1 lime wedge and 1 chile tepin on the side and serve with Salsa por Mariscos.

Serves 6

Meanwhile Back at the Bread III

Okay this what I learned tonight about bread. It is imperative to use (as directed in Tartine Bread) a mixture of Whole Wheat and Rice flour to line your, towel-lined breadbaskets. Today as I was working my dough, through the bench rest and the final rise, I being a rocket scientist, thought to myself, I’m out of the rice flour that is suggested in the directions for lining the baskets. What could it hurt? I’ll tell what it can hurt. When you have 22 loaves of bread that you have been working on for 3 days and then you go out and cut the Mesquite for the fire and you light that fire and watch it for 5 hours, while the bread is rising and then you clean the oven and wash it out, while hot and then you wait until it reaches 575°f and then you take your dough out and as you gently turn over the first loaf and it sticks to the towel and tears and deflates as you watch in horror. That’s the time when you realize that maybe they meant it when they said us a 50/50 mixture of whole wheat and rice, flour to line your baskets.

Alright, after a glass of wine and some thought I gently turned the baskets over and used a plastic dough scraper and got the dough to release and I scored it. However it did lose a little of it’s rise. Once again this is a learning process!

So the bread came out a little flat but it was delicious. I’ll bake again in 3 or 4 days.

Salsa por Mariscos (Salsa for Seafood)

This time of year we eat a lot of fish and seafood. We always have this wonderful salsa. It really makes the difference between just hot sauce out of a bottle and what is amazing about Authentic, Fresh, Mexican food! This is from my second book A Gringo's Guide to Authentic Mexican Cooking. Amazon has it both in print and the E-version at the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Gringos-Authentic-Mexican-Cookbooks-Restaurant/dp/0873587871/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303866790&sr=8-1

Salsa por Mariscos (Salsa for Seafood)

The little fish taco stands along the Sea of Cortez in Mexico use this salsa to give their tacos that special taste. The secret is the cucumber. It goes well with any fish.

4 to 6 large, ripe tomatoes, diced

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped

2 jalapeno` peppers, stems removed, and chopped

1 large white onion, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and chopped

2 tsp. corn oil

At least 2 teaspoons salt (I know it looks like a lot, but for the right flavor, it takes more than you would think.)

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and cool for about 1/2 hour before serving.

Makes 4 cups

Red Hot, South Texas, Shrimp en Escabache

The weather is getting warm and at this time of year I start to think of my favorite hot weather shrimp dish. Make up a big bowl of this and serve it over butter lettuce with key lime wedges and Hass avocado slices. If you can find it a good baguette and an ice cold chardonnay will make this the perfect warm day meal.

Red Hot, South Texas, Shrimp en Escabache

1 Lemon, sliced

1-cup celery tops

½ cup crab boil

1 ½ Tbl. Kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 ½ Lbs raw medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 medium white onions, sliced thin

12 bay leaves

1 ¾ cups canola oil

2 cups white vinegar

1 ½ Tbl. sea salt

1 Tbl. Crushed red chile

2 tsp. Pink peppercorn

1/3 cup capers, brine

¼ cup celery seeds

15 cloves garlic, cut in half

2 sprigs fresh thyme

8-10 pickled bird peppers or 2 pickled Jalapeno chiles, cut in quarters lengthwise

5 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 tsp. White pepper

1 tsp. Black pepper

Fill a stockpot half way and add the lemon, celery, crab boil, kosher salt and black pepper. Bring to a rolling boil and then add the shrimp. Stir well and then remove from heat. Allow shrimp to stew in the hot liquid for 10 minutes and then remove shrimp and plunge in ice bath to stop cooking. Drain the shrimp well.

In a glass bowl layer the shrimp, onion slices, and bay leaves.

Emulsify the oil, vinegar and salt, either with an electric hand whisk, or in the blender. Then stir in remaining ingredients. Pour over layered shrimp.

Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours, stirring every 6 to 8 hours.

Restaurant Reviews a Big hit!

Okay, as usual I check the statistics page for this blog at lest one time a day. By coincident, I’ve done two restaurant reviews in the past few days. My page hits went through the roof. About five times the amount of hits I get on other subjects. So this tells me that you, the readers, like it when Kathy and I review a restaurant.

If you live in the Phoenix metro, or surrounding areas, and would like for us to take a look at a restaurant, that you feel is above average, let us know. Or if you are looking for a new place to enjoy a specific type of cuisine, leave a comment asking. We’ve lived here for just under fifty years each and if we don’t know where to find what you are looking for I’m sure that one of our readers or friends will. Also if you want more of any other subject that we are working on, tell us.

Thanks for reading and please keep sharing our work.

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe

Cave Creek Coffee Co. New Breakfast Menu

If you live in the north valley (Phoenix) and haven’t been to The Cave Creek Coffee Company, or as it’s known by the locals “C4”, then you’re missing one of the best coffee shops around. Their food is great but what C4 is really about is atmosphere. The front porch is a haven for talk, good coffee and a view of small town life, here in the Sonoran desert. It was taken over by Todd and Rose Newman about five or six years ago. They have really worked to make it a wonderful place for coffee in the morning and delicious, light bistro fare along with great wines in the evening. A while back they decided on increasing the size and output of their kitchen, which gets us to the new breakfast menu (http://cavecreekcoffee.com/images/breakfest_menu.pdf ).

I am the worst person in the world to go to breakfast with. The reason is I’m quite picky about breakfast. It's simple and when done right, my favorite meal. However I know how I want everything on the plate done. If anything is off, I just don’t want to eat, and I won’t wait for my toast to come back toasted or for my bacon to be crisped up a bit because the rest of the breakfast is then cold… picky, picky, picky!

Being that I have coffee at C4 several times a week I often have a breakfast burrito. They are quite good but I ask for more potato than egg and less cheese, picky. The girls that take my order know me and they just smile and tell the cook, “It’s for Joe!”

This morning I saw they have a new Breakfast Menu. I settled on the Eggs Benedict. First the plate was beautiful, sliced orange and apples along with eggs poached perfectly topped with fresh made hollandaise sauce. I took my first bite and what I found was a combination of the light smokiness of the ham along with a surprising little bite of cayenne in the hollandaise sauce. The cayenne was balanced very lightly against the lemon and butter. This was a great plate of eggs benedict. I asked to talk with the chef. I wanted to tell her how good my breakfast was Chef Erin came out and we chatted about the sauce. She uses just a little cayenne and a few drops of Tabasco. This girl can cook! While I had my coffee several friends dropped by and had breakfast, everything looked good and everybody was quite pleased with their breakfast! Drop by soon you won’t be sorry! 6033 E. Cave Creek Rd.