Open Mic on Easter!

Come on out to our Open Mic at the Horny Toad in beautiful Cave Creek, Az sunday from 1-5.  Yes we'll be there tomorrow on Easter!  So, show, and tap your toe!

Bourbon Glazed Ham

Bourbon Glazed Ham

1 Smoked ham, fully cooked, bone in about 8 pounds (not Spiral Cut)

¾ cup bourbon  

¾ cup  dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1/3 cup coarse Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim all but 1/4 inch fat from the ham, and score remaining fat in 3/4-inch diamonds, just deep enough to reach the meat without cutting into it. Place ham, fat side up, on a rack in a roasting pan.

Mix together brown sugar, mustard, and bourbon, in a small bowl.

Brush about one quarter of the glaze over the ham.

Bake the ham, brushing with remaining glaze every 30 minutes, until heated through (140 degrees on a digital meat thermometer), about 2 hours.

Remove from oven and allow ham stand about 15 minutes before cutting. 

Sonoran Milkshake with Tequila

Sonoran Milkshake

Tired of margaritas but want tequila.  This is an elegant after dinner drink.

1.5 oz Chambord

1.5 oz. your favorite tequila blanco

2 oz. half and half

Shake and serve on ice in an old fashion glass.

Makes 1 cocktail

Pomodoro Cruda made with Orange Vine-ripened Tomatoes on Angel Hair Pasta

Pomodoro Cruda made with Orange Vine-ripened Tomatoes on Angel Hair Pasta

This one of my all time favorite dishes when the garden is if full production.  A little crisp cold white wine, a little Pomodoro and someone you love…. life is good!

3 C Vine-ripened, orange tomatoes (any vine ripened tomato will also work well)

1/2 C Extra virgin olive oil

2 CLOVES Garlic, pressed

1 TSP Crushed red pepper

20 Fresh basil leaves with buds, torn, not chopped

2 TSP Fresh ground Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 LB Angel hair pasta

1. Cut tomatoes in half (If using red tomatoes, scrape out seeds).  Remove core and chop into about 1/2" chunks.

2. Toss all ingredients except the pasta.  Cover, refrigerate and let stand for 30 minutes for flavors to blend.

3. Cook the pasta, drain, add a little olive oil and toss.

4. While pasta is still warm, divide between 4-6 plates (depending on appetite) and top with the cold pomodoro sauce.  Offer more Parmigiano Reggiano at table.

Sweet Chile Pecans

Sweet Chile Pecans

I stopped by my friends, Rick and Jan Strole's house the other day.  Rick was kind enough to help with a project that Kathy is working on.  We needed some wood work and Rick is quite talented in that area.    

While there Rick offered some sugar /spiced pecans that Jan had made.  They were delicious but I suggested the addition of chile powder or cayenne pepper.  I thought I'd share my recipe with you.

Prep/Cook Time: 25 minutes

    A delicious substitute for croutons.

1/4 C sugar

1/2 TSP salt

1 TSP Mild New Mexico Red Chile or paprika (Toss in a little Cayenne if you like them hot)

2 TSP canola oil (or any neutral flavored oil)

1 C whole pecans

1. In a mixing bowl add together half of the sugar, the salt and spices, mix well.

2. In a large heavy frying pan heat the oil. Lightly brown the nuts stirring constantly until they release their fragrance (about 2 minutes, be careful they will burn very quickly).

3. Sprinkle in the remaining sugar, shaking the pan constantly to keep the nuts from burning. When the sugar melts and caramelizes stir well and remove from heat.

4. Immediately toss the nuts in the sugar and spice mixture separating them with two forks to avoid burning your fingers. (Remember if the sugar cools down it will set.)

5. Once cooled down, they will keep for 2 weeks in airtight container.

   Makes 1 cup

Sweet Potato Risotto

Sweet Potato Risotto

If you've never tried Risotto, you're in for a real treat.  Risotto is delicious and easy once you get the hang of it!

¼ c. olive oil

½ c. fine-diced onion

1 T. garlic

1 c. shredded sweet potato

12 oz. Arborio rice

½ c. mashed sweet potato

6 c. chicken stock

1 T. fresh rosemary

1 ½ t. fresh thyme

4 T. butter

4 T. grated Parmesan cheese

1 t. salt

¾ t. black pepper

Heat chicken broth. Heat olive oil, sauté onion and garlic. Squeeze out any extra moisture from the shredded sweet potato, then rough chop and add to onion mixture, sauté. Then add rice and sauté for 1 minute. Add chicken broth ½ c. at a time until completely absorbed, when you have one cup of broth left add of the mashed sweet potato. When the rice is al dente remove from heat and add cheese herbs, butter and salt and pepper

Variation:

1.     Add  1 ½ c. mashed sweet potato to the stock as the liquid, stir well.

2.      Sauté onion and garlic, add sweet potato, stirring until caramelized and then add to risotto once there is 1 cup stock left

Restaurant-style Prime Rib of Beef on the Grill

Restaurant-style Prime Rib of Beef on the Grill

Prime Rib is easy if you know the tricks, so here they are.  Figure 8OZ per serving.

15 LB Prime rib, boneless
Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 C Kosher salt
1/6 C Pepper
1 TSP Whole dried rosemary
1 TSP Whole dried thyme
1 TSP Ancho chile powder

1. Place pizza stone on grill.  Light burners and turn to low.  Allow grill to slowly heat up to about 350∫, then turn off burners directly below pizza stone and adjust heat to maintain temperature.
2. Rub the entire roast with olive oil.  Mix the salt and pepper together and rub on the roast to make a crust.
3. Place the roast in a baking dish and sprinkle remaining spices over it.
4. Place the roast in the grill and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 115∫ . Remove from the grill, and let rest for 30 minutes. This is for medium rare, which is pink, not red in the center. Serves up to 20.

Eddie Basha has Passed Away.

Eddie Basha was a great part of Arizona.  He employed people and helped with the states economy.  He bought our products and his company sponsored my TV show and my wife worked for his company.  Our condolences to the family.

God in Threes a poem by Daigneaulti

God in Threes

a poem by Daigneault

Throwing Angles at the rain

It’s …

Yes

No

There

These words that cannot say

Of soil and song and joy and truth

Water knowing water

That tree thinks of time

And I live with words

A current a vale

Or light and God

At some point

I am the land and sky

Where are the words

Evading me but all around

I want the words

I need the words

Where are the words

Where?

Why not?

When?

It moves through me

All around

The warm breeze loves the autumn leaves

One but not

So I wait

A hope a prayer

Yes a prayer

Wordless, together and yet just beyond, so close, one but not, tangible, but not

Un-said un-known

Other

No we

Know we

Caged locked I see the door

You dry cold worn

She has lost so much and we can’t find a path

Old now is this the last few pages of that book she wrote

Of a life of fantasy he was on the road on those women but where was she?

I cannot look as the fire grows dim as she grows dim this bright lonely light

Was this her truest lie this life she almost had

And I on the sidelines alone throwing angel at the rain.

I cannot find tears or pain that can see this error in our basic makeup

We calmly watch as our families burn to ash

Less than ash for ash can be touched at least it has the heart to leave us filthy

They just leave and that that is left behind is not them in any way

My father called it garbage but I think it is less

How can a life end in so little

Where is true sadness

Where is the mind going… why… how

Please help me to find my way back to the surface

The light

Blood and fire and pain and deep pounding breaths

Beautiful breathless muscles pushed beyond their limits

Life fresh soil and sweat

Please

Please

Awake

Am I

A cross between sight and pain

The horizon I see it

And I feel it sees me

Knows me

Once again I am alive, If only for today

I come to this cross road again and again

This light is out there and I feel my mind working again and again

But I fear that monster that is just out of my vision.

His breath wet and putrid

Just a round that next corner

Always taking

A thief

But the fight goes on

I know that all is there if only I can extend my grasp

Just become strong enough to reach once again

I can see that thing that I wish to call light

But that is the wrong word

But I can see it and feel it

God in Threes.

Lomi Lomi Salmon Salsa

Lomi Lomi Salmon Salsa

This salsa features a beer-cured piece of salmon cut up and mixed with avocado, tomato, onions, garlic, cilantro and other fantastic flavors.  Lomi Lomi Salmon is a fantastic dish from Hawaii.  I've added my own Sonoran twists.

1 LB Fresh fillet of Salmon
1/2 Bottle Dark Mexican beer
1/4 C Kosher salt
2 TBL Dark brown sugar
Juice of 2 medium lemons
6 Plum tomatoes, skinned, seeded, cut into 1/4 inch
1/2 Maui onion, diced to 1/4 inch
1 Medium avocado, diced to 1/2
2-3 Jalapenos, seeds and veins removed, diced to 1/4
1/2 Bunch Cilantro, minced
2 TSP Kosher salt

1. You will not be cooking the salmon in the traditional sense, you will be curing it.
2. Rinse the salmon under very cold water and dry with paper towel.
3. Remove any pin-bones and cut 6-8 holes in the fish skin about 1 inch long.  Place half of the salt and sugar in a glass baking dish and pat into a single layer.  Place the fish in the  baking dish skin side down, and pat the rest of the salt and sugar onto the flesh side of the fish.  Slowly drizzle the beer over the salt and sugar mixture.
4. Place a baking dish of equal size on top of the fish and weight the dish with a phone book or a half gallon of water (about 3LBS).  Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
5. Remove the fish from the brine, and rinse well, dry with a paper towel. Cut the skin off the fish and cut into 1/4" pieces, place in a large glass mixing bowl.  Add lemon juice and stir well.  Add tomatoes, onion, avocado, jalapenos, and cilantro.
6. Gently fold together, salt and stir again.  Cover with plastic and let flavors blend in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

The Garden

 It's been a week since we started the garden.  Things are coming right along.  In this economy we find grocery cost going up every week.  We use a lot of herbs, so we planted Basil, Thyme, Oregano and Mint, which we are buying weekly.

This is an Artichoke which does really well in our climate.

Look how beautiful this Swiss Chard is in the morning light.  

Micro Greens and an Anaheim Chile!