Willie, Time to go.

From my ogoing on-line novel "Willie".

For me it’s just another long, hot, summer day, working with my big buddy Willie. We’re fabricating iron on a pneumatic steel bender, in the brutal Arizona sun, in the gritty industrial district of old south Phoenix and will do so for the rest of the day… or so we think.

Willie Benson is 34 years old. An Anglo, that stands six foot-two inches tall, 240 pounds, without a drop of fat. He’s a big, friendly looking man, with penetrating steel grey eyes and a Paul Newmanesq grin that never leaves his face. Willie’s the kind of man that other men find likeable and a little scary, both at the same time. With a sandy blond, full head of curly hair, a classic bad boy, women find him irresistible. He’s also a self described “Rounder” or career criminal.

I’m fifteen years old and big for my age. He works with me in the steel yard my family owns. This is my third summer working with Willie, who needs a straight job to meet his parole requirements. Every Friday, he has to stop by and show his caseworker at the Department of Corrections his pay stub, and it better say 40 hours. The funny thing is, he never cashes the checks. He considers it a matter of honor that he earn his living through his chosen vocation… crime. He is quite proud of his vocation and discusses with me often. This morning he’s telling me how to steal TVs.

“I tell you kid, televisions are a great way to pick up a little quick cash. I mean who doesn’t want a better TV. On a good day I can unload eight or ten of em.”

I’m a little confused. “Just how do you get a hold of eight or ten TVs?”

At heart Willie is a big kid. He smiles with a twinkle in his eye, like a he’s stealing candy.

“Shit…grabbing TVs is easy. You wander into the Monkey Wards or any big store. All you need is a receipt. If you can’t find one in the trash or on the ground, just buy something that cost a few bucks. Walk on back to the TVs and fold the receipt so the store name is in plain sight. Tuck the receipt in your mouth, pick up a set and head for the door. You can’t talk and nobody is going to ask a guy with a receipt in his mouth if he paid for the TV. Shit… the manager will usually get the door for you. And if he gets wise and starts asking questions, you can always throw the TV on him. The problem with them getting the door is they may want to help you to your car. You really want to avoid that. It gets a little sticky when you’re trying to explain the six or seven TVs in the back of your station wagon.”

To me Willie is a great big guy with a lot of funny stories, who also happens to be a criminal. He’s not a threat. Like a big uncle, I always feel safe around him. But today, I will see first hand, just how afraid others are of my big friend.

Years later when talking with my father about Willie, he tells me he has seen his Criminal record, which states: When apprehending use extreme caution, he is to be considered, usually armed but always dangerous.

The bender we are working at is situated between two driveways that sit about twenty five feet off of the oily dirt road that runs in front of the steel yard. Trucks come and go all day, in and out loaded with steel reinforcing bars. The neighborhood is a combination of dirty, run down motels, shacks, old two room adobe houses and Industrial plants. It’s also the home of the poorest of the poor, numerous gangs, street people, junkies and drunks. So, it doesn’t seem odd when the two drunks start arguing just outside the gate on the other side of the bender.

They look like street people, unkempt, dirty long hair, several days of stubbly beard. Both in dirty work pants, one wears a sleeveless Levi jacket and the other an old, faded, sweat stained, tee shirt that say’s, “American Graffiti.”

The guy wearing the sleeveless jacket starts in, in a very loud, drunken voice.

“Jimmie, You didn’t even like that chick. I don’t need you shit!”

They’re so loud that most of the men working in the yard sort of stop what their doing to see the show.

The shaggy man in the “American Graffiti” tee shirt looks over and starts talking to Willie and me with an intoxicated slur, while his friend stumbles on seemingly unaware.

Approaching us from the front, he blirts out, “Like her… Can you believe him? She was my cousin! I’ve known her all my life!”

We’re starting to laugh at the developing scene when the other man notices that his friend has wandered through the first gate into the yard. He is now standing at the second gate, just behind us, so he wanders on over.

Extending a friendly hand, he appears to be the classic happy drunk.

He mumbles to Willie, “Hey man, that’s Jimmie, I’m Sam, how you doin?”

Willie smiles and turns to shake his hand. We are both snickering.

As Willie turns I noticed the man standing across from us reaching behind his back, as if to tuck his shirt in.

Suddenly, time slows to a crawl and all sound seems to disappear. I see the next few seconds like an instant replay in some sort of twisted, slow motion movie. I watch the look on the man’s face change from a lazy smile, to deadly serious. In a seemingly choreographed move, he pulls out a big stainless steel revolver. Grasping it with both hands. He is now pointing it directly at Willie’s head.

This movement causes Willie to turn back to the man. The barrel of the pistol looks huge and hollow and is about eight inches from center of Willie’s forehead. Meanwhile, the second man produced his own gun. Grabbing Willie by the shoulder, I watch as the barrel is firmly pressed just under my friend’s right ear at a slightly upward angle, causing him to carefully tilt his head to the side. Willie’s hands instinctively, slowly, rise, signaling surrender. The man on the other side of the bender say’s in very low, but deliberate, staccato voice“ don’t-even-breathe you big, dumb, motherfucker… F-B-I.”

It seems so surreal. In the same instant that the men are grabbing Willie, several Police cars and unmarked white sedans descend on the yard with lights flashing. Agents wearing blue blazers with F.B.I. in big yellow letters printed on both the front and back appear out of nowhere, all of them pointing shotguns or pistols directly at Willie. He is cuffed and shoved to the ground in seconds.

One of them say’s, to me, in a clear voice “Son… get over hear now!”

Scared to death, my heart pounding and starting to tear up, I immediately walk towards the officer.

As I do, I heard another agent say, “Willard Benson, you are under arrest for interstate trafficking of narcotics, fraudulent schemes and receiving stolen goods. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney…”

In a way that makes me feel sick to my stomach, it’s just like some crime drama on television.

Another group of police and FBI agents are taking Willie’s car apart, cutting the seats and spare tire with a razor knife. I don’t know what they are looking for but, they don’t seem to find anything.

They immediately take Willie to a waiting car. A tow truck backs up and hooks on to his old station wagon and in an instant they’re both gone. Just a few cops are left behind, talking with Chuck our foreman.

As they drive away, I catch a glimpse of the side of Willie’s face. He’s seated in the back of an unmarked white sedan. Sitting slightly forward, obviously because of the handcuffs behind his back. Although he’s still smiling, trying show he’s not been beaten, all color has left his face. He looks as if he has aged twenty years in just a few minutes, like a caged dog on his way to the pound. This is the last time I will see my friend for just over eight years.

Tex-Mex Tacos

Today I feel like making tacos, these are quick and easy. They only cost a few bucks and feed a small crowd.

This recipe calls for pre-made taco shells. If you want, you can fry your own corn tortillas with the meat mixture inside. Make sure and drain them on a paper towel, before filling them with the toppings. My friend, Western author Bob “Boze” Bell, fries his tacos, holding the tortilla closed with an old pair of pliers! I think the reason we never get poisoned from this practice has something to do with the amount of tequila we consume while cooking!

1 Tbl vegetable oil

1 small white onion, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

2 Lb. Ground beef

1 Lb. Ground pork

1 large bunch cilantro, rinsed and chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

12 taco shells

Toppings:

Shredded lettuce, finely chopped white onion, avocado slices, salsa, tomato, and cheddar cheese,

Sauté the onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a skillet until onions are soft. Then add the beef and pork and continue cooking until the meat is done. Remove from heat. Add the cilantro and season to taste. Assemble the tacos meat first then toppings in the order they are listed. And add Beer… to drink… lots of beer!

Makes 12 tacos

Willie Road Trip

This is from my ongoing on-line novel Willie I was told this story when I was about 17 by Chuck the old foreman that ran our crew when I was an iroworker. Those were hard years, but I look back on them fondly.

Road trip

The hard plastic phone rings on the cluttered, oak desk. A middle-aged cop picks it up.

He clears his throat and then answers with a gruff tone, “Spokane Police Department, Can I help you.”

“Yeah, this is Detective Carl Whitlow, I’m with Rock Springs P-D. We’re located in Southern Wyoming. We got a circular from you on an armed robbery and I’ve got two youth offenders in our lock-up that match your description.”

“Okay, let me transfer you up to the Lieutenant.”

A minute later a different man comes on the line, sounding a little annoyed, he say’s, “Robbery, Did you get any names out of those little bastards.”

Whitlow replies, “I got a Joseph white and a Willard Benson. They can’t be more than 12 years old”

“That’s them… hold on to em, we’ll send a car out. It’ll be a couple of days.

Whitlow, hangs up the phone. Shaking his head he looks across his desk at the two boys, sitting quietly, handcuffed to the heavy bench, with a look of deep concern on their faces. They are both wearing dirty, white tee shirts, worn out jeans and work boots. A couple of scrawny little shits that look like they should be playing baseball or doing yard work, or… anything… anything else. It’s hard to think they’ve robbed a grocery store, and even harder to picture these two using a gun. Maybe it’s this damn depression. Times are hard. The whole country has gone bust.

Chuck, our old foreman, stops with his story for a minute and leans back to light a cigarette. We are a small group of ironworkers, sitting in a dusty, plywood job shack on a construction site, in south Phoenix. The air is thick with the smell of grease and stale cigarettes. It’s over 100 degrees in the shack. Too hot to eat, everyone is drinking as much Gatorade as they can get down in the 15-munite break. Dripping with sweat, at least we are out of the brutal Arizona sun. Chuck is dark and wrinkled from years of the heat’s damage. His hands are badly crippled, from being smashed so many times by the iron, but he can still get over two tons an hour, per man. In short he’s one tough old rodbuster.

He takes a deep drag and slowly blows out the smoke. As it billows across the room, he goes on, “That was back in 1935 or 36. In those days they would send a couple of older beat cops in a car across country to pick up lower level crooks they wanted.”

I break in and ask Chuck, “Did you know Willie back then?”

“He was older. We used to say there were 10 men for every job and there were no jobs. So everyone was always broke. But if Willie was around… well, things were different. I remember one time Willie was at my cousins house. We wanted to drive out to the lake and go swimming with our girlfriends. So we were all pooling our money. It just wasn’t enough to buy gas to get to the lake and back.

Willie said, “Everybody go get your swim suits, I’ll meet you back here in about an hour.”

An hour later Willie shows up. He’s got a case of beer, a bottle of whiskey, a ham, some bread and a bunch of other shit for a picnic. Then he takes us to the gas station to fill up my cousin’s gas tank. I think it cost a few bucks. Willie had a twenty and a five. That was a lot of money back then. We all went to the lake and had a great time.

The next day my old man’s reading the newspaper. There is a story about a local store being robbed. It seems the thieves got away with a case of beer, a bottle of whiskey, a ham, some bread and twenty-five dollars in cash.” Chuck staring at the floor like he could still see the scene shakes his head as he lets out a little snicker. Then he looks me in the eye and says, “Willie… he simply refused to go with out. He was going to be okay, or he was going to be dead.”

“So what happened with the cops in Wyoming?” I ask.

Chuck takes us back into the story; “The way they got back to Spokane was, after the cops picked Joe and Willie up, they would drive all day. You need to remember there were no freeways in those days, so it was backcountry roads all the way. At night the cops would put the boys in some little small town jail and then go to a diner and sleep in a motel. In one of the jails, Willie had a few bucks hidden in his sock, that the cops hadn’t found when they searched him. He bought a knife.

The next day Willie and Joe are sitting in the back seat, and the cops are up front. They’re trying to make good time, maybe doing 60, which is quite fast in one of those old cars.

A beautiful spring day, sailing down the road in central Idaho. A ribbon of highway, gently rolling through a carpet of knee high, bright green, potato plants as far as the eye can see. The cops are enjoying the trip. They’re relaxed, foolishly dropping their guard. To them Willie and Joe are no threat… just two scared little kids. Remember no cage between the driver and the back seat. Out of the blue, Willie leans forward. He grabs the driver by the hair and quickly reaches around his neck, pressing the homemade blade to the tough, old cops throat.

Willie says, in his most menacing 12-year old voice, Okay motherfucker, pull the car over or you’re dead.

The two old cops are torn between the seriousness of the knife and the irony of this 80-pound child acting like Al Capone. The driver lets out a little snicker. The other Cop’s belly starts shaking, and then trying to hold back, he breaks into a low whine, which causes the driver to uncontrollably roar with laughter.

Without a second’s hesitation, Willie slices the driver’s throat wide open. A shower of blood sprays all over the driver’s window, the dashboard, and the inside of the windshield. In the same instant the driver instinctively lets go of the wheel and grabs at his throat. The car lurches on to the dirt shoulder and then the front wheels suddenly catch the edge of the asphalt. In seeming slow motion, the car lifts into the air. After silently rolling over a few times, it explodes when the rear end hits the blacktop. Mangled metal and glass are flying everywhere as the smashed up squad car goes flipping down the highway. The car finally skids to a stop upside down, the roof totally crushed in. Everyone inside is drenched in the driver’s blood with multiple broken bones. Stuck in the smoking wreck, fading in and out of conceseness, it was hours before some local cops could cut them out. ”

Chuck stops and thinks for a second. He goes on ”The driver died. They charged them both with the murder. Because they were minors they were released on their 21^st birthday. ”

Chuck with an odd little smile says, “After that… those boys weren’t real popular with the cops around Spokane.

Meanwhile back at the Bread 6-13-11

Okay, I made 22, 600g loaves of country wheat. I heated the oven with Mesquite, burning about 15 logs for 4 hours. When my dough had done it’s final rise for 4 hours I spread the last of the coals across the oven floor. I had been soaking my door in water most of the day and had all my baking tools laid out and ready. After about 20 minutes I had cleaned out the hearth chamber and mopped the hearth. The oven was holding about 575°f and I had laid an old frying pan filled with water inside just to the left of the interior door arch (for steam). I needed to drop the hearth temperature to about 500°f or I would burn the bottoms of the loaves and the crust would form prior to the oven spring and rise. In short I needed to get the center of the loaves cooked before the crust or the loaves would be too moist in the center, smaller and denser. I gave the oven a second mopping and the temp dropped. I tossed in my cornmeal and it stayed a medium brown color so I cut my loaves and loaded the oven, sprayed the oven with a water bottle and draped two wet kitchen towels over the door and sealed the oven. I did 25 minutes soft and 25 minutes hard (without steam) baking. The bread looked good but the ears had not developed fully and the loaves were smaller. I cut into one and I found three things. First the flavor of sourdough was markedly increased from the last batch, next the dough was heavy and moist, last the crust was thicker. Overall this was very nice bread, far better than one can buy in our little town but… I would give it a 95. My last batch was a 100.

Here’s what I learned. My mistake was in trying to force a ton of mass heated up to 575°f to drop in temperature by 75°f in a few minutes. By mopping I had dropped the surface temperature by the 75°f but the masses interior temperature was not changed. As soon as I injected the steam, the oven jumped right back up to 575°f and immediately formed a hard crust that held both moisture and shape. This stopped the bread from rising properly. I have no idea why the bread had a stronger sour flavor except the flavor might reside in the moisture. I bake in two days, wish me luck!

Asian Salad with Thai Chile Dressing and Grill Roasted Beef

Okay you’re grilling in the backyard and have some leftover steak. Save it for the next day and make my “Asian Salad with Thai Chile Dressing and Grill Roasted Beef”

This a great salad topped with grilled beef steak and Thai Chile Dressing. It’s also fantastic with crab, lobster or cold roasted foul.

Thai Chile Dressing:

1 Thai chile, chopped (remove seeds if you don't like HOT!)

1 CLOVE large clove garlic, minced

2 TBL Soy sauce

2 TBL Fresh lime juice

1 TBL Sugar

2 TSP Sesame oil

1. Whisk ingredients together.

Salad:

1/2 C Red onion, julienne

1/4 C Red bell pepper, julienne

1/4 C Fresh cilantro, chopped

4 C Napa cabbage, sliced thin

2 TBL Dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Lime wedges, for garnish

About 1 lb. of steak for 4 people

1. Whisk dressing together. Toss red onion, bell pepper, and cilantro, add dressing and toss again. Divide Napa cabbage on four chilled salad plates, dress. Sprinkle peanuts over salad top with slices of steak and place lime wedge on side.

2. Serves 4.

Mesquite Smoked "West Texas" Brisket of Beef

With the weather getting hotter it will soon be time for the All American Pool Party or Picnic at the lake or river. This in turn will be the occasion for the All American “BBQ.” WHEN you have a big crowd on your hands give my recipe for, West Texas, Mesquite Smoked Brisket of Beef a try. It feeds an army and is great hot or cold. And by the way, this is a first step in becoming the person that makes that legendary Brisket we’ve all heard of!

1 whole Brisket

1 batch of West Texas Barbecue Rub (recipe below)

1 batch of West Texas Flaming Mop Sauce (recipe below)

Rub the Brisket thoroughly with the rub and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Place the brisket in the smoker fat side up and close the lid. Light a few pieces of Mequite "chunk" charcoal and keep your eye on the thermometer. You’re looking for a temperature in the smoker of somewhere between 190° and 220° and you’ll smoke the brisket for a minimum of 8 and as many as 10 hours, turning every 2 to 3 hours. With brisket it’s a waiting game where patience is truly a virtue. I find myself most virtuous (or is that patient) when drinking beer. Perhaps you may want to try this age-old technique!

P.S. If the beer isn’t working try The West Texas Slammer (recipe below)

West Texas Flaming Mop Sauce

1-3/4 Cups White vinegar

3 Tbl. Louisiana Hot sauce

1 TBL Dark Brown sugar

1 tsp. Cayenne pepper

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. Fresh-ground black pepper

1 tsp. Sugar

Mix in a non-reactive bowl and cover. Mop onto ribs, pork shoulder or brisket while slow smoking.

Makes about 2 cups

West Texas Barbecue Rub

This is called a rub for a reason. You need to rub it into the meat. I like it best rubbed in and then wrapped in plastic film and rested over night. This rule doesn’t apply to fish. Heck you can just sprinkle it on fish.

6 Tbl. Ancho chile powder or mild New Mexico chile powder

3 Tbl. brown sugar

3 Tbl. kosher salt

2 Tbl. fresh ground coarse black pepper

1 Tbl. ground cumin

1 Tbl. cayenne pepper

1 Tbl. sugar

Mix and store in a covered container.

Makes about 1 cup

West Texas Slammer

Around my house we keep the Tequila in the freezer, the bottom 1/3 of the bottle, frozen in a block of ice. The tequila comes out of the bottle thick and viscous. It’s so much sweeter than out of a hot cupboard. I learned this trick while I was a guest of the Cuervo Company in Mexico.

If you are going to make West Texas Slammers it’s best to use tequila that is as cold as you can get it… and give someone your car keys.

1 ½ oz. Jose Cuervo Traditional tequila, ice cold

a dash of Tabasco Habanero sauce

a Splash of soda

Pour the tequila and Tabasco in a small bar glass. Pour in a little club soda. Put one hand over the top of the glass and then slam it down on the bar. Then slam it down your throat while its still fizzing. So the order is slam the slammer, then slam the slammer. A process, which, by the way, when repeated, has landed many a Texan in the “local slammer.”

Bread at Last, Bread at Last, Thank God Almighty, We’ve Got Bread at Last

After a year of planning, building the oven, learning how the oven works, researching, baking, tasting, rethinking, baking again, re-tasting, re-rethinking, re-baking again… you get the idea…

we’ve finally made the bread we’ve been looking for. Today we made bread with a proper sponge, crust, color, and even the ears we were looking for.

By ears I’m talking about the ripped cuts that stand above the bread when it comes out of the oven.

We just cut into the first piece and the whole loaf is now gone! This is real bread. Now we need to see if we can produce it every time and in large batches. Stay Tuned!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread… More!

Okay, there was an unhappy time here at Mad Coyote. Our last baking did not rise. And my yeast was smelling different and getting a black crust upon coming to life about 20 hours after feeding, (yes I’ve heard all of the Viagra and yeast infection jokes). Hmmm!

Well, I let it die and thought for a few weeks, then I started some more yeast and it was slow in developing and had a sharp smell. I was puzzled, ‘what had happened?’ So I thought about my process and noticed that I was using the same towel for several days to keep foreign objects out of my starter. ‘Could there be some mold developing on the towel?’ So I changed the towel everyday… not any better!

Next, I went back through my notes and found that I had changed my flour source about the same time my problems started. I had started buying bulk flour and had moved to high gluten un-bleached flour. Which I had used in my last successful bake but was using a 50/50 white, whole-wheat mixture from a different source. I went back to feeding my starter with the original flour (King Arthur) and my starter came back to life. After three days, it was smelling sweet, like over-ripe fruit in the later hours of development.

So tomorrow we bake, 27 loaves of Country Wheat, which is a 90% un-bleached white, 10% Whole Wheat. I’ll take some pictures and keep you updated. As they say in television… stay tuned!

Mad Coyote Joe’s Grilled Chicken Coq Au Vin

Coq Au Vin is basically the French version of meat-and-potatoes cooking.

This recipe tells you how to grill the chicken, make the wine sauce and roux, and put them all together for a wonderful flavor that looks great on any plate. It's just like Mom used to make... if Mom ate snails and spoke with an accent!

1 Large free-range chicken

8 OZ Pearl onions

1/2 LB Hardwood-smoked bacon

1/2 White onion, diced

3 Shallots, diced

3 CLOVES Garlic, minced

4 Large carrots, sliced thin

1 Ground chipotle chile

1-1/2 TSP Kosher salt

1 TSP Fresh-ground black pepper

1/2 C Cognac

1/4 C Italian parsley, chopped fine

4 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

1 TSP Herbs de Provence

3-1/2 C Pinot Noir wine

6 TBL Sweet butter

1-1/2 TSP Dark brown sugar

1/2 C Chicken broth

1 LB Small Italian brown mushrooms

2 TBL All-purpose flour

2 Roasted poblano chiles, peeled, seeded and diced

Garnish

1/2 BUNCH Italian parsley, chopped fine

1. Cut the chicken into legs, thighs, wings, and breasts; then cut the breasts in half, rendering 10 pieces of chicken. Save the giblets.

2. Grill the chicken over medium-high heat until browned, but not cooked all the way through.

3. Meanwhile, drop the pearl onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove from water; when cool, remove peel and set aside.

4. In a large Dutch oven, fry the bacon until crisp. Set aside, allow to cool, then crumble. Remove all but 3TBL of drippings.

5. Sauté the giblets, diced white onion, shallots, garlic, 1/2 of the carrots, chipotle powder, salt, and pepper over medium heat until onions are soft and browned, about 8 minutes.

6. Spoon off any excess fat. Add grilled chicken and gently pour the cognac, taking care to coat all pieces of chicken. Carefully light the cognac with a match.

7. Allow flames to die down. Add parsley, cloves, bay leaf, herbs de Provence, and wine. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is fully cooked. While chicken is simmering, put 2TBL of butter in a sauté pan. Add the pearl onions, remaining carrots, brown sugar, and chicken broth. Simmer until onions and carrots are tender, chicken broth has mostly evaporated, and vegetables are glazed -- about twenty minutes.

8. In a separate pan, sauté mushrooms in 2TBL of butter until brown.

9. When chicken is fully cooked, remove it, but not giblets, from the sauce. Set aside and cover with foil to keep warm.

10. Pour sauce through a strainer, discard solids, and set sauce aside.

11. In the Dutch oven fry the flour in 2TBL of butter until medium brown (called roux), whisking constantly. Degrease the wine sauce and slowly add to the Dutch oven while whisking. If sauce needs thickening, simmer until reduced.

12. Add the bacon, glazed vegetables, roasted poblanos, and mushrooms to the sauce; stir well, then add grilled chicken. Allow to simmer for 5 more minutes for flavors to blend.

13. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning. Garnish with parsley.

Ted; We are all seeing a different Internet

Spit-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Rosemary Dijon Baste

This delicious recipe was one of the factors in my TV show making the ratings that kept me on the air for 131 episodes. Our original contract was for 13 episodes. We used in on the cover of my book The Sonoran Grill This easy recipe is tangy and herbal with the correct amount of bite from the lemon and mustard to cut through the lamb and bring a light and refreshing flavor. Serve it with a cold, crisp white Pinot and good French bread!

Fresh Rosemary for garnish

1 8LB Leg of lamb, de-boned and tied

1. Allow the lamb to rest in the marinade for 1-1/2 hours.

2. Place lamb on spit and roast over indirect heat, medium-hot coals, until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees or about 35-40 minutes of cooking time (for medium rare).

3. Remove lamb from spit and allow resting for 8-10 minutes before serving.

4. Garnish with Rosemary.

Rosemary Dijon Baste;

1-1/2 TSP Fresh rosemary, minced

2 CLOVES Garlic, minced or pressed

1/4 C Peanut oil

2 TBL Fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 TBL Dijon mustard

1 TBL Soy sauce

PINCH Salt

1. Whisk all ingredients well. Use to baste or marinade lamb, poultry or pork.

Mango Pickle from India

Subhorup Dasgupta

Is following this blog from India. He is an avid chile cook and food writer. He left a comment about our fire roasted chiles. This guy really knows his stuff, below is a recipe directly from his blog. Check him out and give this delicious recipe a try.

http://sitakirasoi.blogspot.com/

Here is the recipe

For 2 kg mangoes (made into 1/2 inch cubes including the hard inner core, wiped clean and dry with a damp cloth)
You will need:
The mango pieces (dummies like me would need this ingredient listed out here)

Ginger - 200 g (make a paste separately)
Garlic - 200 g (make a paste separately)
Chili powder - 200 g (we used Three Mangoes brand, which uses Warangal chilis)

Rock salt - 500 g
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Powdered Cumin or Jeera -1 tsp (freshly roasted and ground into a powder)

Fenugreek or Methi seed powder - 1 tsp
Sesame or Gingelly Oil - 500 ml
Whole cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Whole fenugreek or methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
Preparation:
1. Heat the oil and when smoking, add whole cumin and mustard. Allow to sizzle and brown. Add whole methi seeds and immediately take it off the heat and allow the mix to cool down to room temperature.

2. Once cool to touch, add chili powder, salt, ginger paste, garlic paste, cumin powder, methi powder, and turmeric powder.

3. Mix well and then add mangoes, mix again, and transfer them into a glass jar.

You may want to add 20 to 50 cloves of garlic into this at the end of the process, or even a day or two later, if you are a garlic addict like me.

Make sure that all jars, spoons, ladles, mango pieces are totally dry, since any water that sneaks into the pickle will decimate its shelf life as well as taste going forward.

Keep a weekend free for this, it takes an entire day to prepare, in addition to time for procuring the ingredients and getting them ready. You will also want to catch some rest once you are done, not easy if you have to get to work the next morning.

Even though this is a pickle, and takes a while (about a week) to get there, do not forget to taste the fresh pickle with the very first meal after you have made it. It makes all the effort seem worth it.

This is what our pickle looked like a week later. Do let us know what you think in the comments.

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Spicy Tropical fruited, soy glazed Salmon fillet w...

Mad coyote Joe's Blah Blah Blog: Spicy Tropical fruited, soy glazed Salmon fillet w...: "Adding more fish into your diet? My Spicy Tropical fruited, soy glazed Salmon fillet with Habanero, will wow your friends and family. ..."

Spicy Tropical fruited, soy glazed Salmon fillet with Habanero

Adding more fish into your diet? My Spicy Tropical fruited, soy glazed Salmon fillet with Habanero, will wow your friends and family. It’s quick and so easy, but most of all the bright tropical flavors will amaze you. In short it’s delicious!

In the freezer section of your grocery store they sell frozen fruit juice combinations. This recipe works well with about any of them but the Apple, Mango and Passion fruit takes this recipe over the top. And whatever you do, do not omit the lemon juice and dill it really ties the flavors together.

1-2 Lb. Salmon fillet, skinned

2 tsp. White pepper

vegetable oil spray

¼ cup Frozen apple, mango and passion fruit juice concentrate, thawed

¼ cup coarse grain Dijon mustard

1 Tbl. Soy sauce

2 tsp. Your favorite habanero sauce, use more for extreme heat

2 tsp lemon zest

1 fresh lemon

1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped

Light the grill. Remove any pin bones from salmon fillet. Rinse under cold water quickly and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut fillet into 6 to 8 individual steaks. Sprinkle both sides with white pepper. Spray both sides with vegetable oil spray. In a small mixing bowl whisk together the fruit juice concentrate, mustard, soy sauce habanero sauce and lemon zest. Turn grill to medium. Place the salmon steaks on the hot grill with the side that had the skin up. After about 10-15 seconds gently lift the salmon fillet up from the grill surface and set back down, or drag the salmon back and forth in line with the grill (This keeps the fish from sticking). After 2 minutes gently turn the steaks and once again gently lift or drag them to prevent sticking. Spoon the glaze over the fish reserving some for the other side. Depending on your grill you will need to cook the fish for about 8 more minutes. The rule for grilling fish is 10 minutes of grilling for each inch of thickness…. more or less! So after 8 more minutes turn the fish one more time spoon on the remaining glaze and let cook for 30 seconds and remove from grill. Plate, drizzle a little lemon juice and top with fresh dill.

Serves 6-8

One More Link in breaking the Chain... Solar Hot Water!

One More Link in breaking the Chain... Solar Hot Water!

Free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty (And my Friends Ed and Cory at South Face Solar Electric and Katherine Elswick!) I’m free at last! After ten days of putting all the parts together and a few months of figuring out how to rebuild and pressure test the panels and getting the different ways that water acts in a solar hot water panel set in my mind. Take all of that and then my insistence on using as many old parts as I could find around our place. Then add in the thirty or so phone calls to Ed Fedoruk (Once again Southface Solar Electric)… What do mean I need a check valve in line vertically that is on the cold feed side of the panel, but above the pump! I am now on my way to total electric bill independence.

Last year I had a few bucks so I went to Ed and Cory at Southface Solar Electric and had 7.5 KW Photovoltaic Solar Electric System installed. Our bill has dropped by about $210 a month, however I still had about a $95 a month electric bill. About the same time our friend of many years, Kathryn Elswick mentioned that she was getting her solar hot water panels replaced as one of them had failed. She offered the old panels, that were on their way to a landfill and I quickly grabbed them up. For the past three days, I’ve spent my time cleaning and cutting pipe and making the feet that are now resting on my shingle roof along with hoisting and setting the panels and cutting a path for the pipe, cutting through the wall and making sure I was following the flow path of the water.

This afternoon Kathy called on her way home as she does every day.

Ring ring, “hello”

“Hi Joe, I’m on my way home.”

“Hi Sweetie!”

“Is everything alright you sound upset?”

“No I’m okay, I just hate my fucking plumber!”

“Who’s you plumber?”

“Me.”

I was standing next to a leaking mass of pipe that were squirting water all over our dish-room. Kathy said she would get dinner and some good beer and be how in twenty minutes. By the time she got home I had all of the leaks re-soldered and tested. The leaks were fixed and the system was working I could even feel the heat coming down from the panels. Tomorrow I’m adding pipe insulation and patching all of the penetrations through the roofing material. I will set the timer for the pump and build an insulated mechanical closet around the new 80-gallon hot water storage tank. We use a lot of hot water and I’m hoping that this will drop my electric bill closer to zero. I’ll keep you posted!

Simple Smushy Summer Salad

Simple Smushy Summer Salad

Summertime is almost here. Ahh... the winter visitors are starting to head back home and soon we will get a little peace. The streets are quieting down the and soon life here in the desert will come to it’s annual “Sonoran” snails pace. For me, that is the best time of the year. It requires me to slow down and live the way people have been living in the desert for centuries. Drink a little more water, hide from the sun, take a nap and do what little work is needed in the cool mornings or late afternoon. If you’re new to the area and like to sip on a cold beer while doing those little chores, I will give you a trick that the old timers have been using for as long as anyone can remember. Don’t decide until you try it. Iced beer… I mean pouring your favorite beer into a glass of good store bought ice. Yes, it waters down the beer and that’s the point. In fact, you end up drinking almost as much water as beer. Which will make you feel much better due to the fact that alcohol dehydrates. Now that you’ve got your mind around that idea, try this; one half tomato juice, or your favorite Bloody Mary mix, and half beer on ice. The ice re-hydrates you and the tomato juice keeps your potassium up.

I learned this while working construction, in Phoenix, in my early twenties. We would start as soon as there was enough light to see and then we would work through lunch to avoid an extra half hour in the sun. After work we would stop for a cold beer. All the older guys, who were mostly Latinos, would drink their beer on ice, many with tomato juice. When I asked them about it they told me “in the heat straight beer makes you tired!” So I gave it a try, I felt refreshed and so will you.

The heat can ruin your appetite. So summertime meal preparation is also an acquired skill. Light and fresh is the main idea. Combine that with dishes that are easy to prepare and that don’t heat up the house. Now you’re on the right track.

The following recipe is not only easy and refreshing it’s also fun for the kids to help make. Why? When squishing the little tomatoes they squirt all over the place and to a kid, anything that makes a mess is fun.

Simple Smushy Summer Salad

This is great recipe for gardeners that have too many tomatoes on their hands.

3 C Assorted Tomatoes (you know little ones, big ones, in as many colors as possible)

3/4 C Kalamata Olives, with pits

1/2- 3/4 Cups Fresh Arugula Or Basil

For the Dressing

2 TBL Red Wine Vinegar

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

If using salad tomatoes cut them up first. If using only the little baby tomatoes no need to cut them. Smash the tomatoes, in a large mixing bowl, until broken up but not pulp, with a large fork or potato masher. Smash the olives on a cutting board with a rolling pin and remove the pits. Add to the tomatoes Toss in arugula or basil. Whisk together oil, vinegar and pepper. Stir in just before serving. Salt to taste.

Also great on cold, oiled, angel hair pasta.

Serves 4-6 as a salad

The Dogs After the Party

Our Dogs Max and Jake

Last night I got home from a dinner that we were doing. I was tired. Upon walking through the door into the kitchen I found our dogs jumping up and down, barking and celebrating my arrival. There was a nice bottle of Red Zinfandel on the counter and an order of Dandan noodles from Pei Wei. Kathy was sitting on the couch and there was an old movie on the TV. I put on a pair of PJ bottoms and an old tee shirt and climbed into my favorite chair. With my feet up I enjoyed dinner and discussing my day with the party and Kathy’s day in the Kitchen at AJ’s.

The dogs wanted to be close to me. They can always tell if I’m tired or if my illness is hitting me especially hard. If I’m really hurting and cramping so bad that I have to lay down they will follow me to the bedroom and lay down next to me and push their bodies against mine in what I assume is an effort to help fight the pain. It’s quite comforting. As we watched the old movie, the dogs fell asleep on my feet, as is often the case. I had been shooting some platters that Kathy had put together for the party I was doing and my camera was next to my chair so I snapped these shots.

I believe in common things; a nice home, a pick-up truck, a nice grill, a few good dogs, an old movie and of course a little time with my wife and lifelong friend Kathy… life is good!