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Smoked Salsa

Salsas are an integral part of Southwestern cuisine.  Tomatoes, tomatillos, dried cherries, and more make an excellent foundation for a tasty salsa. Salsas bring heat and flavor to any dish.

This smoked salsa is easy to make. It’s great as a dip with tortilla chips, and even better as a garnish to your taco or huevos rancheros. Give it a try.

Smoked Salsa

4 Roma tomatoes

6 cloves garlic

1 white onion

1 jalapeno pepper

1/2 cup cilantro

1 tsp. salt (or more to taste)

2 tsp. lime juice

Set your smoker at 250*.  If you don’t have a smoker, you can roast the vegetables in your oven, but the salsa will not have a smoky flavor.

Quarter the tomatoes and cut the onion into large chunks. Remove the stem from the jalapeno pepper. Cut the pepper in half lengthwise. Leave the seeds in the pepper if you want spicier salsa; remove them if you want a milder sauce.

Place the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and jalapeno on a grilling mat. Smoke the vegetables for 60 to 90 minutes.

Peel the skin from the quartered tomatoes. Place the smoked vegetables and the cilantro in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the salt and lime juice, and pulse to blend. Add more salt and lime juice to taste, if needed.

Makes about 2 cups.

Click to download a .pdf copy of the recipe: Smoked Salsa

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Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Every year just after Thanksgiving, I start baking cookies by the dozens for our Christmas gift to friends and neighbors. Orange Cranberry Shortbread, Pistachio and Cherry Mexican Wedding Cakes, Chocolate Crinkles, Gingersnaps, and more.

When we finish baking and decorating the cookies, we box them up, then enlist our adult children to help us deliver the cookies throughout the neighborhood.

Traditionally, the baking starts with Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (pictured above). My youngest daughter says that she knows the Christmas season is here when she can smell them baking. I’m glad to accommodate.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on high speed until the mixture is light. Add the egg, vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the cocoa and mix on low speed until combined. Then add the flour and mix until well blended.

Pack the dough in a cookie press. Fit the cookie press with your desired design plate. Press out the cookies on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.

Bake until the cookies are firm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

 

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Spinach Artichoke Dip

Good food is one of my favorite holiday traditions. Over the years, my family has gathered a list of “go to” recipes that we enjoy. Spinach Artichoke Dip is high on our list. And now it can be on yours.

Warm up the dip and you’ll be enveloped in a heavenly aroma. And it tastes even better than it smells. Enjoy.

Click on the link for a .pdf copy of the recipe.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 package frozen chopped spinach

1 small jar artichoke hearts, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 oz. heavy whipping cream

8 oz. cream cheese

8 oz. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese

4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

4 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese

Thaw and drain the spinach. Squeeze the spinach well, and set it aside.

Saute the onion and garlic in butter. Stir in the cayenne pepper.

Using a mixer at medium speed, whip the cream. Gradually fold in the cream cheese until it makes a creamy mixture. Add in all remaining ingredients.

Marinate the dip in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Heat the dip in a slow cooker or bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 350* until the cheeses are melted. Serve with chips.

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Chocolate Raspberry Crème Brulee

A Tribute to Jacquelyn Williams

My sweet mother-in-law, Jackie Williams, passed away a few days ago, nine weeks to the day after my father-in-law, Gene Williams, died. We miss them both.

Jackie was kind and gentle, which led her to pursue a career in nursing. She loved the Savior, her family, and baseball. (Go D-backs!) And tenors. She loved to listen to tenors, especially George Dyer.

Jackie supported my cooking obsession. Whenever I posted a photo on social media of something I had cooked, Jackie always acknowledged my efforts, usually with a single word: “Yummy.” She regularly told me that if I opened a restaurant, she would be the first person in line. I’m glad that she liked my cooking.

For more than 20 years, I have made Christmas Eve Dinner for my family. When Gene and Jackie retired to Arizona, we invited them to join us for our holiday meal. They always came.

One year, I served crème brulee with our meal. It was her first experience with the smooth, creamy dessert. She was hooked.

After that point, whenever I asked my family for suggestions for the holiday menu, Jackie always responded, “Crème brulee.” If the proposed menu included some other dessert, Jackie would sigh, “No crème brulee?” If I made a different dessert, she would remark, “It was good, but it’s not crème brulee.”

She loved crème brulee.

Over the years, I made a number of different versions of crème brulee for our dinner: chocolate, orange, lemon (Gene loved lemons), lime, and raspberry. She loved them all.

A few weeks ago, as we were settling into our lockdown phase of life, I got an urge to make a tart and creamy blend of two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and raspberry.  Jackie liked it. I hope you do as well.

Chocolate Raspberry Crème Brulee

Adapted from The Pastry Chef’s Little Black Book

  • 8 oz. chocolate (72%)
  • 1 qt. heavy cream
  • 8 oz. whole milk
  • 1/2 vanilla bean (split & scraped)
  • 4 oz. raspberry puree
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 10 oz. sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and set aside.

In a saucepan, bring the cream, milk, and vanilla bean to a boil.

Stir in the melted chocolate and the raspberry puree, and bring the mixture to a scald.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt. Slowly add the hot chocolate cream into the egg yolk mixture until smooth and homogenous. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.

Remove excess air bubbles from the top of the creme brulee custard by placing a piece of plastic wrap or paper towel on the surface and then removing.

Bake in a water bath at 275* until the custard trembles slightly when shaken (about one hour). When the custards have cooled, sprinkle them with turbinado sugar or brown sugar. Use a torch to melt the sugar to form the brulee topping.