Below are entree, soup, sauce, bread, dessert and cocktail recipes I’ve enjoyed making. Give them a go and always remember your Mise en Place.
Cuisine of the Week
It’s snowing, my run is done, and the football games are boring, so let’s cook. I started out to make ricotta cheese because I give my dog the protein whey byproduct for his hips, but once in the kitchen, I can’t be responsible for what happens.
- Starter: Guacamole and chips
- Entree: Cubed Chicken – sauteed in Red Chile
- Starch: Couscous – Simple but a nice accompaniment
- Vegetable – Roasted Broccoli – blanched and air-fried
- Bread: French Bread – Artisan style
- Dessert: Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake – you deserve decadence.
Recipes
Cuisines
- General Tips for Cuisines
- American – Southwestern, Southern, and classic Americano
- French – Parisian gastronomic to provincial country
- Italian – Pastas, sauces, and your favorites with a twist
- Asian – Many countries, many cultures
- Latin – In search of gourmet secrets
- Exotic Cuisines – Including Mediterranean, India, & European
Baking
- Breads – Classic, artisan, and sweet
- Desserts – Cakes, tarts, torts, pudding, pastry’s
- Cookies – For the kid in you
Specialty
- Appetizers – Successful dinner parties starts here
- Cocktails – Before, during, and after dinner; and while cooking
- Soups – Stock, cream, and cold
- Sauces – You aren’t a cook until you master sauces
- Sides – A fun and exciting way to play
- Breakfast – Fried eggs are so last pandemic
- Keto – Healthy and tasty ways to eat yourself to skinny
Adventurers Food Corner
- Marinades & Rubs – Where backyard bragging begins
- Curing Meat – If you want it done right, do it yourself
- Processing Game – The down and dirty side to being an outdoorsman
- Making Cheese – When your store doesn’t stock what you need
Helpful tables and tips
- Conversion Tables – Unit conversion and baking tips
- Nutrition Tables – Helpful when counting calories or doing Keto
- Preparation Tips – Advice on preparing and using common ingredients
- Kitchen Tips – Things to help make working in the kitchen more enjoyable
- General Baking Tips – Things to help make you a better baker
- Detox Tonics – Fruit and Plant tonic for detoxing and weight loss
- Boast Your Metabolism – Techniques to kick health and weigh loss into high gear
Note for Printing: If you decide to print a recipe, you’ll notice the logo image eats up valuable real estate, but if you click on the image it goes away. You can also do the same for text. I strive to format my recipes to print on one page but that’s not always possible
Disclaimer
While I present many gourmet recipes from an array of countries and cultures, I tend toward ones that guys would enjoy, like for cooking on date night, or preparing a pheasant, smoking a turkey, boiling up a walleye bisque, curing meat, etc. I also strive to appeal to health conscience urban men with recipes like gravlox (cured salmon), healthy granola, and an assortment of Keto and Mediterranean choices.
My recipes start from scratch using fresh ingredients. I avoid processed foods or ingredients containing GMOs and other harmful chemicals found in packaged/processed foods. I am not advocating organic, although that’s always an option. I strive to steer you away from the harmful hormones and chemicals found in the common grocery story foods – which by the way have more to do with your expanding waistline than a well-made chocolate dessert. If you want to lose weight, eat all the healthy food you want and quit drinking beer – it also wouldn’t hurt to get your ass off the couch and in the kitchen cooking.
Note to Guys: if you’re not motivated to cook solely for health, artistry, and flare, consider this, research has shown that women find men who cook the most sexy. Unfortunately, to really impress the ladies need to watch, which we both know can be a bit of a disaster. In a recent survey, single women said cooking was the best way for a man to differentiate himself from the other losers she’s been dating. So, now that I have your attention, let’s button up that cooking jacket, grab your favorite cast iron skillet, and hone the edge of that chef’s knife your grandfather gave you years ago while smiled coyly as he recalled his many happy endings.
Background: I’ve been involved in the culinary arts for over forty years working in multiple kitchens and bars while traveling extensively in Europe, Asia, and the Americas in search of local cuisines. I founded New Mexico’s first distillery specializing in locally sourced bourbon, rye whiskey, gin, and brandy. Along with manufacturing fine spirits, I produced Ports and Sherries in my winery. While hosting special events at my distillery/winery, I routinely prepared gourmet cuisines and recently trained at the Gastronomicom Institute in Provence, France, where the focus was on Mediterranean foods and presentation.
Professional Ambition: Work in Santa Fe’s top kitchens.
Personal Goals: 1) Prepare a classic New Mexico Green Chili Cheeseburger for the President to showcase our great state, and 2) Present elegant, process-driven recipes that are so easy even an engineer can make them.
Caveat: I cook at 7,500 feet elevation in a dry desert environment, which is not the same as at sea level with humidity. When I remember, I’ll point out high altitude exceptions to my recipes. In general, it matters more in baking than cuisine; because as they say, “cuisine is an art, but baking is a science.” For example, I’ve found that while many baking recipes instruct you to raise the oven temperature and increase baking times at elevation, this usually results in dry over-baked products. Also, recipes using baking powder at elevation do not rise as much as they do at sea level and don’t develop the same cake structure (i.e., at elevation, cakes come out shorter and denser), adding flour helps, but not always. Also, I bake in a commercial convection oven which means my temperatures may be lower and baking times shorter than yours would be in a conventional oven. No two ovens are the same and you have to adjust any recipe for the oven you use. The upside is you get to make the same amazing recipe multiple times (like all Chefs do), until you perfect it.
Bon Appetite and let’s get started!
