Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cactus pear margarita

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    Served these at Cookbook Dinner. Easy to make. Everyone loved them and wanted the recipe. Used the cactus pear syrup brand Flay lists under sources on page 272 and ordered online. The flavor is lovely and an especially pretty drink for the holidays. Would definitely serve again.

• Mesa Grill margarita

  • Chefsherri on March 29, 2015

    THIS is how a Margarita should taste. Quality ingredients = Quality drink.

• Roasted cauliflower and green chile soup with blue corn-goat cheese taquitos

  • Roweaf on November 05, 2011

    Not very exciting, lacks true depth of flavor. Possibly roast cauliflower longer, add mirepoix.

• Green pea and green chile soup with crispy serrano ham and mint-cumin crema

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    Made this as soup course for Cookbook Group meal based on this cookbook. The poblano chile puree added to the soup does not add significant heat. I didn't get a very smooth puree with the blender, so used an immersion blender again when all the soup ingredients were combined. When I toasted cumin seeds, ground them, and added them to the creme fraiche for the mint-cumin crema it completely curdled. Not sure if it was the temperature of the spice (still too hot) or oil released from the spice? Made the crema again with sour cream and used ground cumin slightly warmed in fry pan without any problem. Substituted prosciutto for the serrano ham as recipe suggests as an option. All of the elements together provide interesting texture and flavor contrasts. Served 6 easily, with another portion left over.

• Pumpkin soup with cinnamon crema and roasted pumpkin seeds

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    Friend made this for Cookbook Dinner, including preparing the enriched Chicken Stock from scratch. The stock added depth of flavor. The amount of chipotle chile puree was halved after a first batch of soup was too hot for trial audience. This was a nicely flavored and balanced soup for fall. The roasted pumpkin seeds added nice crunch.

• Caramelized apple salad with blue cheese, black walnuts, and spicy orange vinaigrette

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    This salad had some wonderful flavors. Sautéing the apples in the warm vinaigrette elevated their flavor, which paired beautifully with the frisee, watercress, walnuts and Rogue Creamery blue cheese. The timing for the vinaigrette was way off. It took much much longer to reduce a quart of fresh OJ to 1/4 cup (up to 1 1/2 hours, not 25 minutes) and it was so sticky that it resisted blending well with remaining ingredients. I added grated orange rind to kick up the flavor but still not as flavorful a dressing as I would have liked. All the other elements worked well though.

• Romaine salad with spicy Caesar dressing, hominy, and cheese crisps

  • averythingcooks on June 29, 2022

    I came here for the cheese crisps to garnish a different salad....and wow - these guys are addictive. I used asiago & a 50:50 mix of parmesan & pecorino romano. I should have started in a larger pan (re: ease of getting under them to flip) but that was easily fixed by going with a smaller amt of cheese for subsequent crisps. Other books use an oven method and I will try one of those next time...but these certainly weren't hard to make.

• Queso fundido with roasted poblano vinaigrette

  • Running_with_Wools on November 16, 2020

    This is a fun recipe to serve to a crowd, hot out of the oven in a cast-iron skillet. Instead of making the green salsa to dot on top, I puree a can of pickled jalepenos and use that salsa.

  • peaceoutdesign on July 12, 2023

    I only made the poblano Vinaigreet for the sea Bass recipe and it is a worthy condiment. I would really like to try the whole fundido recipe. A couple years later, I have done the whole recipe and it was a hit.

  • a_hint_of_rosemary on July 24, 2024

    This is over-the-top delicious. I serve it when we have a hungry crowd ...always get lots of compliments. The roasted poblano vinaigrette is the star of the show. I keep some handy as folks dip so that I can add more as it is devoured. The vinaigrette is also so good served with fried fish tacos.

• Cotija-crusted quesadillas with basil, red chiles, and charred corn relish

  • averythingcooks on January 02, 2023

    I just made the charred corn relish for last night's tacos and it was a great addition. I pan roasted 2 cobs in a grill pan for a 1/2 recipe and I liked the use of balsamic & basil here compared to the more common apple cider vinegar and cilantro. With a bowl of this in the fridge, these quesadillas are on the menu for tomorrow night.

  • jennifer_wto9pl on May 31, 2026

    These are a favorite in our house! We skip the goat cheese. Also we make the corn salsa a lot. Rarely do we char the corn, but the recipe is perfect for salads, accompanying with meat, just about anything.

• Grilled sweet corn, zucchini, and goat cheese quesadillas with fresh tomato-basil salsa

  • katiesue28 on September 04, 2025

    This was alright, but not worth the work. I ended up using all the extra ingredients to make salads, instead, and found that was much better.

• Yucatan chicken skewers with red cabbage slaw and peanut-red chile BBQ sauce

  • peaceoutdesign on March 03, 2021

    Love this idea for a taco bar with a couple of modifications. **The chicken: This wasn't as flavorful as I hoped. Regular pollo asada would work well in this recipe instead. *****The sauce : I totally cheated on the BBQ sauce base. I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle instead of making a base of Mesa Grill BBQ sauce and I added the three chili powders, chipotle, pasilla, and Ancho to that. Then I made the recipe per the instructions. I really liked this sauce. It brought an Asian influence to the "taco". ***The Slaw: I used half the onion and soaked in cold H2O to make less stringent. I also sprinkled the cabbage with salt, let it sit then rinsed, and squeezed to get a silkier rather than crisp texture. It was a good topping for a taco.

  • a_hint_of_rosemary on May 15, 2025

    This red cabbage slaw is standout. I always have a fresh batch ready when we have grilled burgers or fish tacos. Nice alternative to the creamy slaws.

• Yellow corn pancakes with smoked salmon and mango-serrano crema

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    This was made by a cookbook group member as our starter course. Everyone loved it. It was served as a single pancake per person with the smoked salmon and crema, with additional fresh mango on the side. The serrano chile added just a hint of heat. Several commented that this would make a lovely breakfast or brunch dish.

• Red chile-honey glazed salmon with black bean sauce and jalapeno crema

  • peaceoutdesign on July 17, 2020

    Left out the jalapeno due to a family member and heat. Served the salmon warm and the sauce cold. I would not recommend putting the sauce on and flipping the salmon it burns too much.

  • sbackman on March 22, 2024

    The salmon and jalapeño cream were good but the beans were way too heavy paired with the delicate salmon. I would leave them out. For me, this was just an ok dish.

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    Made this with steelhead fillets for Cookbook Dinner as they are much more flavorful than salmon. The glaze is simple and delicious but the fish did become slightly blackened. Fortunately, everyone liked it that way, very flavorful. The jalapeño crema is a very nice add. The beans were okay -- I actually made them a day ahead. Initially they were too hot from the chipotle chiles so I did add some acid (vinegar) to tone down the heat and would probably skip them another time.

• Grilled tuna with apricot-mustard-mint glaze

  • peaceoutdesign on September 20, 2024

    The glaze will work with most fish and is awesome.

• Striped bass with roasted poblano vinaigrette and yellow pepper grits

  • HalfSmoke on July 07, 2018

    Grilled this with fresh, local Maryland rockfish. Straightforward recipe with big flavors. Home run!

  • FETaylor on June 26, 2021

    This was delicious. I substituted half and half for the heavy cream with no shortage of flavor.

  • peaceoutdesign on July 15, 2023

    I really love the Vinaigrette. The "grits" were not as good as those made with corn meal but overall a good dinner.

  • katiesue28 on April 12, 2025

    So delicious yet very simple. The "vinaigrette" is quite creamy and any leftovers would be great with eggs, sandwiches, etc.!

• Sixteen-spice chicken with cilantro-pumpkin seed sauce

  • peaceoutdesign on April 16, 2023

    Very tasty. I was boneless breasts and finished in the oven using a thermometer and they were perfectly moist. We all loved both the sauces and the seasoning. I only made 1/3 of the rub just because I didn't want any left over and that was the perfect amount for 3 huge breast halves.

  • peaceoutdesign on April 16, 2023

    The cilantro-pumpkin seed sauce is stand-alone good. As is the rub.

• Grilled rib-eye steaks with chipotle-honey glaze and garlic chips

  • peaceoutdesign on April 13, 2023

    The glaze had good flavor and Imliked the pepper relish with it. All in all, I would probably not make it again though.

• Chile-rubbed short ribs with creamy polenta and cotija cheese

  • averythingcooks on November 29, 2020

    I had short ribs to use and this was great choice. I used dried chiles to make my own chile powder but I found that the dry rub made LOTS - enough to rub each rib fully (not just on 1 side). The end result was beautifully seasoned fall apart meat in a rich broth. I did have to cool the sauce to remove a LOT of fat and it needed a long reducing time get to the thickness I wanted. This was served over a Bobby Flay smashed potato recipe (instead of the polenta) with a big spoonful of peas. A great Saturday night dinner!

  • PriyaPath on April 05, 2026

    So good, made it with the mashed potato side. Very flavourful.

• New Mexican rubbed pork tenderloin with bourbon-ancho sauce

  • jjhorinek on August 28, 2015

    We have made this recipe multiple times, with very consistent and excellent results. We haven't improvised on the recipe, since it seems fine as is. The only tricky part is not to overcook the tenderloin after it goes into the oven. Leftovers are good as-is, but we mostly end up turning them into tacos.

  • tbocly on April 28, 2021

    Made this numerous times. I think it's all about the sauce. I always freeze the sauce if there is any leftover and use it with fast fry pork.

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    Made by cookbook group member. The sauce is key -- it is just fabulous and so enhances the flavor of the pork. The tenderloin itself was a bit dry -- hard to cook, then transport the roast for 45 minutes to an hour, then keep it in low temperature oven while starter courses are served. The flavors were excellent, so being able to roast the tenderloin, rest it briefly, and immediately cut and serve no doubt would have made a difference. Would definitely add this recipe to my favorite ways to prepare tenderloin.

  • andrea_k433fm on May 17, 2026

    The sauces make this dish! I double the batch of bourbon sauce some have extra. It freezes well. Does take some time to make both sauces so plan for that.

• Pan-roasted pork tenderloin filled with sun-dried cranberries

  • MmeFleiss on November 12, 2016

    The sauce is phenomenal although I added a cornstarch slurry to get it to thicken properly. I thought the stuffing had too much clove because it overpowered the rest of the flavors. My picky husband, on the other hand, loved it as is.

  • averythingcooks on December 02, 2020

    I scaled this back for 1 pork tenderloin and because I can’t get frozen cranberry juice concentrate, I took a chance using pomegranate molasses and the resulting sauce (also thickened with a cornstarch slurry) was delicious. The only other changes were to the filling - a pinch of allspice in place of the larger measure of cloves and parsley in place of cilantro (as suggested). Served with the sauce beside a veggie laden rice pilaf, this stuffed and sliced pork “pinwheel” made for a great dinner.

• Braised lamb tiwa tacos with ancho chile jam

  • averythingcooks on December 08, 2020

    I made a 1/2 recipe of the ancho chile jam to use as a condiment on some roast pork sandwiches. It was good as written but our palates wanted something a bit sweeter so in went an extra spoonful of brown sugar and a splash of cider vinegar. It was perfect on our sandwiches and I know I will find lots of other uses for it.

• Venison and black bean chili with toasted cumin crema

  • averythingcooks on March 28, 2021

    I made a 1/2 recipe using beef instead of venison (as suggested in the head note) and with a plan for the other 1/2 of the Guinness. The issue was that at 40 minutes into the simmer, there was a LOT of liquid still in the pot. I turned the burner up, took the lid off and started raiding my kitchen for add-ins..... more beans, chopped grape tomatoes, a couple of handfuls of corn, diced zucchini and chopped red & orange peppers. The end result was a really delicious & veggie rich bowl of beef chili but next time I will be be very conservative with the stock in the early stages.

• Green onion smashed potatoes

  • Rinshin on September 06, 2014

    All so simple but all so delicious. Autumn calls for new potatoes and this recipe was perfect for small new potatoes. Served with rouladen and carrot salad. Recipe at https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/green-onion-smashed-potatoes-recipe-1922376

  • averythingcooks on November 29, 2020

    These potatoes made a great base for last night’s short rib braise. I used mini Yukon golds, salted butter and sour cream. Easy and delicious.

• Southwestern potato salad

  • averythingcooks on December 08, 2020

    I had some red potatoes that NEEDED to be used so I made a 1/2 recipe (with added chopped celery) to serve beside some sandwiches. This was a really good (and different!) version of potato salad but once again 1/2 the dressing recipe was WAY more than we needed for 1 lb of potatoes and all the add-ins. I actually used some of it as a sandwich spread which worked really well.

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    Made by cookbook group member. This was the one recipe from our Mesa Grill Cookbook meal that really had pronounced heat. It was a nice companion dish to the New Mexican Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-Ancho Sauce. The person preparing the dish cut the potatoes in chunks rather than slicing them as recipe directed, and everyone liked her choice. There was a notable amount of the mayonnaise dressing, and not all of it was used to dress the salad. Very good.

• Sweet potato gratin

  • Running_with_Wools on November 16, 2020

    This is simple to make with a mandolin and absolutely delicious. A fun change of pace from a normal potato gratin and complements a south-west inspired main course.

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    Made by cookbook group member for our Mesa Grill Cookbook meal. This is a lovely dish and it complemented the pork tenderloin main dish perfectly, and added some good color to the plate as well. The heat is there but it is actually quite subtle. Would definitely add this to recipe rotation. Recipe says it serves 4, but it served 6 of us more than adequately, with leftovers.

  • GingerFoodLovers on August 12, 2023

    Definitely use a mandolin to get the number of paper-thin layers you want for this dish.

• Sweet potato and plantain puree with maple syrup and cinnamon

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    I could not find black ripe plantains for this dish so substituted bananas and added more spices (allspice and nutmeg), so similar to sweet potatoes I have made for Thanksgiving. This was very good side dish with the Red Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon and Jalapeño Crema (p. 116). I actually liked the potatoes cold for breakfast the next day with some of the leftover salmon and crema.

• Creamy green chile rice

  • MaddCooker on January 19, 2026

    Excellent recipe that I make often. For easier process, I prepare parboiled rice in an instant pot and I use canned green chilies.

• Spicy yellow rice with red beans

  • averythingcooks on April 19, 2022

    I served this (subbing black beans for red) beside mojo marinated pulled pork and it was really good. The saffron supposedly gives the yellow colour but with ancho chili powder, the rice was actually more red than yellow (and more importantly, with all the add-ins, I'm sure not sure I tasted the expensive saffron at all). I scaled it back to 1/4 (ie 1/2 cup of rice) & that was plenty for 2 people. A repeat for sure but I'll likely save my saffron for something else.

• Corn with roasted chiles, crème fraiche, and cotija cheese

  • averythingcooks on May 02, 2025

    Not surprisingly, this hit all the flavour notes we love. I added some diced Fresnos with all the other peppers, used a splash of 5% cream for the creamy dairy, a big splash of pickled jalapeno brine for the acid & because I can't get cotija cheese here, parmesan was great substitute. This will be made again for sure.

• Brussels sprouts with pomegranate and walnuts

  • jflo70 on January 21, 2010

    Delicious! We fried some bacon and used the fat instead of canola oil to coat the Brussels, then added the bacon pieces back in at the end with the pomegranate and walnuts. One pomegranate was plenty.

• Mesa Grill blue and yellow corn muffins

  • MissKoo on May 05, 2023

    Made these just with yellow cornmeal as blue cornmeal was not locally available. These make 12 large and substantial corn muffins. The minced vegetables and cilantro add nice color/eye appeal and texture. Unlike some cornbreads/muffins, these hold together very well and have good degree of moisture without being overly damp. Nor are they overly sweet. Served them with a cold roasted red pepper soup (nice combo), followed by Island Pork Tenderloin Salad (an old Gourmet recipe). Made ahead of time and reheated in the oven. Will definitely make again.

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    Second time I have made these, this time with equal amounts of blue and yellow cornmeal. The muffins are quite large and most women at Cookbook Dinner found that half a muffin was more than sufficient amount. Served them with Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crema and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds p. 47) and with the Caramelized Apple Salad with Blue Cheese, Black Walnuts, and Spicy Orange Vinaigrette (p. 61).

• Black bean-mango salsa

  • okcook on February 23, 2015

    This is fantastic. Nice bright flavours with the lime juice and honey. There was a lot of mango to black beans for what I liked so I added another 1/2 cup to the 1 cup of black beans called for. This is a make again.

• Roasted pepper relish

  • peaceoutdesign on April 13, 2023

    This was okay but would probably not make it again.

• Mesa Grill BBQ sauce

  • averythingcooks on October 17, 2019

    This is one of 4 homemade BBQ sauces regularly found in my fridge. I typically toast then finely grind whole dried pasilla peppers that I have seeded and torn up as I don't ever seem to have bottled pasilla chili powder on hand. It has a rich "kinda sweet but smoky" taste that we use with all kinds of dishes.

• Mesa Grill steak sauce

  • averythingcooks on August 06, 2023

    We both agree that this tasted more like a classic shrimp sauce than a steak sauce. We did dip our fries into it but I'm glad I scaled it to 1/3 because I doubt we will bother to finish what's left. I was surprised because we have liked other BF sauces.

• Smoked red pepper sauce

  • peaceoutdesign on April 16, 2023

    This was good with Flay's sixteen-spice chicken and would be good on polenta

• Warm chocolate cakes with dulce de leche

  • MissKoo on November 14, 2025

    Friend prepared this for dessert for Cookbook Dinner. As with some other recipes from this meal we found timing to be an issue. The recipe says to bake the batter-filled ramekins for 6-7 minutes. The cakes were not remotely cooked through and stayed in the oven another 10 minutes (probably a tad too long). The cakes had nice flavor but the dulce de leche seemed a bit overcooked. Cakes were served with homemade vanilla ice cream.

• Chocolate custard corn pone with freshly whipped cream

  • MissKoo on June 12, 2023

    Made by a cookbook group member for our Mesa Grill Cookbook meal. This was just amazing. Reminded me of molten chocolate cake. We all wanted to just lick our plates. Total winner. Again, the Ancho chile powder was quite subtle and the cornmeal added interesting texture. With freshly whipped cream it was an over-the-top decadent and delicious dessert.

• Crispy bacon and hash brown quesadillas

  • averythingcooks on June 02, 2023

    These were really good and very filling. I used diced Spanish chorizo in place of the bacon (and T basically raved about it) and the potato, onion & poblano filling was very tasty. I added spicy corn relish to the filling with the cheese and made a salsa/sour cream dip for the side. I skipped the fried egg toppers and we didn't seem to miss it. I really like this "2 layers of filling with 3 tortillas stacked and oven baked" method for quesadillas (1st place I ever saw it was this 2007 book) and I use it with other quesadilla recipes as well. A definite repeat.

• Southwestern home fries

  • averythingcooks on April 22, 2022

    These were very good with parsley in place of the cilantro and some chopped red & yellow sweet peppers added to the pan but I'm positive I could have cut back on the butter with no harm done.