Notes about Recipes in this book

• 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.

• 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 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.

• Mesa Grill margarita

  • Chefsherri on March 29, 2015

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.