Milagro 138

Restaurant Review

Milagro 138 We had the most amazing dinner at this beautiful restaurant on San Francisco Street the other night. The food was skillfully prepared and presented, our waiter was a real pro and so well-informed, and the flavors were carefully chosen. The Chile en Negado appetizer was divine and I had a veal chop that melted in my mouth. The duck was tender and delicious and the pineapple dessert was a real hit. I thought for a meal of such quality it was very well priced.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Peanut butter cookies are yummy, then you add some chocolate chips and forget about it, they are just magic. Here is my version, which originated in the Better Homes and Gardens red and white checkered cookbook. Some recipes just do not need to be complex.

Ingredients
1 cup Crisco
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup commercial peanut butter
3 cups A.P. flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Procedure
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of your electric mixe,r combine Crisco, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Now combine wet and dry stuff and mix in chocolate chips. Roll dough in your hands into walnut size balls. Put on cookie sheet and criss cross with forks as you press dough down. Bake for 10-12 minutes till cookies start to get brown around the edges. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before eating them all. It's not a bad idea to have a glass of milk standing by. Bernice, you can have chocolate milk.

Susan Purdy is teaching in Santa Fe on September 23rd!

NEWS FLASH!

Susan Purdy, author of Pie in the Sky — the best high altitude cookbook — is coming to town and will be teaching a high altitude baking class on September 23rd from 6:00-9:00 pm at the Walter Burke kitchen at 1209 Calle de Commercio.

The class costs $45.00 and seating is limited. Susan will demonstrate a Taos lemon sponge roll with fresh berry filling, a buttermilk chocolate cake with ganache frosting, and a classic Swedish butter cake. She will also be available to discuss your personal recipe challenges and make suggestions as to how you can adjust your recipes for this altitude. I will be assisting her. If you are interested please email me to make a reservation.

[I've edited the post date on this one, so it stays on the homepage. Sign up, people! —Monica]

Susan Purdy's Scone Recipe

The Altitude Adjustment Section
I asked Susan Purdy to choose today’s high altitude baking recipe and she said "let's do scones." So here we go!

Ingredients for scones
1 cup blueberries
2 cups A.P. flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground Cardamom or nutmeg
7 tablespoons cold butter cut up
1 large room temp egg
3/4 cup whole milk

Ingredients for glaze
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Procedure
Preheat oven to 425. Measure the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cardamom or nutmeg into the bowl of your food processor, fitted with the steel blade. Add the cut up butter and pulse till mixture resembles small crumbs. Dump out mixture into a bowl. Add the blueberries and toss to coat so they don’t sink. In a small bowl, combine the egg and milk. Make a well in the center of dry mixture and add liquids. Stir everything together with a fork just till dough comes together. It will be sticky — don’t panic! With floured fingers, pull off 8 lumps of dough, each about 2 x 2 1/2 inches, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment. You can leave the dough round or pat into wedge shapes. Brush top of each scone with a little milk and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes. When done, they will turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Roast Pumpkin and Garlic Soup

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
First, of all sorry for the delay, I seem to have taken Ill this week. Now onto the recipes!
When it gets chilly and wet, much like last week, I think soup. Now usually I cheat and use canned organic plain pumpkin but fresh farmers market pumpkins are soon to arrive at the market and this recipe is worth the extra effort. This recipe happens to be vegan if that works for you!

Ingredients
1 three-to-four pound pumpkin
1 head garlic, top 1/2-inch trimmed
Canola oil spray
3-4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons good, mild curry
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 - 2 teaspoons salt
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and strings. Cut each half in half and place skin-side up in an oiled roasting pan. Place the head of garlic in the pan and spray the pumpkin and garlic lightly with canola oil. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and put in oven.

After an hour, remove the garlic and check the pumpkin. It should be approaching tender but will probably need more time. Check again after 15 minutes. When the pumpkin is completely soft and the flesh is beginning to come away from the skin, remove from the oven and allow it to cool. Once the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scrape it from the skin into a food processor (discard any bits that look charred). Squeeze the roasted garlic from its paper and add to the processor. Add about 1 cup of vegetable broth and puree until completely smooth.

Pour the pureed pumpkin into a large pot and add 2 cups of vegetable broth and all remaining ingredients, except the orange juice and pumpkin seeds. Cook over low heat for at least 1/2 hour, in order to give flavors time to develop. If the soup looks too thick, add more vegetable broth. Just before serving, add the orange juice and continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Serve in bowls garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds. Makes 6 servings.

The New Plaza Southside Cafe

Restaurant Review

Plaza Southside Cafe Relocating a successful restaurant is risky. Will your people follow you? Will the new kitchen work? Will the staff show up? Well it seems the folks at the Southside got it all worked out. Many of the staff members are the same, the menu is the same, and the prices are still reasonable. The decor is slightly-misguided-but-fun retro and the place is jumping. The food is as great as it always was and now you can stop in after the movies. Bernice is so excited, if only they had chocolate malteds.

Castle Ranch Steak House

Restaurant Review

Castle Ranch Steak House This new joint at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel serves really good quality grain-fed beef from Idaho in a nice restaurant with a bar and lounge area. The only problem, is the meat has no flavor. Four shakes of salt and pepper didn't even help.

Tequila Tangerine Dream

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
I love a spunky cocktail! This one combines the delicate flavors of tangerine and lavender with the kick of tequila. Talk about a Santa Fe moment!

Ingredients
1 tangerine (1/2 for juice and 1/2 for tangerine slices)
2 sprigs fresh lavender
1 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. silver tequila
crushed ice
club soda

Procedure
Peel the tangerine. Juice half of it and set the juice aside. Remove pith from the other half and cut into small pieces. Put tangerine at the bottom of a tall glass, then add the syrup, juice and some lavender petals. Muddle this mixture. Pour in tequila. Pack crushed ice on top of this and then top off with club soda. Garnish with lavender or tangerine twists. (It’s prettier to leave the lavender petals in, but if you would be bothered by some getting in your mouth, strain them out.)

Maple Oatmeal Scones

The Altitude Adjustment Section
I love scones. They are so easy and the best thing to do is bake them right before you want to eat them so they are still warm. I love the use of real maple syrup in this recipe, so give them a try. This recipe makes 14 really big scones or 30 small ones.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups A P. flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick cook oats, plus additional for sprinkling on top
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound cold unsalted butter diced
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Glaze
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Procedure
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the diced cold butter and blend at the lowest speed the mix till the butter forms small pea size shaped bits. Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs and add quickly to the flour butter mixture. Mix just till blended (the mixture will be sticky). Don’t worry. Dump the dough onto a well-floured table surface. Flour your hands to make it easier to handle. Roll dough into a 3/4 inch round. Using a floured ring cutter cut out circles about 3 inches in diameter. Place on parchment lined sheet pan. Brush tops with egg wash and bake for about 20-25 minutes until tops are crisp and when you break into one the inside is done, not doughy. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

Now cool for 5 minutes and combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl. That’s the confectioners sugar, the maple syrup, and the vanilla. Drizzle each scone with glaze and then sprinkle on a little oatmeal for garnish. The great thing about this recipe is you can prepare these days ahead and leave them uncooked but covered on a sheet pan in your fridge and bake when you are ready.

Roast Salmon with Fennel

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Roast salmon with fennel is a lovely recipe I found in Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. I found this book last week at the Oshara village flea market, where my husband and I have been hanging out on Sundays. It's really fun, you should come by. I try not to shop, just browse but I love this lady so I picked up her cookbook. The scone recipe later in the show is also from the Barefoot Contessa This recipe serves about 10-15 people, so have a party!

Ingredients
1 10-pound fresh salmon
5 cups yellow onions, sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 3 pounds)
5 cups fennel bulbs, sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 3 pounds)
1/2 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds
zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Procedure
Have your fish guy (or monger as she puts it — Ina lives in East Hampton where they have these people) cut the head and tail off the salmon and butterfly it open, removing all the bones. You can just use 2 filets. What you want to end up with is about 7 pounds of salmon. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. That’s right, she said 500 degrees. Sauté the onions and fennel in the olive oil for about 10 minutes on medium high heat. Stir as needed. Then add the fresh thyme leaves, fennel fronds, orange zest, orange juice, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes more. It’s done when the fennel and onions are tender. Adjust salt and pepper. Lay the salmon skin side down on your cutting board and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread fennel filling over half the salmon and fold or put other side on top. Tie the salmon every 2 inches with kitchen twine. Plain dental floss works as well in a pinch. (PLEASE don’t use the mint or cinnamon kind!) Place the baking sheet lined with parchment into the oven for 5 minutes to heat it up. Now carefully transfer the salmon onto the hot sheet pan. Bake for exactly 30 minutes. It's 10 minutes for each inch of fish. Ina swears by this. Allow to cool slightly then remove the strings. To serve, cut into thick slices with a sharp knife. This can be served hot or cold.