Recipes and Essays

Smoked Trout w/ Horsradish Butter Canapé

Smoked Trout w/ Horsradish Butter Canapé

For Fall socials, this elegant and earthy local canapéwill please friends.  The trout is aromatic and complex.  The flavored butter gives a perfect velvety mouth feel companion to the oils and flavor of the fish. After brining and drying the trout, place the fish in 

Smoked Trout, the Karankawas and Cannibalism

Smoked Trout, the Karankawas and Cannibalism

Smoked trout is a favorite of mine for dinner parties because it brings the outside in.  It’s also deeply entrenched in our Texas Mexican culinary tradition of outdoor techniques of salting, drying and smoking.   Many techniques (pickling, brining, drying, freezing and smoking),  take us back 

A Serving of Justice

A Serving of Justice

It’s a good thing that I’m feeling jumbled, riled, mixed up and chaotic.  The protests against the corporate reality in which we live (corporations are persons now) are chaotic, which means powerful, energizing and substantive.  Injustice is always served with food.  So is justice. The 

I cry for us

I cry for us

I cry for us.people powerless in society, the despised, the de-humanizedwhat a contradiction. The despiser.  I cry for us.  And sob,sob, that it is in our nature to inflict pain, bully, fellow human beings. LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DOCUMENTARY:  “REMEMBERING STONEWALL” BY DAVID ISAY Recently 

Roots and Vision of TexMex Cuisine

Roots and Vision of TexMex Cuisine

Chef and Author Melissa Guerro identifies the Mariame Indians of Texas, the Comanches and others in the roots of today’s TexMex cuisine. Melded with the Spanish influence, this delicious cuisine is growing in importance. Like all cultural cuisines, “It can fix the world!” “TEXMEX CUISINE 

New Food Series:  “Notes on Cooking…”

New Food Series: “Notes on Cooking…”

notes on cooking… a series of video shorts “critical thinking about food and its meanings” 3 minutes with a chef, filmmaker or food activist.  The series covers trends in food pathways, food conglomerates, kitchens, farms, labor and entertainment. Issues about social justice and the cultivation 

Mexican Salad – Ensalada de Bodas

Mexican Salad – Ensalada de Bodas

 This Mexican Salad, Ensalada de Bodas, has the beautiful flavor and aroma of Serrano (probably my favorite chile flavor) enveloping the tang of cabbage and radishes.  Surprised that the vinaigrette has rice vinegar? Think about the Asian influence in that region.  The Mexican salad is 

Gorditas are for everyone

Gorditas are for everyone

Gorditas YES!   Perfect for parties as interactive food where guests can fill them with a variety of fillings.  Vary the size and you can have either finger food or a sit-down meal. But here’s the misunderstood side: ingredients and methods for 1) flavorings, 2) texture 

Lemon-Lime Basil Shortbread Cookies

Lemon-Lime Basil Shortbread Cookies

Fair Warning:  I shared these with a friend this afternoon. He bit into the cookie readily.  Then I thought he looked perplexed.It is indeed an unusual blend of strong lemon and the savory aromatic basil.  The recipe intrigued me when I first noticed the cookies 

16 septiembre:  Barbacoa and Hollandaise Sauce

16 septiembre: Barbacoa and Hollandaise Sauce

Our link to Mexican Independence Day, September 16, is illustrated by this map that I’ve used in a previous blog.  This land used to be called Mexico so we celebrate our past. But it also used to be called Spain. It used to be called