Yesterday was my dear friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl’s, birthday. Our tradition is to take each other out for a birthday lunch. I’m taking Barb to Modern Steak today for her celebratory lunch. So while we’re enjoying that, here is a couscous salad for you to enjoy. The picture above of my sister, Sloane, Mark Tarbell, me, and Barb was taken at a party a couple of years ago at Tarbell’s restaurant. The party was a fundraising event to celebrate after Mark won “Iron Chef America” on Food Network.

Happy Birthday, Barb. I love you and love all our time cooking together! xoxo

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I spent the last couple of days in beautiful Payson, Arizona at the summer home of my dear friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl, along with Kim Howard, who rounds out our “3 Amigos”.  Kim and I drove up on Tuesday morning and the three of us spent a wonderful day relaxing, catching up, and cooking together. Then early on Wednesday morning we hiked for about 90 minutes up and down the Horton Creek Trail before heading back for a yummy lunch at the Chaparral Pines Country Club (recipe to follow tomorrow for my take on their scrumptious Ahi Tuna Sliders!) Kim headed back down to the Valley after lunch, while Barb and I drove north to Strawberry, Arizona to check out Fossil Creek Creamery.

We tasted and purchased their lovely goat cheese, which you will find on fine menus around the Valley; including Binkley’s, T-Cooks at The Royal Palms, Quiessence at South Mountain, and Kai at Wild Horse Pass. While the cheese is tasty, the best part was petting the baby goats – adorable! The little black and white cutie at the top of the page was my favorite!

Now, what to make with this fabulous fresh goat cheese… I can’t think of anything better than these amazing biscuits that are served at Art Smith’s southern-style Chicago restaurant, Table Fifty-Two. Art Smith was the personal chef to Oprah Winfrey from 1997 to 2007, so the biscuits have quite a pedigree! Enjoy!

P.S. Funny how things work out… my own adorable daughter talked about goats on her blog, “Linger”, just a couple days ago… strange when you think about it – how often do people you know actually mention goats?

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Proud! That is what I am today! My precious baby girl graduates from the University of Arizona today with a Journalism major and Creative Writing minor. She has been a hard-working dedicated student ever since kindergarten 17 years ago. Heck, since her “mini-threes” days in preschool! So yeah, I am a proud braggart mom, and I will not apologize for that, at least not today!

After the ceremonies, Dave and I are taking Marissa, Alberto (boyfriend), Grandpa Gene (my dad), and Connor (treasured baby brother) out to dinner to J Bar. You may recall that I posted about the amazing nachos we had there earlier this month(May 2). Well Marissa has been craving them ever since reading that post, and whatever she wants, she gets today!

After dinner, we’ll be heading back to her house where she and her four beautiful roomies (see picture below for the proof of said beauty!) are hosting a dessert party for all their families. The girls requested I make a trifle they tasted back in October that was posted here.  I changed it up a bit for the occasion. The lemon curd is now a lemon-cherry curd and there is a fabulous addition – cream cheese filling. Expect more mama boasting and pictures tomorrow!

Marissa, Kaley, Kelsey, Paige, and Petra

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Two weeks ago, Dave and I went down to Tucson for a long weekend. The first night we decided to go to J Bar, my friend and James Beard award-winning chef, Janos Wilder’s, casual restaurant which is right beside his acclaimed upscale namesake restaurant, Janos. After perusing the menu, we wanted to order everything on it!  Instead, we decided we’d control ourselves and just come back the next night, which we did. One appetizer we just had to have was the J Bar Nachos. They did not disappoint – I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind since!  When Janos came to the Valley last week to teach a class, I asked him to please share the secret of “the out of this world” chili con queso that pushed the nachos into a league of their own. Turns out the con queso had an Italian twist in the form of mascarpone. I didn’t ask for the exact recipe, although he offered, but Dave and I think this is pretty darn close.  The Salsa Fresca is from Janos’ cookbook, The Great Chilies Rellenos Book, which is a must-have if you love rellenos. I used heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market I visited this morning.  See, I took my own advise and went this weekend, hope you got a chance to get to one too!

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While our family was in Italy during the summer of 2008, I had Asparagus with Prosciutto di Parma, Parmegiano Reggiano, and Poached Eggs. The dish is a common site on Italian menus. I’ve taken quite a few liberties, basically Americanizing and bastardizing it at the same time! The inspiration to do so, came after a cooking class on Monday night with Chef Chris Curtiss of Noca, who made these outstanding fried poached eggs and served them on top of a fabulous salad with pickled red onions, bacon, and red wine vinaigrette – truly amazing! I often serve the asparagus as a side dish and it has already been feature on this site, but this is a wonderful light, refreshing, and satisfying main dish for any night of the week. Of course, it would also make a great brunch dish.

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Just like yesterday, today we have dish that was inspired for our Easter menu by a dish we enjoyed at the new FnB restaurant in Scottsdale (here is the link). The night we went, Dave had the most amazing chicken dish. Mind you, chicken is not something either of us generally order at a restaurant, but I’d read rave reviews about Chef Char’s chicken with spaetzle. Those reviews were right on the mark – fabulous!

Spaetzle are tiny dumpling-like noodle nubbins from Germany and Austria that are made with flour, eggs, milk, salt and nutmeg. The spaetzle dough can be firm enough to be rolled and cut into slivers or soft enough to be forced through a sieve, colander, or spaetzle-maker directly into boiling salted water. They rise to the top then are drained and sautéed in butter or mixed with a sauce. Spaetzle literally translates from German as “little sparrow”. In Germany, spaetzle is served as a side dish much like potatoes or rice, and is often accompanied by a sauce or gravy.

There are spaetzle-makers that consist of a hopper to hold the dough as it slides across a metal plate with holes, others that look like ricers, and a third style that is a food mill with a handle and a paddle to force the dough through the holes of a special speatzle blade (which is what I have).

I served the wild mushroom spaetzle with my Pomegranate Molasses Lamb Chops which you can find on this previous post.

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I was inspired to make chilaquiles for Easter brunch after learning about them at FnB, a fabulous new restaurant in downtown Scottsdale, (click here for link) where Chef Charleen Badman traditionally makes them on weekends for the late-night crowd.

Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish. Typically, corn tortillas cut in quarters and lightly fried are the basis of the dish. Red or green sauce is poured over the tortilla triangles, called “totopos.” Scrambled eggs and/or shredded chicken are sometimes added. The dish is topped with queso fresco and crèma.  Usually, chilaquiles are eaten at breakfast or brunch. This makes them a popular recipe to use leftover or stale tortillas.

I’ll be using two of my favorite “convenience” items – 3 garlic cubes (purchased at Trader Joe’s) and 4 chipotle cubes(homemade using empty garlic cube trays – see this previous post on how to do so).  You can too, or just follow the recipe for the “traditional” method of peeling and mincing.

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…That is the slogan for a fab new restaurant in town, The Grind.  My beautiful sister, Sloane, and I enjoyed a delectable dinner there last night. Chef Matt McLinn is at the helm, so you know it’s gonna be good (that’s Sloane and Matt, pictured above). I first met Matt nine or ten years ago when he and Sloane worked together. They dated for quite a while and that meant that we shared some wonderful holiday meals together too. It’s no wonder Matt’s food stands out, he has cooked alongside some of the culinary world’s most recognized names – such as world-renowned Chef Alain Ducasse of the Michelin three-starred restaurant Le Louis XV of the Hotel Paris in Monte Carlo and Chef Dominque Bouchet of the Michelin three-starred restaurant, Les Ambassadeurs, located in Paris, France. He also studied at the Michelin two-starred Le Hotel Carlton in Cannes, France and Michelin one-starred Le Maison du Seignuer in Brussels, Belgium. He is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and  a member of the James Beard Foundation.

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Isn’t it strange how sometimes you go out for dinner and you are drawn to order the same thing at one restaurant and then another.  Recently, that item for me has been candied pecans. I use candied pecans often at home as well, but there is always something a little different about the ones I get while eating out. I finally asked a chef friend, what the difference was. He informed me that restaurants often first candy the nuts and then fry them. That makes sense, since I often wondered how their pecans were so much more “toasted” than mine. If you would rather not fry the nuts, just go to this previous post for candied almonds, and substitute pecans for the almonds.

You may be able to find balsamic glaze at the grocery store, I know that Trader Joe’s carried it at one time, not sure if they still do, but it is easy to make at home and easy to store extra for use again later.  I served this salad to three men last night, and in their honor, since they are “manly men”, this is a now referred to as a “manly man” salad!
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Peggy and I went to lunch today at our amazing mall, Scottsdale Fashion Square.  We ate at the new Fox Restaurant Concepts place called Modern Steak. Lunch was perfectly delish but what really stayed with me was a cocktail Peggy ordered called “Retail Therapy” (that name is just too cute!)  Once I tasted it, I wished I had ordered it too!  So, I came home, worked on it for awhile, and believe I have come close to duplicating it.  I’m calling my version, “Summer in a Glass” for obvious reasons.  It calls for simple syrup and for muddling, just as my Cucumber Martini did, so click here to go to that previous post if you need help with either the muddling technique or the simple syrup recipe. Thank you dear Peggy for lunch and my beautiful gift, but most of all, thank you for the gift of your friendship! xoxo
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