Stop the bleeding

A gin cocktail for my friend. 

3 T prickly pear juice, frozen if possible
1 T lime juice
2 T triple sec
1/2 cup really good gin of your choice

Add ingredients to a mason jar and shake until the juice is no longer icy. Serves 2. 

Oh all right, get fancy and use a shaker and ice cubes if you like. A twist of orange peel would work well as a garnish. 

Dream of spices egg yolk ice cream

A very long time ago, I made a trip to Montreal. A carefully planned and much anticipated stop was Chocolatier Marlain - his truffles are unequalled for subtle and artful flavours, and I have had much use and enjoyment from his recipe book. One truffle was Spice of the Islands, or thereabouts, with cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and more.

Then last week we bought a lot of eggs - they were a dollar a dozen, free range and pasture raised. What do you do with all those eggs? Ice cream, of course. With spices from everywhere, and an affectionate and respectful nod to M. Marlain.

Dream of Spices ice cream

Warning: so many egg yolks. So much cream. Low fat it ain't.

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/2 cup flavorful honey
2 T lavender buds
2 cups heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground Szechuan pepper
3 T rose water
(Optional, but oh do if you can, 1/4 cup thin strips of freeze dried feijoa)

Method

Put the lavender, honey and milk together and heat. Let stand for a good 10 minutes to develop the flavour. 30 minutes would be better. (If it splits, pass through a sieve and merrily continue.) Add the cream. Lightly beat the egg yolks and add. Cook, stirring very frequently, to about 160 - 165 F. Add the flavourings. Cool quickly. Float the feijoa on top once it's somewhat cooled - it will settle a little. Chill. Lightly stir to redistribute the feijoa. Freeze. (Or drink it hot as an insanely delicious egg nog.)

This is very rich and so it will not freeze solid. 

Campfire blue cornbread (gluten free, no egg)

Blue corn is magical. And it is one of my favorite southwestern foods. Here is a blue corn bread that bobs a respectful knee to scones, Navajo/Diné kneel down bread, and tamales. It is a little different from any of those: kneeldown bread calls for fresh corn, and tamales call for nixtamalised cornmeal (masa harina, masarina, etc etc) and those are both wonderful dishes ... but they get made in bulk, and call for things I didn't have to hand (juniper ash and lard, respectively) besides I wanted something different, and also to find a way of really appreciating the roasted blue cornmeal I bought on a warm August Saturday at Tségháhoodzání/Window Rock. Phew, take a breath.

Tastes - phenomenal. So much better than it looks. And look ma! no wheat.

Campfire blue cornbread

Serves 2 - 4 depending on what else is on the menu. You can multiply the recipe.

4 dried corn husks (or cedar cooking paper or, I suppose if you really must, oiled tin foil sheets about 8 by 6 inches). String or twine for tying - soak this too.

3/4 cup cornmeal (blue, if you're lucky enough to have it. Not masa harina)
3 T dried chopped chives
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried herbs: parsley, savory, chervil
generous pinch of chipotle powder
3 T butter, not too warm, cut in little pieces

Preparation

1. Put the corn husks to soak.
   I took these camping, so I soaked the corn husks in a big ziploc bag with a little water and all the air removed. Cedar papers also need soaking, though not for long. Obviously tin foil does not.



Ready to mix. Open air cooking is more fun.

2. Put the dry ingredients all together in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in until the cornmeal feels almost clumpy and there are no bits of butter. You know, the usual way. You can stop here and transport the dry mix. Don't let it get too hot, but it does not need refrigeration. 

When ready to cook

1. You will need hot coals. (Or - boring! - an oven at 400 F)
2. Drain the corn husks. Strip a narrow (no more than 1/2 inch wide) piece from each to make a tie. Set aside. 
3. Dump the dry mix into a pan or bowl or even onto a board. Add enough water to make a damp dough that is not quite floppy. Mix until there is no dry cornmeal. Divide in 4 (or more if you multiplied the recipe, of course.) 
4. Put a portion of dough onto the middle of a corn husk. Gently shape into a very rough cylinder. Do not spread it to the edges. Fold the sides of the husk over to make a sort of cone. The bottom of the cone should be empty if you put the mixture in the middle. Now fold up the bottom of the cone, and use a corn husk strip to tie gently round the fattest part. The top is open, that's fine. 
5. When they're made, set them on the coals. If the husk chars too much, turn them over or move them a bit further away. Cook until the mixture springs back lightly from your enquiring fingertip. Or, I guess, about 12 minutes on the oven rack. 
6. Peel off the corn husk and eat. Preferably with chile. The sun should be setting over the desert for best effect. 

Credit where it's due: Navajo Recipes Kneel down bread

Pine resin oil and balm

First catch your rabbit by sprinkling salt on its tail, gathering it from a tree or from the interwebs.

Oil will dissolve the sticky and resinous gum, making a strongly pine-scented maceration which can then be blended with other ingredients as usual to make various creams and potions.

Macerated pine pitch (pine resin, pine gum) oil

To make my pine maceration, I chose grapeseed oil as a reasonably neutral, nut-free oil that I could buy at the supermarket without spending a fortune. It's light and easily absorbed, and therefore in common use in cosmetics or on the skin. Also full of anti-oxidants. I put about twice as much oil as pitch - I guess I could have weighed it, but I didn't think exact proportions would make much difference in this instance.

Pine balm

Pine balm is great for treating small insults to the skin, such as splinters, cuts, rashes, chafing, pimples, or minor burns. It also has some mild insect repellent properties and is useful for dry skin, as a light duty barrier cream, and for preventing chafing. If it will be used on broken skin, mucous membranes, or in or near the mouth, ensure you use a food-safe species of pine (piñon, not ponderosa, for example.)

For a stronger scented balm, use all pine pitch oil. For a milder one, cut it with unmacerated oil. I added vitamin E oil to make it extra long-lived. Beeswax helps it hold its shape as a balm rather than an oil or cream. So would cocoa butter or shea butter, but I prefer to use unrefined oils and I don't like the smell of those unrefined. Coconut oil melts as you put it on your skin, which makes the balm harder to handle.

This recipe needs weighing and not just measuring if you want to get the texture right first time. Conversely, it may need experimentation to find exactly the texture you want for your climate. The below is 1 part wax to 6 parts oil. This made a paste that held its shape well when the temperature was in the 70s to 80s Fahrenheit /20s Celsius. When you first touch the surface with your finger you might think it's too firm, but persist, poke your finger right in, and it should be about right.

Melting beeswax:
I had the oven on low and used a metal bowl. You could use a double-boiler instead, or possibly a crock pot on high with a water bath. Don't melt wax directly over a flame unless you are fully braced for a spontaneous candle effect (a wax fire).

Ingredients

30 g beeswax
15 g vitamin E oil
165 g pine pitch oil

Method

In a heatproof container, carefully melt the beeswax until just liquid. Add the oil little by little, stirring well. It should stay very liquid - if it does not, you may need to reheat it a bit. Keep the temperature as low as you can to conserve the quality of the oil and the pine aromatics.

Pour into containers and let set undisturbed. The setting time will depend on the room temperature and the size of the containers, but it should be firm in less than an hour unless the room is very hot.

Makes 200 ml.

Baked chicken with desert sage

Baked chicken with desert sage

Ingredients

6 free range chicken thighs with bone
2 T extra virgin olive oil or to taste
2 tsp dried desert sage*, finely rubbed or crumbled
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano or 1/2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
chopped garlic to taste
salt and pepper

Method

Set the oven to 200 C/400 F and line or spray a baking dish. Crumble the dried herbs together, and garlic if using, and rub into the chicken. Drizzle, brush, or spray with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in dish for 25 - 35 minutes or until cooked to 75 C/165 F internally. Serve.

---

*Desert sage Q&A
Q. Is desert sage safe to eat?
A. Yep. Note that we're talking about the salvia species (in particular s. dorrii) not, not, NOT sagebrush. Sagebrush is an artemisia - i.e. it's closely related to wormwood. It has its own uses, mainly household and medicinal, and they are not the same as sage. As with all wild plants, know what you're doing before you collect it.

Q. But would I want to?
A. IDK. I like it. If you like other camphorous herbs and if you like garden sage, then give it a try.

Q. Camphorous herbs?
A. Such as bay, rosemary, Mexican oregano, lavender.

Q. Okay great, where can I get it?
A. Ahhhhh my house? The Great Basin or Mojave deserts? I have never seen this for sale as a culinary herb anywhere, and only rarely as a garden plant (and once, the dried cut plant, along with white sage and cedar, probably for ritual purposes.) I collect it in extreme southern Nevada or nearby parts of California.

Fizzy pink drinks

Because I can never leave well enough alone, and because I happened to buy an especially aromatic mint plant with an unusual floral scent ... and because summer's coming round these parts. We get through a lot of soda water as the weather heats up, but sometimes one just wants to ring the changes a little. Also, who doesn't like pink drinks?

The first two are more kid-friendly though probably too austere for many. I find cold fizzy drinks more refreshing when less sweet, though of course YMMV. Even 2 or 3 tablespoons of syrup is quite a lot for one drink IMO ...

Here, in increasing order of befuddlingness and also complexity, are four pink fizzy drinks.

Padparadscha spritzer is a deep orange pink
and a little alcoholic

Prickly pear fizz

For each serving, stir together 2 - 3 T prickly pear syrup and a little water or soda. Optionally, add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Fill to the top with soda and ice.

Real lemon, lime, and bitters 

For each serving:

• half a lemon
• half a large, or a whole small, lime
• 1/2 - 1 tsp Angostura bitters 
• simple syrup to taste (about 2 T) 
• soda water
• ice to serve

Wash the citrus thoroughly to remove any wax from the skin, then squeeze into a tall glass. Drop the fruit into the glass too for extra flavour. Add the bitters and syrup to taste, and a splash of soda. Stir together, add ice, and fill with soda water. Serve.

Padparadscha spritzer 

For each serving:

• sprig of mint
• splash of triple sec
• teaspoon of orange blossom water 
• splash of cherry moonshine (or kirsch, but you won't get the stunning colour)
• ice 
• can of soda water (optionally flavoured, but preferably unsweetened. Raspberry or lime goes well.)

Crush the mint in your fingers or muddle it in the bottom of a tall glass. Add the liqueurs and orange blossom water, then ice and soda.

Stir and serve.

White sangria

Makes about 2 litres. Serves fewer people than you'd expect (say about 3?) Long ingredient list but really simple method, and a fabulous festive accompaniment to a barbecue. Dangerously light and delicious. When you run out, top up the glasses with ice, tonic, and optionally gin.

• 1/2 cup triple sec
• 2 T orange blossom water
• 1 T rose water
• 1/2 cup cognac or brandy
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 lime, sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1/4 cup maraschino or moonshine cherries
• 750 ml fizzy white or rose wine (NB I don't recommend anything fancy for this unless you are enormously confident in the sensitivity of your palate)
• 100 g raspberries
• 500 ml or so soda water
• (optional) 1/2 cup simple syrup
• 6 medium sprigs of mint, or to taste
• ice to serve

Mix the triple sec, orange blossom water, brandy, citrus fruit, and cherries together and refrigerate in a jar or closed container overnight. Optionally freeze for up to a week, keeping the cherries away from the citrus slices or the citrus will discolour. Defrost in fridge before use.

Shortly before serving, tip into a 2 litre jug. Stir in the wine and soda water. Taste and add syrup if needed. Float the raspberries and mint in the jug or in the glasses as you serve. Serve over ice, letting a few slices of fruit and a cherry fall into each glass.

Green devilled eggs

All the southwestern 'oh yes' is in these creamy, spicy little monsters.

If you can't get dried Hatch chile powder then make ordinary devilled eggs by using cayenne instead and lemon instead of lime. They will still be terrific.

Ingredients

6 fresh good eggs, boiled hard, cooled, peeled.
spring onions, 3 small or 2 large
2 - 3 tsp hot Hatch green chile powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried or fresh chervil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried dill or fresh dill
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/3 cup mayonnaise or more if desired
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime, or 1/2 - 1 T tarragon vinegar, or some of each
finely chopped chives, dill, or Hatch chile to garnish

Method

Slice each egg through lengthwise and carefully remove the yolk from each half. Finely slice or chop the spring onions. Thoroughly mix the egg yolks, spring onions, herbs, spices, salt, and mayonnaise together in a bowl. A fork is good for crumbling the yolks.

Add the lime juice or vinegar and stir in well. Check seasoning. Use a piping bag or teaspoon to fill the hollows of the egg whites with the mixture. Chill. Garnish. Serve.

Or, for travelling, carefully pack the egg whites. Put the yolk mixture into a small bag. When ready to serve, snip a corner of the bag and squeeze the mixture into the whites, garnish and serve.

Coffee cup gingerbread houses

Teeny tiny gingerbread house that sits on the side of your cup. For a mere $20 each ... Wait, you lost me. For about $2 of ingredients and a used fizzy drink can I made my own.

I started with an existing recipe and made a number of modifications. This is way too much dough for a batch of mini houses unless you have a crowd to help you put them together and decorate. If you just want a dozen or so houses, halve or even third the quantities. Or, as I did, make some ninjabread people too. (Inspired by this comic strip.)