Cholla bud, chile, and chickpea salad

Tastes like desert. Cholla buds taste similar to artichokes - but really, if you don't have them, probably just makes some other salad instead.

1 cup cholla buds, cooked (could be fresh I guess - I used dry), split lengthwise
1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas/garbanzo beans (or equivalent freshly cooked, would probably be even better)
6 Hatch chiles, roasted, seeded, chopped
1/4 cup agua chiltepin (or cider vinegar and hot sauce)
splash of sesame oil
splash of peanut or olive oil
2 T salted lemon liquid
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Mix all in a bowl. Let stand for 20 minutes to blend flavours. Check seasoning before serving.

Would probably be even better with spring onions/green onions.

Desert/date brownie with prickly pear buttercream

I was in southern Arizona last weekend and it reminded me how much I love the Sonoran desert. It's enchanting in almost every particular, not least the taste. I may have slightly gone shopping, though not to excess, of course. Back home, I wanted to use some of those ingredients. Also, wanted brownies. And what is life without pink buttercream?

Took this as a starting point. But then it went thataways ... straight southwest. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or frozen dates (not dried)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 5 T pecan meal
• 1/4 cup mesquite flour
• 1/4 cup black onyx cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup regular cocoa powder
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon

Method

Line an 8 inch square pan.

Pour the water over the dates and leave until tepid. Blend or process to a smooth puree. Keep a cup of the mixture and save the remainder for another recipe. Add the butter and let soften if required until the mixture can be whisked smooth. Add the vanilla and eggs, whisk again.

In another bowl, put all the dry ingredients and gently whisk until blended.

Heat the oven to 375 F. Add the date mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly blended. Turn into the prepared pan, smooth the surface. Bake about 20 minutes or until centre surface is dry and not jiggly.

Optionally, when cool, spread with prickly pear buttercream and sprinkle with prickly pear margarita/lemonade dry mix to decorate.

Prickly Pear Buttercream

• 1/4 cup prickly pear juice (or syrup or puree)
• 1 t triple sec or orange juice (optional)
• 2 T butter, softened.
• Icing/confectioners sugar - approximately 3 cups

Whisk butter and fruit liquid together until smooth, warming if needed. Whisk in sugar until desired consistency reached.

For the record, I used: 

• dates, a mixture from China Date Ranch CA & Sphinx Date Ranch AZ 
• pecan meal from Green Valley Pecans AZ
• mesquite flour from San Xavier Co-op Farm AZ
• wildcrafted prickly pear juice (actually collected the fruit from Utah but of course AZ is full of it in due season) 
• Jill's prickly pear margarita mix (can't find a link, you're on your own, sorry. Bought it in Tucson.)

Two milk cocktails

Idk, random things to try. Use really good delicious milk for these. I prefer the gin one, although the milk-and-rum has a pleasant gentle simplicity to it too.

1 oz Waterpocket distillery cacao rum
4 oz milk

Like chocolate milk for grownups.

1 oz rose and juniper syrup (or rose syrup would probably work fine)
2 oz whole milk
4 oz gin
6 dashes cardamom bitters (or allspice bitters, esp if you use plain rose syrup.)

Stir and serve over ice.