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"I know you got a sweet tooth, and I remember," so here's a Friday afternoon treat: Debbie Harry, the yummiest of punk pop-tarts, shaking and baking it back in 1979.
Recipe: Turkey Tamale Pie
As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received two free bottles of Pace Picante Sauce and a challenge to use it in a Super Bowl party-worthy recipe.
I'm not a televised sports fan, but I've hosted a few Super Bowl parties back when I was married. My strategy? Clean the house. Put together some easy make-ahead dishes that don't need tending right before serving. Greet the guests. Have a beer with the guys. Find out who's playing in this year's game. Get laughed out of there. Do something else that afternoon. Return to a clean house, as per the handshake deal made in advance. As long as I don't have to watch the game, it's pretty fun. Go team!
So in the spirit of less work and more fun, I've resurrected one of my mom's mainstay casserole recipes that I've tweaked to make low-fat and less caloric, thereby affording you another beer.
Turkey Tamale Pie
Recipe serves 12. Ready to serve in under an hour. Can be made ahead.
Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1.5 lbs ground turkey meat
1 bottle Pace Picante Sauce (I used medium hot)
1 15 oz can fire roasted chopped tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste
8 oz frozen corn kernels
12 oz light cheddar cheese, shredded
2 boxes cornbread* mix (+whatever additional ingredients needed for it.)
salt and pepper
*I use Jiffy cornbread mix for this casserole, as it's drier than other brands.
Optional garnishes: Fat free sour cream*, cilantro, avocado.
*Naturally Yours fat free sour cream (cow pattern container) tastes best.
You'll need a 13x9" baking pan or dish, a large skillet, and a mixing bowl.
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
Heat the skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil.
Saute the onions until translucent.
Add the turkey to the onions and cook until there is little or no pink.
Add the fire roasted chopped tomatoes. Stir until heated through.
Add the Pace Picante Sauce.
Stir in the tomato paste.
Cook with the lid off, stirring over medium heat, until the liquid is reduced.
Fold the frozen corn into the turkey mixture.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Use cayenne pepper for even more heat.
Turn off the burner for the skillet.
Prepare the double-batch cornbread mix according to package directions.
Transfer the turkey mixture into the bottom of your ungreased baking dish.
Evenly pour the cornbread batter over the turkey mixture.
Sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese over the cornbread batter.
Put the casserole into the 350-degree oven and bake for about 25-minutes.
It's done when a thin knife poked into the cornbread pulls out clean.
Cut into 12 pieces and leave on the buffet table. Fat free sour cream is a cooling complement to the rich spiciness of the turkey tamale mixture, as is avocado. So is beer. Go crack open a cold one and enjoy the game!
Recipe: Bacon Picante Pinwheel Sandwiches
As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received two free bottles of Pace Picante Sauce and a challenge to use it in a Super Bowl party-worthy recipe.
Don't know about you, but my idea of a Super Bowl Sunday fare is something simple, that can be prepared ahead of time, and that transports easily, since I'm not usually the one hosting such affairs. This appetizer recipe I created is so easy that a child could do it. It's also been kid taste-test approved by my boyfriend's eleven year old son. Hope you like it, too.
Recipe makes 1 pinwheel sandwich, 8 bite-sized slices each.
Ingredients:
1 whole wheat flour tortilla (I used La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious)
5 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
8 oz cream cheese (I used Kraft Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat)
2 tbs Pace Picante Sauce (I used mild)
2-3 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped (or any crunchy lettuce)
Mix the picante sauce and cream cheese with a fork until well blended.
Cover the tortilla with an even layer of the picante cream cheese mixture.
Sprinkle the crumbled bacon evenly over the cream cheese.
Cover the bacon with an even layer of chopped lettuce.
Roll the tortilla up, tightly and evenly.
Cover the rolled sandwich with plastic wrap.
Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes (up to a few hours, if desired.)
Once the chilled picante cream cheese is firmed up, slice into 8 pieces.
It's yummy, affordable, and won't make you a kitchen slave that misses out on the game!
A Rockin' Holiday: Guerneville's Holiday Parade of Lights (December 5, 2009)
When:Saturday, December 5th at 7pm.
Where:Main Street in downtown Guerneville.
What: Home town holiday fun!
More Info: Russian River Chamber of Commerce
This is my fourth winter in West Sonoma and the Holiday Parade of Lights has become an annual winter tradition for my friends and me. Guerneville is a summer camp of a town that turns cold and isolated when the tourists go home. Yet during the month of December it sparkles again, with holiday lights, the toasty smell of fireplaces, and the welcoming warmth of a diverse community who are eager to stave off cabin fever and have some fun.
The parade itself is charmingly home-spun. Fire trucks polished and bedecked with lights. Flat bed trucks with children's choirs. Rocking bands and DJ's on floats from the local pubs and nightclubs. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Electric horsemen from the riding clubs. Then there's us, dressed up in our warmest coats and gloves, cheering wildly at the humblest parade entries. Every good parade needs an enthusiastic crowd.
If you're traveling from a distance or want to enjoy some Russian River Valley wine, consider staying the night. I recommend Fern Grove Cottages. My friends and family like it and and rave about the generous continental breakfast that's included.
Another place some of my friends stay at is The Woods. Guerneville is a very liberal gay-friendly town. You shouldn't experience homophobia here, but if you and your beloved are more comfortable in gay-oriented lodging, The Woods is a good, reasonably quiet place to stay.
Both of those hotels have great prices and are walking distance to the downtown parade, restaurants, and shopping. Also, there are many Christmas Tree farms in the area. Come for the parade on Saturday then do some wine tasting or pick up a fresh cut tree on Sunday.
Tis the season to be jolly!
Invoking Dionysus with Music, Wine, and Poetry
You can take the girl out of the vineyards, but you cannot take the vineyards out of the girl. However, as much as I love it here, it was a delight to get out of Sonoma and spend time in San Francisco again. I miss the pulse, diversity, and culture of the city. Last weekend, my friend Max hosted a salon-style party at his to-die-for Pacific Heights apartment. His family was visiting from Paris. The other guests were from all over the world. Different languages flowed as easily as the wine and Zubrowka.
Max is a classical singer with many artistic friends, so his parties often include performances. Guests were invited to present songs (he hired a pianist for the occasion) or dance, read poetry--whatever they felt called to do. I am not so bold or so cruel as to subject anyone to my singing, but I did agree to read a poem. Feeling that reading something out of a book was a half-measure, I took on the task of writing it myself. But where to start? I looked to the vineyards for my inspiration and caught a glimpse of Dionysus, Greek god of music, wine, and ecstatic abandon. Perfect for a salon party, or so I hoped. Just in case it became too tedious, I made sure it was a drinking poem, with four rousing toasts in between verses.
I'll share it with you, should you be in need of some drinking poetry in a hurry. It's to be read with sass, wit, and a full glass.
Dionysus, the God That Comes
by Jaya Schillinger
First, a drink. You’ll need it to get through my poem.
Repeat after me: “To Dionysus, the God that Comes!”
Cultivation
Dionysus, that bad boy of the vineyards, took my youth in a back alley. Riding in on the wings of a Thunderbird. Cheap fortified wine. Rough. Dirty. With a fire like gasoline. He took me by my vulnerable throat, pressed my leather jacket up against the wall, and I drank of him. I wanted to cry and to spit, but he had his way with all of us underage girls. Don’t worry. We used protection--a brown paper bag to shield us from the law. None of us were spared when his angry father Zeus caught us the next morning. He threw a bolt of wrathful lightening into my head. A punishment for our scandal. Oh, but what good times we had.
“To Dionysus, the God that Comes!”
Blending
Dionysus joined us under the chuppah. Dressed in soft white robes, he wrapped us in his Tallis and sanctified us with his love. Intoxicating. Ecstatic. Holy. There is no sweeter wine than a kindred love. We drank his offering. Smashed the glass. Revelers were swept up into our dance of hope, promise, and spiritual community. Dionysus came to us, but that fickle philanderer did not stay. He whispered to me seductively about distant savannahs, unmet lovers, and the beauty that lay in wait for me down an unmapped road. I left and took his love on the rebound. Sure, he held my hand through the divorce, but now I walk alone.
“To Dionysus, the God that Comes!”
Aging
Dionysus came back to me in the vineyards. Scorching heat. Rocky soil. The leathered hands of migrant workers showed me how to harvest. Dionysus played hide and seek with me amongst the vines. My hands searching underneath lush leaves for his round, firm grapes. Juice running down my arms. Sticky. Sweaty. Abundant. The trick to making good wine isn’t in getting Dionysus to come to you. Believe me, that God gets around. The alchemy of it requires the infusion of patience. Put a cork in it. Be still. Ferment. Let the magic work on it’s own for a bit. For when the time is right, Dionysus will come back to you, bringing all his music, mirth, and madness. Drink deeply friends. Drink deeply.
“To Dionysus, the God that Comes!”
Dungeness Crab Season Launches in Bodega Bay
The 2009-2010 Dungeness crab season in California started November 15th and runs to June. Friends and I were eager to drive to the coast for our first crab dinner of the season. Although you can get good fresh crab in your local grocery store, it's an expensive hit or miss. Even though it's advertised as fresh or freshly cooked, it may have already been traveling through trucks and warehouses for days. Luckily for us, we're only half an hour away from the Pacific coast, so my friend Susan and I made a food adventure out of it and procured the freshest crab available.
Our destination was the fresh fish vendor at Lucas Wharf 595 S Highway 1
Bodega Bay, CA 94923. Look to the right of the Lucas Wharf Restaurant & Bar for a sign that says Lucas Wharf Fish House, although the actual name of the business is The Seafood Guys. (They told me they have a new Seafood Guys' website, but I can't find it on-line yet.)
Talk about fresh! They just hauled the crab nets up the previous afternoon, right there on the dock. The Seafood Guys sell live and cooked crabs. Here's a video clip I took of a live one.
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Crabs are definitely the cutest crustacean, almost too cute to eat. And while we didn't take that live one home, we bought some crabs that were cooked that morning and waiting for us on ice.
Such a bargain, too! We bought three good-sized crabs for just $20. I don't know of a grocery store that can beat that price--another reason to buy direct from the source. Our guy Lonnie is a real sweetheart, who takes pride in his work. Rightfully so!
Lonnie told me that for Thanksgiving week, they'll be selling all the seafood needed for cioppino: sea bass, shrimp, clams, mussels, oysters, and of course, Dungeness crab. They're open 7 days a week, 10am-5pm. Crab yields are low this year, so if your heart is set on it, try to get there by early afternoon.
After our mission was accomplished, we asked him to hold our bagged crabs on ice a little bit longer so we could take a break over at the Lucas Wharf bar, where they make the best from-scratch Bloody Marys.
They make them spicy there, so I always order mine "on the mild side." There's still plenty of heat. Afterward, we grabbed a bag of potato chips at the Island Style Deli next door and sat outside, watching the kite surfers jump the waves for awhile until we were ready to head back home.
I'm more of a food pleasure seeker than a cook, and while I'm confident enough in the kitchen, there are plenty of things I've never learned how to do. One of those things is cleaning & cracking crab. I usually ask the fish market to do it at time of purchase. Our friend Jules was waiting for us to return with the whole crabs and agreed to show me how.
She begins her tutorial with a question, "Do you know what this is?" as she pops open a hinged part on the under body of the crab.
She laughed then said, "It's the crab's penis. They only allow them to catch male crabs." After Jules made a disclaimer for being a home cook and not a pro, she proceeded to take me on an anatomical journey to the center of a crab while she cleaned and cracked our dinner.
Meanwhile, Susan cracked open a bottle of Edna Valley chardonnay and prepared some sourdough toast points, sheep's milk brie, port cheddar, and olives for us to nibble on. I turned on my video capture.
So what's inside that crab and how do you get to it? What's the deal with that yellow stuff inside? Why did our friend Hiren make an advance request for us to not throw it away, but save it for her instead?
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Although my first reaction upon first seeing the crab "butter" under the shell was "yuck," Hiren's arrival and enthusiasm for it made me reconsider. I like Asian food. She said 100% of all Asian people eat that part. If it's good to that many people, maybe I'll think it's good too. I tasted it.
The cold creamy goo was slightly bitter (not sweet like crab meat) and decidedly briny. There's a lingering mineral aftertaste that might put some people off, but I liked it and would eat it again.
After all three crabs were cracked, we got right down to business. Crab. Lemons. Butter. Seafood cocktail sauce. White wine. No side dishes, no nonsense, just the crab. So good! You can bet we'll be doing this again. Next time, I want to try cleaning and cracking the crab. Yum.
Prime Time Saturday Night with Friends (Prime Rib Time!)
When she invited me, Susan said, "I don't know what we're cooking yet, but it's gonna' be good!" This woman does not exaggerate. If anything, she'll play it down. "Just a little song and a dance, nothing too fancy," as she serves up something she spent all day on. Being invited over for "It's just leftovers," is usually a better meal than most restaurants.
I've known Susan since we were nineteen. She was a best friend of my boyfriend, but she and I quickly became best friends on our own. In our twenties, we practiced our cooking together, throwing elegant dinner parties for our rowdy friends. This woman taught me how to make salad dressing. That sounds so basic, but I came from a household that usually bought salad dressing, whereas Susan's family were gourmands. We experimented on our hungry twenty-something friends, who were ever grateful. (The above photo is me and Susan at a luau party I hosted when we were 23. My carpets never fully recovered after that dual blender rum-soaked cocktail and barbeque extravaganza.)
There were a few years we lost touch, but then we reconnected in Sonoma County. Susan met her partner Jules (who lives in West County) and was doing the Marin-Sonoma commute every other weekend. I was married at the time, but bought a weekender in the Russian River area and was also doing the Marin-Sonoma commute. Fate had us on a parallel that rekindled our friendship. Now, we want to rekindle our collaborative cooking parties!
When I arrived for dinner Saturday night, Jules was excited to show me the cut of dry-aged prime rib she bought at Willowside Meats in Santa Rosa. Jules is a master of the barbecue, yet this was her first time cooking prime rib. She was fired up with enthusiasm. Even the butchers at the meat shop were excited at the fancy cut she bought (for a spendy $80--totally spoiling us!) She'd already rubbed it down with Williams-Sonoma Coffee and Spice Rub and had it roasting in the oven.
Meanwhile, Susan was boiling potatoes in anticipation of us trying her new potato ricer together.
While we were waiting for the potatoes and meat to cook, we sipped Edna Valley chardonnay by the wood-burning stove. Since I'd been over last, there was a new addition to the hearth--two large glass containers filled with large corks.
Jules explained that the corks are defects from nearby Korbel Champagne Cellars and she uses them to start the fire in the wood stove. The vintage glass container used to store batteries back in the 1940's.
When the potatoes were done, Susan and I commenced breaking in the new Williams-Sonoma potato ricer.
Good thing we teamed up, as that heavy malfunctioning contraption needed two people to wrangle it into submission. The tool is heavy and requires one hand to hold it steady and another to open/close the press. But then there is also a need to spoon the potatoes into the basket, which goes much faster with someone else helping. The throughput of the ricer came out perfectly fluffy. However, the hinge on it kept catching and getting stuck. I had to disassemble it twice before diagnosing the problem as a defective hinge. We muddled through, but this one needs to be exchanged. Only then, can we really say if the product is good or not. Underwhelmed for now.
We checked the temperature, allowing for the continuation of the cooking process, and determined it was time to stop and let the meat rest. Ooh, the anticipation.
Susan started steaming green beans and finished the mashed potatoes with a bit of butter, milk and a luxurious dollop of creme fraiche. Jules whisked up some au jus.
I took a few photos and poured the 2007 MacMurray Ranch Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir I brought.
I know Susan prefers white wine and lighter weight reds. To me, pairing extends beyond the food to include a matchmaking of palates. One of the great benefits of going wine tasting with friends, besides having fun and exploring new wineries together, is to learn each other's taste. I'm that girl that will remember your birthday (at least the month) and some off-handed remark you made about your favorite treat or a longed-for gift. Comparing preferences in wine makes for a fun conversation, but is also very handy when you're trying to choose the right wine to bring for dinner. I think I did well with the MacMurray pinot. It was more fruity than earthy--bright and acidic enough to cut the fat of the prime rib.
Susan had the condiments at the ready. We drizzled a bit of Hopkiln Pinot Noir Vinaigrette over the lightly steamed green beans. She had prepared some horseradish creme fraiche and chopped fresh chives in advance.
Dinner is served! Please have a seat.
Nom, nom, nom...
Confession: I've often said, even recently, that I don't like prime rib. Trust that I've been to some renowned establishments that serve it. My past experiences with prime rib were too flabby, too rare, and terribly under-seasoned. I just didn't get what the fuss was about.
Redemption: Now that I've been initiated into the cult of dry-aged prime rib, I'm a convert. The time and attention that the butchers put into prepping it, then the loving care that Jules put into cooking it made magic.
Another bottle of delicious red wine after dinner, this one made by a friend of theirs, and the magic continued. It always does with us, but pour another glass and turn up the dance music loud and we feel at home.
The residence of my soul family isn't a home built of hay, nor is it built of brick or wood. It's a home built of love. The door is open to come and go as you please, but when we gather, you're going to eat well, laugh, and dance. Home is where your friends are.
Jaya Schillinger.
Sensualist with a taste for unpretentious luxury, raw beauty, and the occasional 5-star food, wine, and spa experience, hungers for all things “yum” in Sonoma County, California.
My Websites
- Inspiration, Inc.
Business coaching, consulting & training services for holistic lifestyle companies, spas, salons, alternative health & spiritual practitioners. - Inspirational Business
Articles with strategies & tips for holistic business entrepreneurs and those who want practical business advice with consciousness, not hype. - Sacred Elephants
A trunk full of inspiration for elephant lovers, conservationists, and spiritual friends of Ganesh. - Sonoma Bon Vivant
Living well in the land of "yum." Sensualist with a taste for unpretentious luxury, raw beauty, and the occasional 5-star food, wine, and spa experience.
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