Wine Tasting Dinner featuring local wines

 Recently a friend and I  attended a Wine Tasting Dinner featuring some local wines out of Jerome. The tasting was held in conjunction with Carrabba's Italian Grill restaurants located throughout the valley. If you enjoy good food and good wine then I highly recommend you try and get to one of these tastings. We were fortunate enough to sit next to the wine maker John McLoughlin during the dinner so we had plenty of time to ask him questions about his wines and where and when they are available. Both John and Chris the owner of the Carrabba's we went to made themselves available for questions about the wines both during and after dinner and made the entire event quite enjoyable. There are several tastings still scheduled for this month, with the locations and dates listed on my food events page. Listed below is a copy of the tasting menu, and the wines the foods will be paired with. It makes for a nice date night, but it's casual enough to go with a group and enjoy a nice evening out.  Or if you happen to be in Jerome for a weekend getaway stop by the Jerome Winery at 403 Clark Street, (928) 639-9067 and tell John you read about his wines on my page and you want to try some.

Hello everyone. I know it has been a few days since I have posted anything, but I am in the middle of completing another page for my blog all about cheese. I am hoping to have it completed and posted by this weekend so that maybe some of you can enjoy the information provided for the upcoming July 4th holiday. I am also working on some information about finishing salts, that I was just recently introduced to and find quite amazing. Last but not least with the heat finally arriving in Arizona and other parts of the country, I am going to try and post lots of BBQ recipes for the upcoming summer. And of course if you have a great recipe, or old family favorite that you would like to share please send it to me and I will be happy to post it on my blog and give you all the credit. As always thanks so much for your support.

My official 50th follower......

I would like to take this opportunity to announce the official 50th follower of my blog page. Her name is Deni Gaines. She is a first grade school teacher here on the Westside and for doing such a great job with and for her kids, as my way of saying thank you for taking the time to follow my page I will be making dinner for her and a friend sometime in the very near future. Hopefully she will enjoy it and I hope to have a few pictures to post as well. As always thank you to all of you that follow my page, it is a very humbling experience and helps keep me excited with what I do and always searching for that next great recipe.

Back in business.....

Sorry for the long delays between posts lately. The end of May and beginning of June turned out to be a very busy time for my family. But I am back on line and ready to return to my page. Thanks to all of you that sent me notes wondering what was up.

Listed below are a couple new recipes that we had at a family BBQ recently. The shrimp appetizer is actually a recipe that was suggested by a friend and follower of this blog, along with some changes and additions that I made along the way, but the original idea was all hers. Thank you to Annette for the suggestion and to Kristyn for preparing them. Also included is a recipe for some Au Gratin Potatoes with a Southwest flair. I used to prepare these in a restaurant I worked at in Scottsdale a few years back and they are still as good today. Used as a sidedish and served with the Beer Can Chicken and BBQ Corn, both recipes that I have already included in this blog, it was quite a meal.

Jalapeno AuGratin Potatoes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Other Time: 5 minutes

6 Each large Russet potatoes-peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/3 Cup melted butter
1/3 Cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 Cups milk
3 1/2 Cups shredded pepper jack cheese
  save 1/2 cup of cheese for cracker topping
1 Each fresh jalapeno seeded and minced
Salt, Pepper and Onion salt to taste
1 Cup crushed goldfish crackers
2 TBSP dried parsley flakes or fresh minced parsley

PREHEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES

Butter a 9x13x2 baking dish along sides and bottom of dish. Layer half of the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish, it's okay if they overlap. Season with salt, pepper, and onion salt to taste. Add rest of the potatoes and season again if desired.

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter. When completely melted add salt and flour and stir continuously for 1 minute. Add milk and stir until it thickens. About 2-3 minutes more.

Stir in 3 cups of the shredded cheese(save 1/2 cup for topping) all at once and continue to stir until all the cheese has melted. Add minced jalapeno and mix in well. Pour entire mixture over potatoes, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.

While potatoes are baking place goldfish in ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin. They do not need to be completely crushed, small cracker pieces are okay. Combine with parsley flakes and remaining shredded cheese. After potatoes have cooked for 1 hour 15 minutes remove foil, cover top of potatoes with goldfish mixture and return to oven for another 15 minutes or until the topping starts to brown.

Let potatoes rest 5 minutes before serving.  

Bacon wrapped Shrimp with Chipotle BBQ sauce
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

10 Strips bacon cut in half
20 Each large shrimp(peeled and devained) about 1 pound
or 20 precooked large shrimp peeled

1/2 Cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
1/4 Cup olive oil(EVOO)
3 TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP chopped  chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Toothpicks
Fresh jalapeno slices(optional)

In large frypan over medium heat precook bacon about halfway through. About 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool on a paper towel.

Once cooled take half a strip of bacon and wrap it around the middle of the shrimp and secure with a toothpick. If using jalapeno slices, place these on shrimp BEFORE wrapping with bacon.

Using a blender combine all ingredients for the BBQ sauce and puree until smooth. Set aside half of the sauce for dipping.

You can broil shrimp on the BBQ on a foil sheet, or I prefer cooking them in a saute pan on the side burner of the BBQ. If using the uncooked shrimp, cook shrimp until they just begin to turn pink about 5 minutes before basting them with the other half of the BBQ mixture. Then flip and baste the other side and let them continue to cook until just warmed through, about another 4 minutes. If using the pre-cooked shrimp then just baste and turn shrimp until just warmed through, about 4 minutes total. Make sure you do not overcook these shrimp because they will become dry and rubbery tasting very quickly.

Serve on a plate with remaining Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Wine Pairing: Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. Beer Pairing: Lager or IPA.