Azle Farmers Market: Roasted corn and green chile dishes

50 pounds of roasted Hatch chiles in the freezer and not a lot of local produce during this hot spell so I decided to showcase the chiles once again. This time I picked up some corn at Central Market, from Texas at least. I roasted the corn by keeping the outer husks intact and removing the silk and inner husks, then cooking them on my gas grill until some kernals were charred, a total of 10 minutes. I used this roasted corn in two dishes, one a corn and green chile salad and the other, a cornbread. I adapted the cornbread recipe from one I had seen on Food Network on Guy Fieri's show by the "outlaw chef", owner of Fred's Texas Cafe. I wasn't...

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Matt's Big Breakfast is my inspiration

When I was in Phoenix I visited Matt's Big Breakfast, a little family owned restaurant a few blocks from the heart of downtown. It wasn't easy to find and looked like a tiny little square nothing building with a little sign you could barely see. I was in Phoenix for business and was out on a walk in the 110 degree heat looking for this place but since it was closed and nothing was going on in that part of town I nearly missed it. I decided to go there sometime during the week.I saw a Food Network Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives where Guy had visited Matt's and raved over the food. I couldn't remember what he ate and I didn't look at the reviews before I went.I walked over there on a Wednesday morning about 7:30 and walked right in. I later found out people typically wait an hour or more for a...

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Azle Farmers Market cooking demonstration: Yakitori (grilled chicken) and grilled rice

Have you ever heard of grilled rice? I had it in an Izikaya (Japanese gastro pub) on my trip to Japan this spring and fell in love with it. Basically it's a rice ball or triangle of really good Japanese short grain rice that's been grilled and then brushed with a sweet and salty soy marinade. You could also add a little miso paste. The outside gets crispy and the inside is chewy. This goes really well with yakitori, which was really the focus of my cooking demonstration.I love the smell of yakitori outside in the summertime. It reminds me of the time I lived in Japan when we'd go to the Obon festival in the summer when street vendors were grilling the skewers on their long narrow charcoal grills--narrow so the wooden part of the skewer hangs off the edge so it doesn't burn. Over the years...

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Azle Farmers Market Pear Crisp

It's the third week of August and our little farmers market is limping along. The Rasmussen family, the founders, want to be there every Saturday so people know it really does exist.The local growers are still coming but there's not a lot growing in this heat. We've all planted for the fall but those plants are still young. We still get eggs, herbs, the products from Honey's Jalapeno peppers, lots of okra, some cucumbers, and a few tomatoes. My own garden is still producing okra, cucumbers, lots of bell peppers, jalapenos, and bok choy.Last week Bill gave me a sack of pears he had just picked from a tree on a neighbor's land. They were small, but very sweet and crisp.I decided to make a pear crisp and used rice flour in place of all-purpose flour for my gluten free friends at the market....

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Hatch Green Chili Huevos Rancheros

It's Hatch chile season now and Central Market is roasting them daily. Every August I buy at least 40 pounds of Hatch chiles, bag them up, and freeze them to use throughout the year.I buy a combination of hot and mild ones, mix them up and use them in so many dishes. All the dishes that use "canned green chiles" taste so much better with the real chiles. Something about the charred flavor, the freshness of the chile, the heat, all combine to make the food taste so great. I have great memories of eating the most awesome huevos rancheros in New Mexico, covered with lots of hot green chile sauce which was a dark green, not the milky green I was...

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Grilled Eggplant Sandwich

It all starts with the Ichiban eggplant from my garden. Thanks to my mother who always grew this type of eggplant and made sure I knew about it. She insisted on going to Russell Feed Store in Benbrook every March to buy their plants. The last few years she lived with me she sent me to look for the eggplants in the spring. A couple months before she died I bought the eggplant transplants and put them in the garden. There was a special recipe I used to make for her with fried eggplant and a miso/soy marinade. I brought her some of this when she was in the hospital before she died and she really enjoyed it. Although I was never a gardener before...

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Edamame Hummus

Months ago I had some really good edamame hummus at Tokyo Cafe in Ft. Worth. I love edamame and even grow it in my garden but I never thought to make a "hummus" out of it. Traditionally hummus is made from chickpeas, tahini, garlic and olive oil. This hummus was so good I asked the waiter what was in it and he actually told me, which I didn't expect.Edamame, chickpeas, roasted garlic and sesame oil. I knew that one day I would make a version of this dish. The Tokyo Cafe edamame hummus was served with freshly fried yucca chips, seasoned with shishimi togarashi.Finally I got around to making it when I visited my daughter in Houston recently.2 cups...

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Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix--Best Pizza in America

Wiseguy--smoked mozzarella, fennel sausage and roasted onions, BelowRosa--Parmigiano Reggiano, red onions, pistachios, rosemary (my favorite) I'm in Phoenix on a business trip and heard about Pizzeria Bianco when I browsed the local restaurant guide. I'm always looking for the local, not chain, places to try. I thought it sounded familiar so I looked for more information on my i phone. I suspected I had even seen something about it on Food Network and sure enough there was an episode on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Pizza" and John Edge (never heard of him) raved on and on about the Pizza Rosa he had there.I located it and checked it out and found...

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