Hank Shaw's Blog, page 71

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I am lucky enough to have feral little tomatillos grow in my garden, and so each year I make a big batch of Mexican tomatillo salsa verde. I eat some fresh, but the rest I can for the winter. This is a canning-safe recipe.

How to Eat Manzanita Berries

Manzanita berries are ripening all over California right now, but few know that they are not only edible, but are well worth your time to collect. The secret? Grind the dry, apple-like berries to make a sort of manzanita sugar.

Grilled Duck Breast

Grilled duck breast - or in this case grilled specklebelly goose breast - is a bedrock skill for any waterfowler. But it can be tricky, depending on how fat your birds are. Here's how to go about it without ruining your grill.

Desert Bounty: Sonoran Quail

Grilled quail with foods from the Sonoran Desert: tepary beans, cholla buds, native onions and chiltepin chiles. The quail gets a bit of a glaze from prickly pear syrup. It's a dish that give you a sense of place, a sense of grounding.

Simple Salmon Salad

Salmon salad. Pretty ordinary, right? My version, as you might expect, comes with a twist: It's made by grilling everything but the main fillets, then stripping the meat for this salad. Thrifty, and awesome.

Huckleberry Muffins

It's huckleberry season here in the West. And while my favorite way to eat hucks is in a bowl with cream, I also love huckleberry muffins. My version has a bit of a tang to it from sour cream.

Argentine Chorizo Sausages

There are lots of variants on the classic Spanish chorizo, and this is one from Argentina. It's a very simple fresh sausage, grilled and served with chimichurri on a roll. Here's how to make it.

Grilled Fish Collars

When you catch a big fish, don't forget the "collar," the meaty bit right behind the gills. Marinated and grilled, it is a spectacular part of the fish.

How to Make Verjus

Verjus, or verjuice, is the juice of unripe grapes - wild or cultivated. It is a classic French alternative to vinegar, and it is pretty easy to make. Here's how.

A Garden(er)’s Middle Age

July in a garden's high water mark. It is also time to contemplate the autumn to come. This year, it is time to do the same in my own life's garden.