Cowgirl Cuisine: Rustic Recipes and Cowgirl Adventures from a Texas Ranch
Who hasn't fantasized about leaving behind the chaos of everyday life and moving someplace where life is simpler? Well, that's just what chef and food writer Paula Disbrowe did when she left New York City and moved to Texas. She traded her subway MetroCard for a pickup truck and her stiletto heels for a pair of down-home cowboy boots.\ In Cowgirl Cuisine, Paula tells her story through food. She weaves together romance, adventure, and more than a few laughs as she celebrates the beauty of...
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Who hasn't fantasized about leaving behind the chaos of everyday life and moving someplace where life is simpler? Well, that's just what chef and food writer Paula Disbrowe did when she left New York City and moved to Texas. She traded her subway MetroCard for a pickup truck and her stiletto heels for a pair of down-home cowboy boots. In Cowgirl Cuisine, Paula tells her story through food. She weaves together romance, adventure, and more than a few laughs as she celebrates the beauty of flavorful food, fresh air, and her own wholesome recipes, all while taking home cooks on a journey well off the beaten path. Like Texas itself, the recipes in Cowgirl Cuisine are big-hearted and bold—whole-grain muffins bursting with berries, salads loaded with leafy herbs and avocado, and fiery bowls of chili. Paula's food is healthful and full of nutrients, but this is not a diet cookbook—cowgirls don't have time to count calories (besides, they burn it all off hoisting newborn calves, hiking the hills, and galloping off on long trail rides). Instead, this is food that is satisfying and easy to prepare, which leaves plenty of time for living life to the fullest. From hearty ranch breakfasts to fresh salads, spicy nibbles, seductive desserts, and killer watermelon margaritas, Paula's recipes are full of her signature zest, spunk, and spice. Start your day off right with Canyon Granola or Cowgirl Migas. For lunch, have a nourishing bowl of silky Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Red Chile Cream or Chicken and Citrus Slaw Tostadas. For dinner, try Gazpacho Risotto with Garlic Shrimp or Cowboy Pot Roast with Coffee and Whiskey. And be sure to save room for one of Paula's decadent desserts, such as Chocolate Pecan Squares or Dulce de Leche Flan with Pepita Brittle. In addition to her recipes, Paula includes humorous and heartfelt vignettes about wild animals on the loose, scorpions in the sheets, and Casanova cowboys. And the pages are filled with lush photographs of food and life on the range. Cowgirl Cuisine isn't just spurs and salsa—it's about following your dream. So saddle up and follow yours. Publishers Weekly Disenchanted by her hectic New York City lifestyle, Disbrowe, a former travel writer, packed her bags and moved to Texas Hill Country to become the chef at Hart & Hind Ranch. The dishes she created there combine her love for Mediterranean food with fresh local ingredients and cooking traditions from south-central Texas, with recipes such as Texas Tofu Scramble, and Eggs over Polenta with Serrano-Spiked Tomato Sauce. Also included in the Ranch Breakfast section are more traditional recipes like Blackberry Blue Corn Muffins and Banana Bread. Other sections included are "Charming Sandwiches and a Belt-Busting Burger," which feature Smoked Turkey Wraps with Chipotle Cream, and a Venison Burger. In the chapter "Ring the Dinner Bell" are fun, and simple dishes like Halibut with Salsa Verde and Cowgirl Steaks with Pink Peppercorns and Red Onion Marmalade. Throughout, Disbrowe shares various tales from life on the ranch (from raising baby chicks to living with a pet goat). Disbrowe's goal, she explains in her intro, was to write a cookbook "about fresh, satisfying food that is easy enough to prepare while living life to the fullest." In this she has succeeded. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Cowgirl Cuisine\ Rustic Recipes and Cowgirl Adventures from a Texas Ranch \ Turkey Sausage with Marjoram\ Serves 4 to 6 (about 8 patties)\ This is a lean, healthier breakfast sausage that can be made in minutes with ground turkey. Don't use a grind leaner than 15 percent or the patties will be dry. The flavor of fresh marjoram or oregano goes well with the turkey—but sage is delicious as well.\ Ingredients:\ 1 pound ground turkey (15% fat)\ ½ medium onion or 1 large shallot, minced (optional)\ ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper Flakes\ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram\ 1 teaspoon salt\ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper\ Instructions:\ Using your hands, gently combine the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl—do not overwork the meat. Shape the turkey into 8 even 3-inch rounds. The patties can be covered and refrigerated until needed or cooked immediately. To cook the patties, place them in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sear the patties until browned and just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.\ \ Manchego-Stuffed Seckel Pears with Prosciutto\ Serves 8\ One of the most sublime things you will ever pop into your mouth is a warm, jammy fig that's been wrapped with prosciutto and stuffed with Manchego cheese.\ When figs were out of season and we needed an equally seductive party nibble, David came up with the great idea of using small Seckel pears. No matter which fruit you use, this pretty appetizer is good warm or at room temperature, so feel free to make them in advance. They'restunning on a serving platter and just the thing with a sip of white wine or bubbly. Blue cheese also makes a delicious filling.\ Ingredients:\ 8 Seckel pears, halved, or 16 whole figs\ Olive oil\ 4 ounces Manchego cheese, cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes\ 4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto\ Instructions:\ 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.\ 2. If using pears, slice them in half and use a melon baller to scoop out the core. Leave the stem intact. Brush the core side with olive oil and roast, cut-side up, for 7 to 8 minutes, until tender but not overly soft. Remove the pears from the oven and cool slightly. Place a cube of cheese in the core of each pear and wrap with a 1- to 1½-inch-wide strip of proscuitto (one half to one third of a normal slice), trying to keep the seam under the pear. Return to the baking sheet. At this point the pears can be baked and served immediately, or covered with plastic wrap and chilled for up to 4 hours.\ 3. Just before serving, bake the pears about 10 minutes, or until the cheese begins to melt. Serve warm or at room temperature.\ 4. To prepare the figs, slice a small slit, from the stem to the bottom of the fruit, and insert the cheese through the slit (no need to use olive oil). Gently press the slit closed, sealing the cheese in the fruit. Wrap the fig neatly with a strip of proscuitto and place in a baking dish. Roast until the cheese begins to melt, about 7 to 8 minutes.\ Cowgirl Cuisine\ Rustic Recipes and Cowgirl Adventures from a Texas Ranch. Copyright © by Paula Disbrowe. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
\ Gabrielle Hamilton"This is one-stop shopping."\ \ \ \ \ Suzanne Goin"This book is like its author — sexy, playful and fun."\ \ \ Publishers WeeklyDisenchanted by her hectic New York City lifestyle, Disbrowe, a former travel writer, packed her bags and moved to Texas Hill Country to become the chef at Hart & Hind Ranch. The dishes she created there combine her love for Mediterranean food with fresh local ingredients and cooking traditions from south-central Texas, with recipes such as Texas Tofu Scramble, and Eggs over Polenta with Serrano-Spiked Tomato Sauce. Also included in the Ranch Breakfast section are more traditional recipes like Blackberry Blue Corn Muffins and Banana Bread. Other sections included are "Charming Sandwiches and a Belt-Busting Burger," which feature Smoked Turkey Wraps with Chipotle Cream, and a Venison Burger. In the chapter "Ring the Dinner Bell" are fun, and simple dishes like Halibut with Salsa Verde and Cowgirl Steaks with Pink Peppercorns and Red Onion Marmalade. Throughout, Disbrowe shares various tales from life on the ranch (from raising baby chicks to living with a pet goat). Disbrowe's goal, she explains in her intro, was to write a cookbook "about fresh, satisfying food that is easy enough to prepare while living life to the fullest." In this she has succeeded. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalFive years ago, Disbrowe was a food and travel writer living in New York City, but her life changed radically after a working visit to a guest ranch in the Texas hill country. The owner asked her to become the chef for her "un-spa," and Disbrowe and her husband packed up a rental truck and drove west. This book tells the entertaining story of their new lives (they now have their own ranch and a menagerie of animals), with an eclectic selection of mouth-watering recipes ranging from Southwestern/Tex-Mex-style dishes like Scrambled Eggs with Green Chiles to Mediterranean-inspired selections such as Manchego-Stuffed Pears with Prosciutto. Color photographs throughout document the author's adventures and show off her food. Recommended for most collections.\ \ \ —Judith Sutton\ \
