{"id":5283,"date":"2016-08-23T06:26:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T12:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/?p=5283"},"modified":"2025-10-27T08:52:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T14:52:58","slug":"250-cookbooks-southwestern-grill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/?p=5283","title":{"rendered":"250 Cookbooks: Southwestern Grill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cookbook #171:<\/strong> Southwestern Grill<\/em>, Michael McLaughlin, the Harvard Common Press, Boston, MA, 2000.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"TheI bought this cookbook for myself and have always enjoyed it. Such refreshing ideas! Grilling with spices and fresh ingredients. A pleasure after some of my aged cookbooks.<\/p>\n

I grew up in the Southwest (southern California), and tacos and enchiladas were part of our everyday meals, especially from the time I was a teen. How did this author develop his own interest in southwestern-style foods? On Wikipedia I learn that Michael McLaughlin was born the same year I was in Wray, Colorado. He moved to New York and became a chef. There he met Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, and helped them publish The Silver Palate Cookbook<\/i> <\/a>in 1983. This cookbook encourages homecooking with fresh ingredients, and has sold in excess of 2 million copies. (Why have I never heard of it? Sounds right up my alley.)<\/p>\n

McLaughlin moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he owned a restaurant for a time. His interest and expertise in fresh foods and grilling expanded to include bright, spicy Southwestern flavors. He became a food writer for Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine magazines. McLaughlin authored (or co-authored) over 20 cookbooks. I was sad to learn he passed away in 2002.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin writes about two “very good things” that happened in the 1980s-2000. First, grilling, “formerly a casual backyard art form, evolved into an accepted and respected cooking method.” And “second, the food of the Southwest escaped from its regional confines and swept like a mesquite brushfire across the country”. The two things combined and now both chefs and home cooks grill southwestern dishes, full of heat, spice and savory smoke. “Grilling has grown up . . . liberally seasoned with a dose of the special magic that is the unique culinary contribution of the American Southwest.”<\/p>\n

Here is a sampling of recipe titles, to give you an idea of the variety in this cookbook: Steak and Grilled Green Onion Quesadilla, Cafe Pasqual’s Grilled Salmon Burritos with Cucumber Salsa, Grilled Chicken Totopo Salad, Warmed Grilled Chile-Lime Beef Salad, Arracheras with Crunchy Vegetable Garnish, Heirloom Bean Salad, and Grilled Tequila-Cured Salmon with Mango Pico de Gallo.<\/p>\n

Some recipes are a bit “out-there” for my own cooking, partly because I’m not sure I could get some members of my family to eat them, for instance: grilled cactus, grilled eggplant dip, and portobello mushroom burgers.<\/p>\n

I like the Salsas, Sauces, and Condiments chapter a lot. For one, many of the recipes in this cookbook refer to this chapter for sauce\/salsa\/rubs recipes (for example, see the scan of the Grilled Fish Tacos recipe, below). And too, it allows the cook (me!) to be creative, adding a fresh salsa to “same old” tacos, for instance.<\/p>\n

I am going to share a couple recipes that I love from this cookbook. I know, I usually try something new<\/em> from a cookbook, but the rules are mine, and I can bend them! I have made the “Grilled Fish Tacos with Citrus Slaw” many times.<\/p>\n

\"GrilledCitrus Slaw is a separate entry.<\/p>\n

\"CitrusAnd so is the Lime Cream.<\/p>\n

\"LimeI made these exactly according to the above recipes. And they were good, as always!<\/p>\n

\"FishThank you Michael McLaughlin for this wonderful recipe! If you want to make them for yourself, pick up a copy of his book, or use my scans, above.<\/p>\n

250 Cookbooks next post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cookbook #171: Southwestern Grill, Michael McLaughlin, the Harvard Common Press, Boston, MA, 2000. I bought this cookbook for myself and have always enjoyed it. Such refreshing ideas! Grilling with spices and fresh ingredients. A pleasure after some of my aged … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-250cookbooks","category-main-dishes","category-salsarelish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5283"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9923,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions\/9923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}