In my cookbook I had a Wild Rice Pancake recipe that had more traditional ingredients like carrots, mushrooms and onions. For a change I thought it would be fun to make one with Southwestern flavors to spice it up a bit. You can have these as a side dish or make them smaller for an appetizer like we did for my Dad's 75th birthday party.

Southwestern Wild Rice Pancakes with Chipotle Mayonnaise

3/4 cup wild rice
2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup corn (thawed if frozen)
3 Tbls. finely chopped cilantro
2 eggs
2 Tbls. flour
2 chipotles in adobe sauce
1 cup mayo
butter for frying

Cook the wild rice in 2 cups salted water until the water has absorbed and cool to room temperature. Add to a bowl, the rice, onions, corn, and cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. In a food processor or blender, beat the eggs with one of the chipotles. Add the egg mixture and the flour to the bowl and mix.

In a food processor, mix the remaining chipotle with the mayo until smooth.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbls. of butter. In batches, spoon the rice mixture and for into patties - any size that you want. It takes about 1 - 2 minutes on each side. For each batch, replace the butter before frying.

Top with a dollop of the mayo mixture and serve!

When I told Mom and Dad I was collecting recipes again, they forwarded a few that they enjoy and want to have included in the collection. I haven't made this but have enjoyed it at their house. It's a big poofy, puffy pancake that's wonderful. The origin of the recipe is German. For those of you who like apples, I've included the apple variation as well.

Puffy Oven Pancake

2 to 4 servings (more like 1 to 2 )

2 Tbls. butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
Lemon juice, powdered sugar or fruit

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a 9 inch pie plate in the oven. Brush the butter up on the sides of the plate.

Beat eggs slightly in medium bowl with a whisk or beater. Beat in remaining ingredients except lemon juice until just mixed. Pour into the plate.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until puffy and deep golden brown. Serve immediately sprinkled with the lemon and powdered sugar or fruit.

Apple Variation

Prepare Puffy Oven Pancake as directed, except sprinkle 2 Tbls. packed brown sugar and 1/4 ts. cinnamon evenly over the melted butter in the pie plate. Arrange 1 cup thinly sliced peeled baking apples over sugar. Pour batter over the apples. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Immediately loosen the edge of the pancake and turn upside down onto heatproof serving plate.

This is a recipe from Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef, and has become one of my favorite pastas. In our little local grocery store they just started carrying a new pasta brand called Cipriani. It's more expensive but if you want a treat try their Pappardelle. They also make a tomato infused pasta that's more like angel hair that's just as good.

The thing that makes this recipe really great is putting some of the pasta cooking liquid into the sauce - it melts the cheese and thickens it up.

Pappardelle with Spicy Sausage and Mixed Wild Mushrooms

Serves 4

1 Tbls. olive oil
9 oz. spicy sausage, casing removed
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. mixed wild mushrooms
2 Tbls. fresh thyme leaves
1 to 2 small dried red chiles, crumbled (I have used chile flakes)
3 to 4 Tbls. unsalted butter
1/2 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Pappardelle

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; add sausage, onion, and garlic, breaking up the sausage with a spoon. Cook until onions are golden, about 7 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme, and chiles; cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat; season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil; add salt and pappardelle. Cook until al dente, 3 to 5 minutes. Reserve a 1/2 cup cooking liquid; drain pasta.

Add butter and cheese to mushroom mixture along with some of the cooking liquid to loosen, if necessary. Add pasta to the skillet; toss to combine. Transfer to a large serving platter, garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

I rarely deep fry but the picture of this dish looked so good I wanted to try it. We had it last weekend as an appetizer but you could also have it as a first course. The recipe came from a CIA publication I get and they paired it with a beet sauce which didn't really work for me so I mixed up mayo with mustard and it was great.

The original recipe also called for breadcrumbs but I used Panko crumbs instead. If you haven't used the Japanese bread crumbs, try them - they're much lighter and have a little different texture.

I wasn't paying attention at the deli when they were slicing the prosciutto. Usually they separate it and place plastic between layers so it doesn't stick and you get nice whole pieces. The kid at the deli did something so it ended up looking like a glob of shaved ham. If I was going to use it for anything else I would have asked him to do it again. As it was - it turned out great. It didn't matter how neat it was and it was so thin it really stuck well as I wound it around the asparagus. I wouldn't recommend you ask for it like that, but you want it to ask for really thin slices.

I'm not experienced enough with frying to be able to eye the oil to know when it's hot enough so I use a thermometer. I'm glad I did since the temperature of the oil rose and fell during cooking and it did cook best at 350 degrees.

Fried Asparagus with Prosciutto

Blanch the asparagus by adding it to boiling water for 3 - 5 minutes until crisp tender. Drain and shock by plunging them into ice water - drain.

Heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Wrap asparagus stems tightly with prosciutto, dredge in flour, and shake off any excess. Dip in the beaten eggs and roll in the panko until evently coated.

Fry the breaded asparagus until golden brown; drain on a wire rack or on paper towel.

This dish from Emeril takes alot of chopping but it's well worth it. For valentine's day, I bought a silicone mold with heart shapes about 1/2 cup each to make these in - too cute! I also discovered Mache in our little local grocery store and it made a great bed for the mold. This recipe also suggests garnishing it with baby shrimp and herbs. The original recipe called for 2 1/2 tsps hot sauce - I preferred it with only 1 1/2 tsps. Also, the original recipe had the cream cheese topping layered in the center of the molds. I just added a dollop on the top - or you can even leave it off.

Gazpacho Aspic

6 first course servings

3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped celery with leaves
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbls. chopped red onion
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 1/2 Tbls. lime juice
2 tsps. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsps. minced garlic
3 tsps. salt
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsps. hot sauce
2 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 tsps vegetable oil
8 oz. package cream cheese
Greens for plating

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the tomato juice, scallions, cucumber, celery, all but 1 Tbls. of both the red and yellow peppers, 1/2 cup of the red onion, half of the chopped jalapenos, 1 Tbls. of the cilantro, 1 Tbls. of the lime juice, red wine vinegar, 1/2 sp. of the garlic, 2 1/2 tsps of salt, 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper, and the hot sauce and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, pour 3/4 cup of the remaining tomato juice over the gelatin. Stir well and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Place remaining tomato juice in a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Pour over gelatin mixture and stir until gelatin is completely melted. Pour melted gelatin mixture into gazpacho mixture, stir to combine will. Lightly grease 6 (1 cup) molds with the vegetable oil. Divide the gazpacho mixture between the molds and put in the refrigerator to set.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the remaining Tbls. of red and yellow peppers, 2 Tbls. of red onion, jalapeno pepper, 3 Tbls. of cilantro, 1/2 Tbls. lime jice, 1 tsp. garlic, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, the cream cheese and process until smooth.

To unmold, briefly dip molds into hot water and/or run a knife around the edge of the aspic. Place greens on a plate and turn aspics out. Garnish with cream cheese mixture - either a dollop or piped.