Greetings, piggies! Today's column is brought to you by the letters f-i-r-e and the numbers 9-1-1. Yes, fire is the topic
du jour
in Santa Fe, with this month marking the sixth anniversary of Los Alamos' Cerro Grande fire and warnings about wildfires this summer becoming ever more dire.
Nobody knows more about working with fire than JD Damron, the chef at El Nido (1591 Bishops Lodge Road, 988-4340), the steak and seafood restaurant in Tesuque. When he's
not singeing his fingers searing strip steaks at El Nido, Damron is Tesuque's fire chief and a part-time Santa Fe County firefighter. How does he manage to fire 22 orders of deep-fried oysters and put out four brush fires all in one day? "I don't sleep much," Damron told me from the restaurant's kitchen. "We average 45 calls a month," he reported, "and I run about 95 percent of them." Some days are quiet and Damron is able to peel shrimp in peace. Other days, three or four calls will come in and he'll have to peel off his apron and pull on his fire chief hat. (I haven't met JD in person, but if he's halfway decent looking, the guy is a one-man Chippendale's calendar!)
Because Chef Damron does most of the cooking at El Nido, he sometimes has to pass on a fire call when the dining room is full and the heat is on in the kitchen. Damron didn't say that he'd had to pass on more calls than usual lately, but he did mention that business is up at El Nido. That's good news for owners Don Scharhad and Dennis Dampf as they celebrate the restaurant's 25th anniversary. Congratulations, guys, and keep up the good work!
In other fire-related news, Ristra (548 Agua Fria St., 982-8608) has reopened after a closure of several months due to a kitchen fire. This not-too-stuffy French restaurant with a Southwestern flavor has remodeled a bit and they're back in action. So go check it out, if only for snacks in the bar.
The Santa Fe School of Cooking (116 W. San Francisco St., 983-4511) has two hot new books to brag about.
Salsas and Tacos
is a pretty little book of 50 recipes, beautifully photographed by local
chef and food photographer Lois Ellen Frank. It was originally two books, but six years after the first pressing, Gibbs Smith has combined the two topics into one book that costs only $12.95. The school is offering a new class on salsa-making that includes recipes from the book. There's one being offered on Friday, May 5, another on May 19 and several more throughout the summer. The cost is $35.
Southwest Flavors
is the big news from the school. This book follows, more than a decade later, on the heels of the original SFSC cookbook. According to author and school owner Nicole Curtis Ammerman, the book includes new recipes from all nine of the school's staff chefs-no repeat material from the first book. She and her mother, co-owner Susan Curtis, tested all of the recipes at home, making sure they were writing for the home cook and not professional kitchens.
Southwest Flavors
is also published by Gibbs Smith. At a sizeable 244 pages, it costs $34.95.
There will be a cookbook release party at the school on Saturday, May 20 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The party is free and they will be offering edible samples of the recipes.
Here's a fiery hot recipe from
Salsas and Tacos
to tide you over until you get your hands on one of the new books.
Hot and Smoky Shrimp Tacos
The flavor and the spiciness of chipotle chiles, which are smoked red jalapeños, make a perfect foil for the garlicky shrimp. This dish was meant to be hot, but you can vary the intensity of heat by reducing the quantity of chile. If you like, the shrimp may also be prepared using an outdoor grill; make the sauce without the shrimp, then brush some on the shrimp before grilling. Toss shrimp with the remaining sauce after they are cooked.
Makes 20 to 25 tacos, enough to serve 8 to 10 people
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1½ pounds medium shrimp (26 to 30 per pound), peeled and deveined
1½ teaspoons coarse salt
1/8 to ¼ cup (some like it hot!) puréed chipotle chiles in adobo
½ cup roasted tomato puree or canned tomato sauce
2 tablespoons cold water
Juice of ½ orange
Juice of 1 lime
½ cup chopped cilantro (about ½ large bunch)
Fresh corn tortillas
Preheat a heavy skillet or sauté pan to medium hot (325° F); add olive oil and butter and continue heating until oil begins to smoke (400° F). Immediately add garlic, shrimp and salt, stirring or tossing vigorously. Oil tends to splatter at this temperature, so be careful.
When shrimp begin to turn opaque, stir in the chipotle chile purée and sauté about 15 seconds to completely coat shrimp.
Add tomato puree, water, and orange and lime juices.
Reduce heat slightly and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
Serve in fresh soft corn tortillas, 2 or 3 shrimp per taco.
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to food@sfreporter.com.
