Terry Conlan's Pineapple & Avocado Salad

Here is the first recipe I promised you from the previous post on Terry Conlan's Mas Masa with Mushrooms cooking class. It's called Ensalada del Calle. It's a bright salad bursting with flavor from fresh pineapple, orange juice, the crunch of shredded carrots and pepitas (pumpkin seeds), a kick from a little chili pepper and garlic, and buttery richness from avocado. It's healthy and decadent tasting at the same time.

(Note: excuse the photo quality, I was shooting in the class on the fly with my iPhone.)

This makes a great salad with a Mexican meal and would be especially festive and fancy enough for the holidays or a special occasion.

In the class, Terry made his own quick pineapple vinegar. Don't skip this step. It brings out huge flavor and is very easy. Be sure to use an organic pineapple though, you don't want pesticide vinegar in your dressing! This recipe will make more vinegar than you need, but since you already have the pineapple, there's no way around it and vinegar is cheap. Besides, this is a treat to have in the fridge for next time. It would be great drizzled over other pineapple salads or Asian salads or grilled pineapple or fish or over grilled pork in a taco, now I'm thinking al pastor...) Note, this same technique will work with other fruits so try making whatever fruit vinegar you like.

Ensalada Del Calle

1 ripe organic pineapple
2 cups white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons toasted and salted pepitas
1/2 cup onion, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons fruity, extra virgin olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 seeded and minced Serrano pepper
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup carrot, peeled and shredded
2 ripe avocados
one head of butter lettuce

Take the onion slices and place them in a bowl in cold water and soak for 30 minutes to remove the harsh sulfuriness. Drain and set aside.

Peel and core the pineapple, reserving the trimmings. Cut half of the pineapple fruit into bite-sized chunks. Other half of fruit can be eaten later (chef treat).

Put the pineapple core and skin in a nonreactive (stainless steel) saucepan with the vinegar. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain. Measure out 2 tablespoons. Pour the remaining pineapple vinegar into a jar and refrigerate for future use. (This will keep for a long time.)

Combine the 2 tablespoons of pineapple vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. Toss in the pineapple, onion, serrano, and cilantro. Toss to combine.

Peel and deseed the avocados. Cut into large chunks.

To serve, place a butter lettuce leaf on each plate. Top with pineapple mixture, then avocado chunks and sprinkle with pepitas.

Serves 6.

Adapted from Terry Conlan.

Terry Conlan's Masa with Mushrooms Class

Right before we took off for the mountains, I took a demo cooking class with Terry Conlan from Lake Austin Spa. Didn't get a chance to write it up before I left, but it was definitely worth sharing. The class was called "Mas Masa with Mushrooms" and covered an impressive array of masa-related recipes. Here's what he made:

• homemade corn tortillas
• ensalada del calle (pineapple, carrot, avocados with pepitas)
• chicken & mushroom flautas ahogadas ("drowned" in salsa verde)
• grilled portobello tacos
• wild mushroom tamales with poblano, goat cheese, and grilled tomato salsa
• pork and mushroom chilaquiles with winter squash, red chile salsa and papaya relish

I've taken other classes from Conlan and so I knew I could count on big flavors even though his food is considered "spa cuisine." Lake Austin Spa is consistently rated one of the top destination spas in the country and his food has to be a large part of the reason. I love that his food is fresh and abundantly flavorful. You notice the abundance, not what's missing. I love learning from him how to cook such satisfying, but healthy food.

I have to admit that until recently, I've never been much of a tamale fan. But my friend, Matt, has been experimenting with tamale recipes recently and we've been the lucky recipients of some of his tasty treats. (Matt's smoked brisket-filled tamales with an avocado green sauce blew us away. I'll be sharing his recipes soon. But that's a whole other post.)

First, I'm going to share with you a few notes I made in Conlan's masa class...

• You can make fruit vinegar (for salad dressings) using almost any fruit. He made one using pineapple trimmings and white wine vinegar. He suggested doing the same with cranberries and honey for the holidays.

• Selecting tomatillos: look for deep, dark, bright green, smooth fruits

• He likes to use Cabot brand reduced-fat white cheddar to shred for tacos

• Instead of frying flautas, bake them without sauce and then plate on a pool of warmed sauce just before serving.

• He doesn't use canola oil because it's usually genetically-modified.

• To use cooking spray – don't spray the skillet, spray the food, then place it in the skillet.

• Masa for tamales is coarser but tortilla masa is fine too for tamales. He uses MaSeCa brand. Store it in the fridge. Keeps a long time.

• At home (not at the spa), he's rendered his own pork fat to use to make tamales.

• You can make a giant tamal instead of individual tamales and serve it in slices. Steam it for 1.5 - 2 hours.

• Roast poblanos over a direct flame "hard and fast" so that the chile keeps its strength but the the skin gets charred. A propane torch is also good for this. Then place it in a paper bag to steam the skin off for easier removal. (See him roasting a poblano in the photo above.)

• I asked him about flavoring his masa (as Matt did in one of his tamale recipes that we really liked) and he suggested achiote oil, bean purée, ancho purée or ground hominy for texture.

• For tortilla making, he suggests using a plastic produce bag as the plastic liner in the tortilla press. It's heavier gauge plastic and when cut into squares, makes 2 almost perfectly-sized squares.

• You want corn tortilla dough to be the texture of Play Doh. It should be sticky, but not wet.

Next up, I'll have the pineapple salad recipe and the mushroom tamale recipe so stay tuned.

Terry Conlan's next class is December 9th and will focus on cooking with bison. Check out the Central Market Cooking School for more info.

Texas Book Festival this weekend

We're just back in town and still a bit road weary. I'll have more recipes soon, but wanted to pass along this info first, before the weekend gets going. The Texas Book Festival takes place tomorrow and Sunday at the Capitol in downtown Austin.

There is a long list of authors from across the spectrum who will be participating, but the best part to me is the cooking tent, where cookbook authors will speak and demonstrate.

Rebecca Rather will be making recipes from her new book, The Pastry Queen Parties. You can also check out Lydia Bastianich, Guiliano Hazan, and Ellie Krieger. There will be panel discussions with Austin City Limits performers (who are also cooks) and "Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered." That's a lot to feast on.

2009 Texas Book Festival
Saturday, 10/31 & Sunday, 11/1
main site
schedule
authors list
how to attend