Sporting Road

Hatch New Mexico Green Chiles
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Hatch New Mexico Green Chiles

This is one of the top ten things that we in Colorado and New Mexico have to explain to out of towners. Green chile is not chili. And, yes, it's best if someone asks you, "Do you want that smothered?," that you comply. You will then be asked "Red or Green," and if you don't want to look like a foreigner, you'll know that the red chile is usually more mild, as it has been kissed by the frost at the end of the growing season, turning the green chiles fully ripe. Finally, if you want to pass as a local, you can reply "Christmas" which is a combination of both the red and green. And, yes, "We really do put this shit on everything," as they say from grits and burgers, to most Mexican dishes,and even to being served as its own stew (which is probably the most common version, if you are just asked, "Do you want some green chile?," they are referring to the stew. The New Mexico green chile season is from mid-September to the first week of October. We had 2 bags (2 1/2 bushels each) roasted this season, with a big party to solicit help with the peeling and bagging of them all. We like mixing one bag of the hot Sandias with one bag of the medium-hot Red Big Jim grown in the Hatch valley. Then, after roasting and peeling into 1/2 cup plastic bags for freezing. Hatch chiles should not be confused with the less desirable Mexican and Pueblo, Colorado chiles. The Hatch Valley is famous for its great flavor and is legendary in the Western United States for growing the best green chiles. The chiles vary in heat, depending on the place in the Hatch valley, the time

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Colorado, Recipes|Comments Off

Blue Grouse Hippies
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Blue Grouse Hippies

Jeff and I started hunting together for blue grouse over twenty years ago. We met as young lawyers starting out in the same courtrooms together. I saw Jeff sitting in front of the bar, waiting for his case to be called, and he was trying to hide an issue of Shooting Sportsman inside of his client's file. We starting talking and I found out his father, Roger Hill, wrote one of my favorite books, Fly Fishing the South Platte. Jeff went on to say this was a blessing and a curse, as his father was a retired nuclear physicist and that he never got to enjoy soccer and things like that on the weekends, as his father simply left every weekend day saying, "I am going fishing [or shooting] , do you want to come along?" There being no alternative except staying home alone, Jeff obliged and became a serious fly-tier, angler, and shooter of his own. We immediately started hunting together, a journey down the sporting road which lasted many years and which I hope will continue when he finds time away from his new family. His dog at the time was a hard-headed English Setter pup, which matched well in the field with my Britanny of field-trial lines who was on his first year afield. After many years of driving dirt roads and discovering dead ends on maps, we discovered the promised land of blue grouse together and promised to never divulge its location to any outsiders, or any other grouse covert we discovered together, for that matter, under threat of death or sending sultry clients to deal with such indiscretions. After one of our first days on the mountain in the shadows

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Colorado, Cuisine, Dog Training, Recipes, Wingshooting|Comments Off

French Mustards and Home Made Mustard

French mustard is nothing like american mustard, though the closest thing is perhaps American brown mustard, a bastardization of the English brown mustard and really nothing like the French ones. Oh sure, we have the Grey Poupon, made famous by the posh-teasing commercials of my childhood and I don't think anyone doesn't know the phase, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" But the truth is, Grey Poupon, isn't really that posh, nor very good, as far as French mustards go anyway. The much more flavorful ones are not pulverized like the typical Grey Poupon and are whole grain, in France. We prefer these ones for serving on their own, with something like pâté. We find the best ones to be Vilux, which is brown mustard if you can find it in specialty stores, which is sweeter and more full-bodied than the Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard, and we also like any of the whole seed mustards, including the ones by Grey Poupon, such as their Country Dijon or Harvest Course Ground mustards. Shawn's Recipe for Home Made Mustard Le Parfait french canning jars or use a Mason jar 12 ounces of stout beer 1 cup red wine vinegar 1/2 c. brown mustard seed 1/2 c. yellow mustard seed 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 t. nutmeg 1/4. cinnamon 1/4 t. allspice 1/4 t. ground cardamom Place in mason jar and cover with wrap for 48 hours then place in a food processor for 3 minutes. Place in jars and it's good to eat the next day. Keeps for six months in the fridge.

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, France, Recipes|Comments Off

Tapenade

The word tapenade comes from “tapeno,” the Provençal word for caper, which is a versatile topping on crostini (dried slices of baguette toasts) for appetizers, a topping on grilled salmon, a marinade for roast chicken, lamb, or beef. The Italians use it as a quick pasta sauce or pizza topping. Use either black or green olives, oil-cured or brined. Oil-cured are easier to work with (if pitting the olives yourself), but brined can produce a great impact, too. Traditionally, tapenade is made with anchovies and capers. The best anchovies are fresh white ones, but the ones from Colliore in the Languedox-Roussillon, or the Basque coastal regions are also top shelf. Barcelona has sweet and meaty anchovies, which are so prized they are never exported. If you can find salt-packed Italian anchovies in the States, you won't be disappointed. INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups olives, pitted, any kind will do, black or green, oil cured or brined, your choice, but we like Provencal black olives and castelvetro olives, from Emilia Romagna, which has a nice contrast of cured and soft versus hard, fresh and salty, finely chopped 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped. 1 T. capers (preferably salt cured), rinsed in a colander, and then coarsely chopped 1 t. minced fresh thyme and/or savory, or 1/2 teaspoon dried 1-2 boned fillets of anchovy, preferably fresh white anchovies, chopped Extra virgin olive oil as needed Red wine vinegar or lemon juice, to taste (about 1-2 tablespoons) 1-2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper INSTRUCTIONS Finely chop together the olives, capers, garlic, herbs, and anchovy. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and pepper and mix together with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and olive oil. You may need to add salt or

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Recipes, Starters|Comments Off

Smoked Salmon Bagel Sandwiches
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Smoked Salmon Bagel Sandwiches

Lox is a cured salmon fillet, usually sliced thin. Typically it is served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers. Lox can be crumbled into small pieces and added into scrambled eggs, sometimes with chopped onion. I have to confess, I never much cared for lox. At least, not when compared to freshly caught and smoked salmon, as lox is far too often too dry or too salty. Freshly smoked salmon is better, especially if you caught it yourself, fly fishing. While the Kokanee salmon run is on here in Colorado, we like to keep a few for smoking, as they die in their breeding rituals within the month of their run up the river anyway, so it seems a waste not to take advantage of their great flavor. And, the Togiak River is quite possibly the best King and Silver Salmon river in Alaska, from which our friend, Rim Chung, had just returned with some its delicacies. Numerous anglers who have fished all over the world describe the Togiak as incomparable for its salmon runs, as well as for its nearby trout and grayling fishing. All of the Alaskan and Northwest wild salmonoids are worth smoking, whether it is the Copper River salmon from your market, or something farther down the Sporting Road. We like our smoke salmon flaked on a hot, buttered bagel, topped with cream cheese and sprouts. It doesn't get simpler than this, nor better. Voila!

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Fishing, Recipes|Comments Off

Fig Molasses

Fresh figs are in season in the States from mid-September, just a short few weeks until mid-October, so get them now while possible from your grocery or specialty grocery. And, if short of the real thing, you can buy the dried variety of which the best may be Trader Joe's Dried Black Mission Figs. Or pick a bottle of Dolci Pensieri di Calabria (fig molasses). This is pure vigs, dark and syrupy, a result of combining the figs with sugar. Drizzle over fish, chicken, pork chops, waffles or pancakes, ice cream, fruit salad, salad dressings or marinades too. It is a substitute of honey on the fruit-salad, with fresh pineapple and maraschino. We like it drizzled over ice cream, fresh ricotta or any cheese like blue, Parmesan or Pecorino, stirring into yogurt, glazing a pork roast or flavoring pan juices.

By Sporting Road|October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Recipes, Sweets|Comments Off

Fly Fishing La Loue in the Jura

The French Jura region bordering Switzerland are beautiful and amazing, even for those of us living in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. The streams in the Jura deserve their reputation as the best in France. Excepting the fame created by Charles Ritz's writings of the chalk streams of Normandy, the Jura is one of the rare regions in France with an international fly fishing reputation. There are many places that I fell in love with in France, but the Jura has something special and unique--the landscapes, the rivers, trout and grayling, the fly fishers and even the flies. Add the hospitable nature of the people, warm welcome at the hotels, and the rich and original gastronomy, lexapro. It is one of the few regions which produces both good cheese and good wine, which is rare to have both in France due to the differing climates required for dairy cattle versus grape production. The scenery is spectacular, from the river valley to the high plateaus. Sightseeing the source of the Loue is worth the short drive and hike. Also, the trips to the neighboring towns along the valley, prove to have enough to interest everyone from shopping, sightseeing, gourmet shops for the famed Comte cheese, local wine suppliers offering great wines at very inexpensive prices, and quaint outdoor cafes for a anise-flavored pastis to cool ourselves and warm our hearts. Parts of the valley reminded me of Venice where the river meets the houses built on stilts. Enough of the setting, let’s get down to fishing. The only downside to fishing the Jura is that the local fishing rules are impossible to understand, even for the locals (even Nick de Toldi, who guides there regularly, promised they would be

By Sporting Road|October 2nd, 2011|Categories: Fishing, France, Travel|Comments Off

The International Fario Club
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The International Fario Club

Charles Ritz, of the Ritz hotel fortune, spent considerable time studying the art of fly fishing in the American West, England, and France. His book, A Flyfisher's Life, is one of the few books in the English language discussing fly fishing in France. In the 1930's he became an authority on fly fishing in France and invented the parabolic fly rod, which is still used, and which was commercially produced by ABU Garcia. Mr. Ritz was an advocate of the high speed - high line style of fly casting. He founded the "Fario Club", which was the most select fishing club in the world during the later part of the twentieth century and remains so today. We enjoy regular gatherings in Paris and around the world, to enjoy the camaraderie of others similarly suited. The Club's website is presently being revamped, but it can be found at www.farioclub.org. The "Pays d'Auge" region is made up of the port towns two hours north of Paris, including Honfleur, Deauville and Trouville. It takes like two small hours to drive from Paris. After driving through the lush fields where dairy cows are milked for production of Camembert, Pont-Lévèque & Livarot, and passing apple tree after apple tree, so it is no surprise that Calvados is offered at every turn in the countryside, we followed in Charles Ritz's footsteps staying the same place he did at the mill of Aclou on the river Risle. The "Aclou Reach" is often mentioned as his favorite fishing spot, home to the brown trout. Pezon Et Michel Ritz Super Parabolic PPP Fario Club bamboo fly rod. This rod is 8’ 6” long and it is rated for 5-6wt fly lines.

By Sporting Road|October 2nd, 2011|Categories: Fishing, France, Travel|Comments Off

Jambon, Speck, Proscuitto, Virginia Country Ham, Jamón Serrano and Jamón Ibérico

Meat has been cured since ancient times. Dry cured hams have been a favorite in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal for centuries. Americans, particularly those in the South and the names Smithfield and Surry are legendary in this area, carried on this tradition with smoked hams, fattening them with tasty peanuts, beech nuts, hickory nuts, acorns and fruits. All of these hams are salt cured and aged. Some are smoked over fragrant hardwoods. While we love everything French and American, and whilst the Italian prosciutto is the best known the world over, we prefer Spanish ham which usually has a more uniform texture, more intense flavor and is usually less moist than other cured hams, because of the long curing stage. In fact, every European country seems to have its own specialty on cured hams. But pig rearing is Spain dates back to antiquity and once the pig was harvested, it was dry-cured to last the family for an entire year. Jamón serrano is a type of jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham), which is generally served raw in thin slices, or occasionally diced for use in cooking. Today, Spain is the world's leading producer of dry-cured pork. Serrano means from the tierra or the mountain range, where the European white (it's really pink) pig is curred. Jamón Ibérico comes from the black Ibérico pig, which has smaller litters and is more difficult to put weight on quickly (compared to the white pigs), hence its higher price and gamier flavor, which we prefer. These Spanish hams are often thinly sliced and served on a slice of pan tomate. The German Black Forest ham is commonly available world-wide and is smoked over pine and fir and coated with beef blood to give it a black exterior. Very lean and

By Sporting Road|October 1st, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Recipes, Uncategorized|Comments Off

White Anchovies

Anchovies - whether white boquerones, freshly cooked, salted, or smoked, are a classic Spanish tapa, an Italian addition to an antipasti platter, and a French delight. Boquerones are tender white anchovies lightly pickled in vinegar and olive oil. Salted anchovies are silky and tender, definitely different from your typical over-salted canned ones. Smoked anchovies are incredible with a tender smoky flavor. Be prepared to spend $40/pound for the good ones. In addition to just serving them on their own with a slice of toasted and sea salted and olive oiled bread as a tapa or as part of an antipasti platter, we also use them in: Black Truffle Pasta

By Sporting Road|October 1st, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Recipes, Surf and Fin|Comments Off

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