High Desert Table

Your everyday guide to Southwestern cooking

Marianne Sundquist

Grilled Pork & Pineapple Tacos with Ancho Chile Marinade

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Grill season is here, and I notice it changes how I think about meals for the week. What can we grill up on the Cowboy Cauldron so we don’t have to think about cooking for a while, is how it sounds in my head. This recipe for Grilled Pork and Pineapple Tacos will fly at any kind of party, but also last a few days for a single household. It takes a little time to make the ancho marinade, but it should be noted that this component can easily be doubled or even tripled (with very little extra time added) and then put in containers in the freezer for other cooking scenarios in the future, like rubbing over a whole chicken before roasting, or marinating beef or chicken.

The Inspiration: A Nod to Tacos Al Pastor

This recipe is completely inspired by my love of Tacos Al Pastor, a method of taco making that came to life in the 1930s in Puebla, Mexico, when Lebanese immigrants introduced their shwarma-making, vertical cooking spits to the area. Eventually, lamb turned to pork marinated in chiles and anchiote, the earthy, slightly peppery seed of the evergreen Bixa orellana shrub, which gives cheese, Cochinita Pibil Tacos, and Tacos Al Pastor their distinct orange color. 

chef-grilling-pork-pineapple-tacos

There is something magical that happens when cooking meat on a vertical spit. There is also something magical that happens when I cook anything on the Cowboy Cauldron. 

You’ll notice that you can either use thinly sliced pork shoulder (the classic choice) or pork tenderloin. The tenderloin is a leaner cut and holds the marinade well.

pork-on-the-cowboy-cauldron

The Power of Pineapple & Fire-Roasted Chiles

Here, I focus on dried ancho chiles as the base of the marinade and add fire-roasted green chile to the mix of grilled pork and pineapple. Feel free to add sour cream, cheese, or avocado if you want, but simply topping it with cilantro and onion gets the job done.

pineapple-on-the-grill
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Grilled Pork and Pineapple Tacos with Ancho Chile Marinade

grilled-pork-and-pineapple-in-bowl
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A vibrant summer recipe inspired by Tacos Al Pastor—these Grilled Pork & Pineapple Tacos feature an ancho chile marinade, charred pineapple, and roasted green chiles for a flavor-packed twist on tradition.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6-8 servings
  • Category: bbq
  • Method: grilling
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

Units

for the marinated pork

  • 6 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peels left on
  • 2 t. high desert herbs or oregano
  • 2 t. kosher salt
  • 1 t. ground coriander
  • 1/2 t. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 t. ground Mexican canela or cinnamon
  • 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 c. olive oil or vegetable oil
  • 1 T. agave or honey
  • 1/4 pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  • 2 lb. pork shoulder or pork tenderloin, sliced into 1/4” slices

for the tacos

  • 5 fire-roasted New Mexico green chiles, ananehim, or poblanos, stemmed, peeled, seeded, diced
  • The remaining 3/4 of the pineapple, cut into wide slices
  • 1 medium white onion, minced
  • 1 bunch of cilantro leaves, minced
  • warm corn tortillas

Instructions

First, let’s make the marinade:

In a large skillet over medium heat, toast the chiles for around a minute on each side, pressing them with tongs or a spatula until their oils are activated (they will smell amazing!) and their skins soften. Place them in a bowl and cover them with hot tap water for 15 minutes, and then drain them. While the chiles are soaking, place the garlic in the hot, dry skillet and toast until the skins start to darken on all sides and then turn off the heat and transfer to a bowl. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the garlic cloves and add them to a blender. Also, to the blender, add the rehydrated chiles, dried high desert herbs (or oregano), salt, coriander, pepper, canela or cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, oil, agave or honey, and pineapple slices. Blend until smooth. Spread this marinade over the pork slices and refrigerate overnight.

Grilling and assembling the tacos

Heat your coals in the cauldron to a medium-high heat. Grill the pork until it’s cooked through on both sides, by sight or to an internal temperature of 145°F. Let rest, chop into pieces. Also, grill the pineapple until it has some nice char on both sides. Carefully transfer the pineapple to a cutting board, chop it, and add it to the bowl with the pork. Stir in the fire-roasted green chile. Serve warm tortillas, onion, and cilantro on the side.

grilled-pork-pineapple-with-sides

Old Plaza Cocktail: The High Desert Vieux Carré

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In 1938, Walter Bergeron, head bartender of the Carousel Bar in the Monteleone Hotel riffed on the Manhattan cocktail (rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters), taking it to the next level in an homage to the romance of New Orleans. His changes were small but mighty. He added cognac (French Brandy) and Benedictine (a French herbal liquor made up of 27 plants and spices) and both Peychauds (light, candied cherry, orange) and Angostura (deep, spicy and savory) bitters. He named it “Vieux Carré”, French for “Old Square”, a nod to the French Quarter neighborhood in New Orleans which he saw as romantic, reminiscent of another time.

A High Desert Twist: Mezcal & Pine Liquor

I only know about the Vieux Carré because it happens to be my husband’s favorite cocktail. So I’ve learned to not only make it, but to also appreciate its mysterious and nuanced complexity. With the holidays approaching, I wanted to make a special version with notes of the high desert throughout that also acknowledges the magic of the historic plaza at the center of Santa Fe. To do this, I only make two main alterations to the classic— instead of rye whiskey, we add mezcal. And we swap out sweet vermouth for pine liquor.

Optional Infusion: Elevating the Flavors

If you want to take this version to the next level (which is impossible for me to resist) you can gently infuse the mezcal a few days in advance with dried red chiles, juniper berries and lavender. This is entirely optional but delightful. If you skip the infusion, you can make this cocktail in about five minutes.

Serving Suggestions: Straight Up or On the Rocks

This is a strong cocktail, so it’s important to know that you have options when it comes to serving. In the classic style, the cocktail is served straight, stirred with ice, strained into a cocktail glass and garnished with a lemon twist. But there is nothing wrong with serving it with ice or even ice and a splash of soda to lighten it up. I like to multiply this recipe by four and keep a jar in the fridge. Because there is no juice, it will keep for a long time in the fridge.

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Old Plaza Cocktail: The High Desert Vieux Carré

Old Plaza Cocktail - in a cocktail glass
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The Old Plaza Cocktail is a smoky and spicy twist on the classic Vieux Carré cocktail. It uses mezcal and pine liquor in place of rye whiskey and sweet vermouth, with optional infusions of red chiles, juniper berries, and lavender.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 1 cocktail
  • Category: cocktail
  • Method: mix
  • Cuisine: New Orleans

Ingredients

Units
For the infused Mezcal:
  • 5 New Mexico Red Chiles, seeded (optional) & stemmed
  • 2 c. mezcal
  • 1 t. dried lavender buds
  • 1 t. dried juniper berries
For the cocktail:
  • 3/4 oz. infused mezcal
  • 3/4 oz. cognac
  • 1/2 oz. pine liquor
  • 1/2 oz. benedictine
  • 2 dashes peychauds bitters
  • 2 dashes angostura bitters
  • 1 lemon peel, for garnish

Instructions

Making the infusion

3-5 days before you want to make the cocktail, infuse the mezcal. Place a dry skillet over medium heat. Quickly sear the red chiles on all sides just until their oils activate and the chiles soften. Turn off the heat. Transfer the chiles to a glass jar. Add the mezcal, lavender and juniper berries. Put a tight fitting lid on the jar and place it somewhere cool and dark, giving it a shake every day. After infusing, strain the mezcal through a fine mesh strainer and now it’s ready for use.

Old Plaza Cocktail - Infusion in a jar

To make the cocktail

Fill a large glass with ice. Add the infused mezcal, cognac, pine liquor, benedictine and both bitters. Stir for around ten seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel and serve immediately.

Additional Option

You can also strain the cocktail into a rocks glass with ice and a splash of soda water for a lighter version.

 

Easy Bearnaise Sauce

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Every recipe has a story. How I would have loved to be a bird in a tree outside of my great grandmother’s house in Queens, perched at the kitchen window with her cooking inside. What recipes does she remember? How did her cooking change because of her life as a single mom? What recipes came from Italy and what recipes came from newspaper clippings? How did her mother make tomato gravy? Who was the first person in my family to make our beloved “meat pie” or add a pinch of nutmeg to ricotta before adding it to lasagna? These are questions I will never have answers to, but this collection of breadcrumbs make a canon that I carry close to my heart. Each time I make one of these dishes, it’s like a photograph coming to life, carrying our history forward into the future.

A Brief History of Culinary History

According to scholars, the oldest written recipe is a method for brewing beer that was written on clay tablets in Ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) around 1730 BCE. Since then, our understanding (and documentation) of culinary history has continued to grow across the globe. In 1651, a chef from Burgundy, François Pierre de la Varenne, wrote Le Cuisinier François, a book solidifying French cooking as an identity unto itself.

The Evolution of Mother Sauces

Fast forward to 1833 when another French chef, Marie-Antoine Carême, named four “mother sauces” as core components to French cookery: Velouté, Béchamel, Allemande, and Espagnole. Who could have imagined that just thirteen years later, in a little village on the outskirts of Nice, Georges-Auguste Escoffier would be born. At the age of 12, Escoffier was apprenticing at his uncle’s restaurant and by 1903 he had risen in the culinary world so much that when he adjusted the Mother Sauces by demoting Allemande (a version of Velouté) and adding Hollandaise and Tomato sauces, the culinary world listened.

Simplifying Bearnaise for Real Life

The recipe I’m sharing today is an easy approach to Bearnaise, a light and herby tarragon infused cousin of hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise is made by emulsifying egg yolks with lemon juice and clarified butter. Perfect for benedicts, eggs, vegetables, fish and savory crepes. Here, I take some steps that to some might seem blasphemous. I don’t clarify the butter or use a double boiler (although a double boiler is a great way to reheat if you’re like me and don’t have a microwave).

I don’t skip these steps out of disrespect. I make bearnaise like this because if I didn’t figure out a way to make it work for my real life, I don’t know if I would ever make it. There are times in life that you just need to make something a little bit easier so you can actually make it happen. And I think it’s especially important to note that no one ever complains when this luscious and delightful sauce hits the table. Sometimes when I make it, I press all the water out of a few fire roasted green chiles, dice them and fold them into the sauce right before serving, but that’s up to you.

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Easy Bearnaise Sauce

Easy Bearnaise Sauce - in a blue bowl
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Learn about the fascinating history of French sauces while making a delicious and easy Bearnaise sauce. This simplified recipe skips the fuss, making it perfect for weeknight dinners.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 1 cup
  • Category: Sauce
  • Method: simmer
  • Cuisine: French

Ingredients

Units
  • 1/4 c. white wine vinegar
  • 1 medium shallot, peeled and sliced
  • 2 sprigs of fresh tarragon
  • 2 t. High Desert Herbs or Herbes de provence
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 T. water
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 3 T. butter, room temperature
  • 2 T. minced fresh tarragon
  • Salt, to taste

Instructions

Easy Bearnaise Sauce - ingredients

Gather Your Ingredients

First, gather and measure (if applicable) all of your ingredients, placing them in a place easy for you to reach by the stove. This makes everything easier.

Make the Vinegar Reduction

In a saucepan, add the white wine vinegar, shallot and fresh tarragon sprigs over medium heat. Let this mixture simmer for around 5 minutes, or until the vinegar has reduced to around 1-2 tablespoons. Strain this vinegar reduction, discarding (or snacking on) the shallots and tarragon sprigs. Return the vinegar to the saucepan and let cool for five minutes.

Emulsify the Eggs and Butter

Turn the saucepan on a medium-low heat and add the egg yolks, water and olive oil, whisking continuously. At first, the mixture will have a watery texture. After only a few minutes, the texture will start to thicken. You don’t want the eggs to scramble, but you want the sauce to turn thick and creamy (like a custard). This happens fast so stay vigilant.

As soon as you see the texture shift, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the room temperature butter, minced tarragon and salt to taste. Serve immediately.

 

Homemade Danish Apple Kringle

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This week’s recipe is a special one because I get to introduce you to the Pastry Bandit, aka my husband Hans, who comes from a Swedish family in Minnesota and has been enjoying kringles since he was a child. Being that flour makes him sneeze, he wears a bandana whenever baking and inevitably we all gather to see what creations this masked character is mixing, rolling, and shaping. The kringle he grew up eating the most is the one his mom still makes to this day, filled with an almond filling. Here, because we had exactly six granny smith apples in the fridge, we decided to try a fruit filling this year instead. It was a great decision!

What is a Kringle?

Kringles are known for their flakey, buttery pastry and almond or fruit fillings, often glazed and sprinkled with nuts or sugar. This classic Danish dough is incredibly easy to make (only four ingredients) and is a dream to work with, especially after resting in the fridge overnight. In this recipe, we skip the glaze but if you want to add a boost of sweetness, simply whisk together one cup of powdered sugar with two tablespoons of milk and you are ready to drizzle away until your heart’s content.

If you want to get creative with the fruit filling, go for it! You could add blueberries, dried fruits like cherries or currants, or chopped nuts. We love to make the dough and the filling the day before we plan on rolling it out and baking. This is perfect for breakfast, dessert, or a mid-day snack break and is wonderful with tea and coffee.

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Homemade Danish Apple Kringle

Danish Apple Kringle - out of the oven on a cutting board
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Learn how to make a delicious and easy homemade Danish Apple Kringle with this simple recipe. This classic Danish pastry is flaky, buttery, and perfect for any occasion.

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 40 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 12 servings
  • Category: dessert, breakfast
  • Method: bake
  • Cuisine: danish

Ingredients

Units
for the dough:
  • 2 c. all-purpose flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 c. cold butter, diced
  • 1 c. sour cream
for the filling:
  • 6 medium-sized firm apples, peeled, cored, and diced into 1/2” pieces
  • 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1 T. cornstarch
  • 2 t. pumpkin spice or cinnamon
  • 2 t. vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
for building:
  • 1 egg, for egg wash
  • 2 T. decorating sugar or sugar in the raw

Instructions

The day before, make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the flour, salt, butter, and sour cream. Mix this on medium speed until the dough comes together and comes away from the side of the bowl. It will feel just slightly sticky but easily form into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least overnight.

Making the Apple Filling

To make the filling, add the apples, brown sugar, cornstarch, pumpkin spice, vanilla, and salt to a large saute pan. Let this mixture simmer over medium heat until the apples release their juice and the mixture slightly thickens, resembling apple pie filling, around 30 minutes. Let this cool completely.

Assembling the Kringle

To build and bake the kringle, preheat the oven to 375 F. and line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.  On a lightly floured, clean, and dry surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle, roughly 24” wide and 14” high. Carefully transfer this rectangle of dough to your baking sheet.

Danish Apple Kringle - rolling and prepping the dough

Make sure to leave a 12-inch wide rectangle of rolled-out dough in the middle, and cut 1-inch wide strips along both sides of the rectangle. Spread the apple filling in the center rectangle of the pastry.

Danish Apple Kringle - cutting the strips

Danish Apple Kringle - folding the strips

Then, alternating sides, fold each strip of cut dough over the apple filling until all of the apple is covered and all the strips are folded over.

Danish Apple Kringle - before baking

Baking the kringle

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and brush it over the pastry. Sprinkle the top with decorating sugar and bake for around 35-40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Danish Apple Kringle - egg wash and decorative sugar

Transfer to a cutting board and let cool for ten minutes before slicing and serving.

Danish Apple Kringle - sliced and plated

 

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Over the years I have made many cookies. In the pastry realm of recipes, I’ve always considered cookies to be one of the easiest and most straight forward. And in Santa Fe we are lucky enough to have pastry chefs who know their way around the kitchen when it comes to cookies. This week we picked up a cookie box from Momo + Co. for the holiday week and with each new cookie I taste out of the box, I am fairly sure it’s the best I have ever had. Not to mention the macarons at Chaine in Burro Alley which would give any Parisian macaron a run for its money. But there is also something about making a simple cookie at home. It’s one of my favorite things to do with my kids. I love how much fun they have measuring (and spilling) and waiting for the cookies to emerge from the oven.

The Quest for the Perfect High-Altitude Cookie

Around eight years ago when my family moved to New Mexico my cookies started coming out of the oven and were a little bit off. Sometimes they were too puffy and other times too dry. I was puzzled because I had always assumed that high altitude baking was primarily for cakes. So I set out to figure out how to make a chocolate chip cookie that was crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside. I also wanted the cookie to stay chewy over the next couple of days when stored at room temperature in an airtight container. After many attempts in the Santa Fe altitude, I’m happy to report that my family has declared this the best cookie I have ever made. This is a big win for me and I hope it will be a big win for you too.

Adapting a Classic Recipe

I found an old chocolate chip cookie recipe that had worked well for me years ago. I wish I could remember where it came from to give a proper thank you to its origins, probably a baking blog or back of a bag of chocolate chips. Then I adjusted it with some basic high-altitude techniques: I increased the temperature, decreased the cooking time, slightly decreased the leavening agents and sugars and increased the liquid (here I added an extra egg). Then for a bit of salty richness, I do what Snoop Dog does, which is add creamy peanut butter to his chocolate chip cookie dough. And to finish it off, right before the cookies go into the oven I sprinkle some flakey sea salt over the top. And since I always keep Stokli’s High Desert Salt by the stove, I use this which adds a hint of New Mexico red and green chiles and lavender too.

If you don’t have a hand mixer, don’t worry! You can use a handheld electric mixer, or make this the way everyone used to, with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease. It might take a little longer, but it will get the job done, resulting in the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made from sea level to the mountains.

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High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies - in a bowl
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Learn how to make the best high altitude chocolate chip cookies with this easy recipe. Perfect for chewy, crispy cookies every time!

  • Author: Marianne Sundquist
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 24-48 cookies
  • Category: dessert, high-altitude
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: american

Ingredients

Units
  • 2 c. (240 g.) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 t. baking soda
  • 1/2 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. kosher salt
  • 3/4 c. (12 T. / 170 g.) unsalted butter, cold
  • 2 T. creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 c. (100 g.) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 c. (100 g.) packed brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 t. vanilla paste or extract
  • 1 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
  • flakey sea salt for sprinkling on top

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Making the Cookie Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Mix on medium speed until the butter mixture is thoroughly combined and there are no lumps.

Now add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until fully incorporated. Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Turn the mixer on low at first, so you don’t have a cloud of flour fly into your face. Once the flour begins to turn into a dough, you can turn the mixer speed to medium to fully mix everything together. Along the way you may need to stop the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula so nothing is stuck on the sides.

Once the cookie dough has come together, add the chocolate chips and mix just until combined. Scoop the dough with a spoon or a cookie scoop into whatever size cookies you want to make, leaving around 2-inches of space between each one. Sprinkle a small amount of flakey sea salt on top of each cookie.

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies - dough on a sheet tray

Baking and Cooling

If you are making a standard size cookie (around 2 tablespoons of dough), bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Let rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack or plate to finish cooling.