chorizo handpie recipe

Usually on the weekend I like to chill but that wasn't in the cards this past weekend. Did a demo for a standing-room-only crowd for the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend on Saturday, zoomed back to the City for an interview with Novo Magazine at Tres Agaves and on Sunday, bright and early, I went on KRON television to do an interview with Henry Tenenbaum. All in the name of tequila!

Here's how it went.... Popped up early on Saturday morning and headed to Menlo Park for that big Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend. Check out the link! Did a demo, short and sweet, thirty minutes. The first dish I made were these chorizo and tequila handpies. In front of a crowd of 300 hundred PLUS people, I forgot the tequila in the chorizo AND TEQUILA filling! Don't ask me why.... The bottle of Partida blanco was sitting right in front of me! We all laughed but think I might have laughed the most, mostly at myself!

Then I went to roll out the puff pastry. Mind you, it was about 100 degrees! It was sticky and impossible to roll. I did what I could and managed to turn out the most delicious chorizo minus the tequila handpies!

Immediately after, over a Mexican 75 at Tres Agaves, I was interviewed by two writers from Novo Magazine who didn't look old enough to drive a car let alone drink tequila. The interview went smoothly after I carded them. (Twenty-three and twenty five, shocking!!!)

Sunday, as I walked into my KRON TV interview with Henry, at what felt like the crack of dawn, I was thinking that for some, my bag of tequila, was like crack. I watched my back! I made it inside, tequila and all! Henry was a tequila champ trying all blanco, reposado and anejo tequila like a pro! Ya just gotta love Henry!

My new favorite is the Mexican 75, also from my new TEQUILA book! It's a margarita with a splash of bubbles all in one! Kind of celebratory, kind of refreshing! I'm thinking of serving it at the rehearsal dinner!

MEXICAN 75

This is a play on the French 75, the drink made of gin, Champagne, lemon juice and sugar made famous by the Franco-American World War 1 flying ace. It's unclear what makes the French 75 so powerful-- but, whoo boy, do you feel it when you down one! You can bet the same is true of it’s Mexican cousin! So worth it!

1 ounce blanco tequila
½ ounce agave nectar
½ ounce lime juice
Champagne

Place the tequila, agave nectar and lime juice in a shaker with plenty of ice. Shake 5 seconds and pour into a champagne flute. Top it off with Champagne to the top and a curl of lime zest.

Serves 1

100% blue agave

I know, I know, I just came out with "Wine Country Cooking!" I love the stuff and think that wine IS food and shouldn't be separated from the whole dining experience. If I hadn't studied cooking, I definitely would have gone to Davis to study oenology! But then again, I also like tequila and my next book is all about the stuff! Yeah, yeah, yeah, you had a bad experience in college and you're never going to touch it again!? Know what? You just drank the wrong tequila! You should have picked up a bottle of 100% blue agave tequila like Partida, 7 Leguas, El Tesoro instead of that caramel colored junk disquised as tequila. Because 100% agave tequila undergoes two distillations, it's one of the purest spirits made. And guess what!? No popping aspirin the next day and no regrets either! You'll remember who drove you home! Pub-date is Cinco de Mayo, also known as the fifth of May, and rumor has it, you can pre-order on Amazon and you'll get it much before Joey, your tequila-lovin' neighbor down the street. Thirty-five cocktails from the very best tequila bartenders in the country and twenty-five recipes for food, all containing tequila. Check out the photo of my research! (I love my job!) Williams-Sonoma bought 10,000 advance copies. This is going to be a big one! So, what are you waiting for?

i have an excuse!

It has been far too long... I promise not to be so remiss again. I have too many excuses. I was one of the chefs for the James Beard Media Awards in NY, I did some events at Aspen Food and Wine, I was teaching for a few weeks in Provence and Tuscany, I shot 26 new TV shows "Joanne Weir's Cooking Class," I tested 60 recipes for my newest book, I did a dinner for the Napa Valley Wine Auction, I went to Mexico to research my newest book, I had a weeklong cooking class in my kitchen where I also shoot my TV show, I celebrated my birthday and just YESTERDAY, I managed to make my book deadline! That's why they call it a deadline! This is true reason for celebration. Bring out the tequila! Not just any tequila, I'd like a Riedel tequila glass topped up with some 7 Leguas D'Antano.

Yes folks, I just finished a book devoted to tequila. It all started years ago when I fell in love... With tequila that is! I started a group called Agave Girls, for women who appreciate tequila. Ay caramba... it took off! Ten Speed Press asked me to write a book about tequila and the rest is history. About 30 food recipes and 40 cocktails from the best bartenders in the country who specialize in tequila. This meant lots of tequila research! It will be released on Cinco de Mayo '09.

Did I tell you that I love my job!? I even made a trip to Guadalajara and checked out the Highlands and Lowlands of Jalisco where 100% blue agave reigns supreme. I visited 7 Leguas and had lunch at with Fernando and Isabel, the owners at their gorgeous hacienda, spent a morning chatting it up with Carlos, owner of El Tesoro and traipsed through the mud at Partida agave fields. And of course, I tasted a lot of great tequila!