Cookbook author, blogger and award-winning food photographer, Jackie Alpers has created a delicious love letter to the influential food of the Southwest in TASTE OF TUCSON: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona. The book celebrates, through more than 70 recipes and photos, the unique mix of cultures that create Southern Arizona's incredible Sonoran-style cuisine. Alpers shares her own inspired recipe creations in this book as well as recipes from 16 of her favorite regional restaurants and chefs, while incorporating the history of the region, the mysticism and lore, and how it has contributed to the food of the people who live there.
The city of Tucson was designated as the first food capitol of gastronomy by UNESCO. The city’s agriculture heritage extends back thousands of years, its rich and diverse culture celebrated in the delectable food dishes and vibrant local ingredients. Building from tried-and-true basics and tutorials on tacos, enchiladas, carne asada, and huevos rancheros, Jackie reveals secrets to making the Tucson area's most unique Sonoran style savories and sweets. Chapters include Sonoran-Style Staples; Salsas, Dips & Toppings; Beans, Rice & Calabacitas; Breakfast Anytime; Soups & Salads; Main Dishes; Street Snacks; and Desserts. The book also includes chapters about the cuisine of Tucson, history, and timeline.
Recipes in the book include:
- Calabacitas con Queso
- Molletes
- Teresa’s White Menudo
- Red Pozole
- Quick & Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Topopo Salad
- Potato Salad with Chile Lime Vinaigrette & Red Onion
- Carne Asada Tacos
- Coctel de Camarones (Sonora-Style Shrimp Cocktail)
- Mini Chimichangas
- Spicy Citrus Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas
- Chicken Mole Amarillo
- Shrimp with Creamy Goat Cheese–Poblano Sauce
- Beanie Weenie Tacos
- Duros with Calamari
- Lemon Tres Leches Poke Cake
- Dark Chocolate and Coffee Figgy Pudding Cakes
For cooks of all levels, from anywhere in the world who loves to dine on this Southwestern region's foods, this cookbook welcomes you to bring the Sonoran region's best and most iconic tastes into your own kitchen this holiday season.
Try this delightful dessert perfect for any holiday meal.
Recipe and Photo reprinted with permission from:
Taste of Tucson by Jackie Alpers / West Margin Press/2020
Papel Picado
(Crunchy Tortilla Snowflakes)
MAKES 8 SNOWFLAKES
Papel picado means “perforated paper,” and it’s a popular folk-art craft in Tucson and Mexico. This edible version will brighten any winter holiday table. This is probably the only time I will recommend using those super-soft, fluffy, white, supermarket tortillas. Use fine-pointed scissors and the softest, freshest tortillas you can find so that they fold easily without cracking. Serve these as a dessert or appetizer, either alone or with crème fraiche for dipping.
8 (6-inch) extra-fluffy flour tortillas
Olive oil spray or 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons colored sanding sugar, such as turquoise blue
2 tablespoons sprinkles, such as white jimmies, snowflake quins, or multicolored nonpareils
1 tablespoon coarse salt flakes, such as Maldon
½ cup crème fraiche, for serving (optional)
Position your oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone sheet liner.
Fold each tortilla in half, then in half again, and then in half a third time to make a roughly triangular shape. Using fine-pointed scissors, cut away small triangles or semicircles from the tortilla layers. Cut off a small piece from the tip, too, if you want a hole in the very center. Carefully unfold the tortillas—they will resemble large snowflakes—place them flat on the baking sheets, and spray or brush with olive oil.
Decorate the “snowflakes” to your liking with sanding sugar, sprinkles, and coarse salt. Bake until slightly golden around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Serve with crème fraiche.
Jackie Alpers is an award-winning professional food photographer who cooks, styles and photographs food and recipes in her natural-light studio and documents food & travel on location. Her popular food photography and recipe blog “Jackie’s Happy Plate” showcases her culinary adventures as a Midwesterner transplanted to the Sonoran Desert. She is especially interested in the emotional, psychological and spiritual relationship that people have with food and drink. Food lends itself to vast symbolism and interpretation and she loves the rituals surrounding it. She is based in Tucson, Arizona.
Alpers writes and photographs a monthly column for the FoodNetwork.com and also contributes recipes and photography to Refinery29, Random House’s Tastebook, TheKitchn, TodayFood, Real Simple, National Geographic and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine among others. She has been featured in articles for Reader’s Digest, CNN, Good Morning America, The New York Times & NPR. Recipes and food photography from her blog, Jackie’s Happy Plate has been featured in numerous online publications including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Glamour, Better Homes and Gardens, MSN, Brit + Co. and Buzzfeed Food. To learn more visit www.JackieAlpers.com.
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