TEXAS COOKING ONLINE * APRIL, 2003 NEWSLETTER *

The Best Gift Wine Baskets

Notice to our Readers: About 1000 of you received this newsletter last Friday. To those 1000 we apologize for this second mailing. The program that sends to our 14,000 subscribers faulted after 1000 addresses, but we don't know which addresses. We have spent the weekend installing new software which, we hope, will prevent these kinds of glitches. Experience the Thrill of the Grill! Find the right grill: Gas grills, charcoal grills, portable grills. Grilling tools, chimney starters, brushes and covers. Visit the Weber Store Special: Save 40% on Barbecue Tools Get set for summer grilling with sizzling savings on tool sets, grill brushes, spatulas, meat thermometers, and more. Spring is here, and it is time to dust off your grill. Break out your camping equipment and your picnic stuff. Get ready for the wonderful warm months ahead. In April, we encourage everyone to experience the thrill of the grill. Attention Fiestaware fans and collectors: This month, Amazon is having a "stock-up sale" on the colorful Fiestaware dinnerware. When you buy a 20-piece dinnerware set for four, you'll get an extra 5-piece place setting free! Click here for the Fiestaware store. Whenever you want to shop Amazon, just click on one of the banners on Texas Cooking. Your Amazon customer information automatically appears, and you will help support Texas Cooking.

Experience the Thrill of the Grill! Frills for the Grill by John Raven, Ph.B. As winter recedes back to the North Pole, start firing up your grills and smokers. Dr. John shows how to fix "something fancy" on your grill - a chicken cordon bleu and another great recipe, Hawaiian Pork Chops. Rites of Spring by John Raven, Ph.B. I'm sure that all of you carefully cleaned and stored your grills, smokers and griddles last fall. But in case you didn't, you better get with it. Now is the time to clean up your grill, an annual ritual Dr. John fondly calls the "Rites of Spring." Be sure to read our monthly advice column, Ask Dr. John. This month Dr. John answers readers' questions on grills, Flying Saucer Sandwiches, beer can chicken, finding sweet jalapeños, and more. Dueling Cowboy Cookbook Reviews A Cowboy in the Kitchen by Grady Spears Gourmet Texas cooking is laid-out here plainly with fantastic recipes and beautiful photographs. Chef Grady Spears gives us his all with this outstanding cookbook that will make its mark in any kitchen. Read Our Book Review Contemporary Cowboy Cookbook by Dotty Griffith Original review of new cookbook showing all the best foods eaten by the urban cowboys, the country cowboys and everyone in between. Over 100 recipes capture the flavor of the American West. Read Our Book Review Read more great cookbook reviews in the Lone Star Bookstore, Get Chocolate Gifts for Easter See ZChocolat's Easter Collection of chocolate: Violette, Jonquille, Renaissance and Primavera Special Report: Texas Azaleas April includes several Azalea trails and festivals with one of the South's prettiest flowers, the azalea. These colorful shrubs are found in East Texas. This is the time of year to catch them. If you can't make any of the Azalea gardens or trails this month, see some photos and facts in our new special report. You can also read our currently popular special report on Texas Bluebonnets. Bluebonnets are currently carpeting fields and roadsides all over the state. Find lots more about Texas culture, books and events on our sister web site, Texana. April Special: Get Toys & Games with Free Shipping Enjoy free shipping for top brands of toys and games, great gifts for kids and kids at heart. Visit Amazon Toys & Games Store Berry Delicious Desserts - Cool Berry Buckles and Tarts by Chef Jennifer Farmer One of our all-time favorites is something similar to a cobbler, but different in that it has a layer of pastry underneath the fruit. This is called a buckle, and we show you how to make a delicious one wih fresh berries. Another favorite is the tart. Make a tart with a easy no-roll crust, filled with delicious chocolate raspberry filling. Give Chocolate Gifts for Easter See ZChocolat's Easter Collection of chocolate: Violette, Jonquille, Renaissance and Primavera Recipe: Grilled Salmon with Green Chile Sauce Even when prepared with only butter and lemon, grilled salmon makes a special meal. But this creamy sauce enlivened with green chiles is an excellent accompaniment. 6 6-ounce Salmon steaks OR about 2½ pounds skinless salmon fillets cut into 6 equal pieces Olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 4.5-ounce cans chopped green chiles 2 green onions, finely chopped ¾ cup white wine 1½ cups heavy cream (whipping cream) Juice of half a lime Salt and pepper, to taste Make the Sauce: Place the chiles and the chopped green tops of one of the onions in a blender and purée until smooth. In a skillet, bring the wine and finely chopped onion (white part only) to a boil and reduce by half. Add the cream and continue boiling until entire mixture is reduced by half. Reduce heat and stir in the chile purée and lime juice. Keep warm until salmon is ready to serve. Grill the Salmon: Brush the grill surface and the salmon with olive oil to prevent sticking, and grill the salmon over hot coals, uncovered, no more than 5 minutes per side, depending upon thickness. Baste both sides during grilling with additional olive oil. Serve at once topped with a generous portion of Green Chile Sauce. Salmon lends itself well to grilling, but don't let it dry out or stick to the grill. If you're using salmon fillets, be sure that the skin is removed from both sides. You may have to ask the man behind the meat counter to remove the skin from one side, if that's the way your store sells salmon fillets. Go to MexGrocer.com for Authentic Mexican Food, cooking utensils, Mexican recipes, cookbooks and culture. Stop Spyware! We would like to bring something to your attention. A growing number of our readers ask us questions pertaining to a new, malicious set of programs infesting their computers. Known as scumware, these programs like Kazaa, TopText, Gator, WhenU and others create significant problems. We have written a useful and quick tutorial that informs you about them, and how to uninstall them from your computer. T-Shirt Contest The Rules: Since we began our T-Shirt giveaway five years ago, our contest rules remained unchanged. Readers have been able to enter as many times as they like, and their entries were retained in our database. As you can imagine, our contest database has become very large (which is good), BUT much of it consists of old email addresses that are no longer valid. Therefore, we are making the following change in our contest rules: Readers can still enter as often as they like; however, each contest entry will expire three months following the date it was entered and will disappear from the database. This will greatly reduce the number of "names in the hat" and improve the odds of winning. We think this change will result in an even better contest. AllWineBaskets For the best selection of wine baskets on the web! April's Winners Are: Michael B. of Northville, Michigan Ginger C. of Sacramento, California Joe E. of Athens, Georgia Ashley H. of Tempe, Arizona Marcia H. of San Antonio, Texas Maxine J. of Richardson, Texas Jack M. of Lawton, Oklahoma T.L.P. of Hartford, Connecticut Steve W. of Austin, Texas Kelly Y. of Topeka, Kansas Congratulations winners! We are frequently asked if we award T-Shirts to non-US residents, and the answer is Yes. We have had quite a few Canadian winners, and have also sent T-Shirts to winners in England, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. Subscription / Unsubscribe Help This newsletter is sent to you because you, or someone on your behalf, indicated you would like to receive it when you signed our Guest Book or entered our T-Shirt Contest. If you wish to stop receiving the Newsletter, click here or point your browser to http://www.texascooking.com/unsub1.ihtml If you would like to change your email address, please send an email to txmailbox@texascooking.com. ©2003 Texas Cooking Online. All rights reserved.