The Salty Chichuahua

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I suspect it started when the children were young and birthdays were marked with separate celebrations for family, friends and school. We, somehow, have never put that aside and birthdays in our home are like Carnival, sans parade and fireworks. The Silver Fox will be celebrating a seventy "ish" birthday on Monday and the festivities begin today with a meal at his favorite restaurant. Tomorrow, we do brunch at home. In addition to smoked salmon pizza and sundry other treats that will be shared over time, the fiesta will begin with this lovely peach-hued creation, called a Salty Chihuahua. The drink is a cross between a salty dog and a margarita, and, in addition to being served in a glass with a salted rim, it contains tequilla, orange liqueur and pink grapefruit juice. I not fond of mixed drinks, but even I like this one. It really is delicious and, if you overlook the alcohol, the vitamins in the juice might actually convince you it's good for you. The best part of this drink is that it's easy to make and requires no special mixing equipment. I suspect most of you have already tried this, but I'm including a recipe for those who have not. The quantities in the recipe are for one drink. Here's how it is made.

The Salty Chihuahua...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Shine

Ingredients:
1 ounce tequilla
1/2 ounce orange liqueur
3/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
Coarse salt
Ice cubes
Grapefruit slice or mint for garnish

Directions:
Wet rim of glass with water and coat with coarse salt. Fill glass with ice cubes. Pour tequilla and orange liqueur over ice cubes. Top with 3/4 cup grapefruit juice and stir. Garnish with grapefruit or mint. Yield: 1 servings.







One Year Ago Today: Chicken Enchiladas Verdes














Two Years Ago Today: Ricotta Gnocchi








You might also enjoy these recipes:
Tequilla-Grapefruit Cocktails from Fine Cooking Magazine - The Mom Chef
Pink Grapefruit Smoothie - One Perfect Bite
Sparkling Citrus Punch - Sweet Life
Grapefruit Martini - Table Talk
Grapefruit Margaritas - Confections of a Foodie Bride
Hot Grapefruit Tea - Dinners and Dreams
Boozy Rouge Cocktail - 2 Frugal Foodies
Refreshing Grapefruit Sangria - Spryte's Place
Gin and Grapefruit Cocktail - Gourmet
Brian's Blue Grapefruit Martini - Cooking by the Book


This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Margarita Cheesecake

Photo courtesy of B.J. LaCasse, Fine Texas Cuisine

The Lure


The Finished Product

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite... They say third times a charm. There must be some truth to that, because it took me that long to get this cake right. I've made lots of cheesecakes over the years, but always keep coming back to my old favorite develop by Craig Claiborne for the New York Times. I thought for sure I'd found one to best it when I came across a recipe for a Margarita Cheesecake in Jon Bonnell's, Fine Texas Cuisine. While the directions were imprecise, I thought I could work my way through the omissions and still come up with a gorgeous cake. It didn't work that way. No pan size was given and I learned, to my chagrin, that a standard 9-inch springform pan wasn't large enough for the volume of batter the recipe produced. When the three hours it should have taken to bake the cake turned to four, I realized that that a convection oven was probably used to test the recipe. The biggest disappointment was the appearance of the cake. It bore no resemblance to the gorgeous photograph that lured me to the recipe in the first place. I realize that recipes used in restaurants don't always transpose to the home kitchen. This may have been one of those cases, but it is clear to me that the recipe was never tested in a home kitchen or these omissions would have been caught. The thing is, I didn't pay for the cookbook or three pounds of cream cheese to learn that this way. I groused a bit, actually I cussed a lot, but I was determined to make a Margarita Cheesecake. I did that by going back to ground zero. I added orange liqueur, tequila, lime juice and zest to Craig Claiborne's recipe and ended up with a fabulous cheesecake that's worthy of the fifth of May or Mother's Day. Here's the recipe that worked.

Margarita Cheesecake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by Craig Claiborne

Ingredients:
1⁄2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest
2-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2-1/2 tablespoons orange liqueur
2-1/2 tablespoons tequila
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3⁄4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions:
1) Move oven rack to lowest position in oven and preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 3-inch deep 8" round one-piece cake pan all the way up to and including its rim with butter.
2) Combine lime zest, lime juice, orange liqueur and tequilla in a small bowl. Set aside.
3) Place cream cheese into bowl of a standing mixer and beat on medium high, scraping sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula often, until completely smooth. Beat in vanilla and sugar well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, but do not overbeat. Stir in juice and liqueur mixture lemon zest and juice with a spatula or spoon.
4) Generously spray buttered cake pan with nonstick spray, then pour in batter. Place cake pan inside a larger 3-inch deep pan. Place it in oven and pour hot water into larger pan, about 1-1/2-inches deep. Bake until top of cake is rich golden brown and feels dry when touched, about 1-1/2 to 1-1/2 hours (cake will be soft inside and become firm when cooled and refrigerated).
5) Lift cake pan out of water and place it on a cake rack. Let cake cool in pan for 3 hours. Cover pan with plastic wrap. Place a flat plate on top, invert, and remove pan. Sprinkle bottom of cake with graham cracker crumbs. Gently place another flat plate on top of crumbs. Very carefully invert again (without squashing cake), leave plastic wrap in place, and refrigerate cake overnight. Very carefully remove plastic wrap. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Cook's Note: This is a soft cheesecake and can be difficult to cleanly slice. I actually put the cake in the freezer for an hour before cutting to assure clean looking slices.

You might also enjoy these recipes:

Mini Black-Bottom Cheesecakes with Jam - The Food Addicts
Mocha Cheesecake - Evil Shenanigins
Mini Red Velvet Cheesescakes - Slashfoods