My First Date With Bobby

I've been a big Bobby Flay fan for years and have cooked many of the recipes out of his Bold American Food Cookbook. The Big Guy and I still count many of the dishes out of that book amongst our all-time favorite recipes. About six months ago I bought his Mesa Grill Cookbook and hadn't cracked a page in it until just now and I think I'm in LOVE! And now I'm on a mission. Bobby and I have some more dates...lots of them.

Having now read it cover to cover, I've found that there are tons of great recipes in it and I love it so much I told myself that I was going to cook every, single recipe in the book. The truth is, I tell myself that every time I buy a new cookbook and IF I'm lucky I manage to make a half dozen or so dishes out of it before it becomes a dust collector.
     Well this time I really, sorta, kinda mean it because this book is full of pictures of dishes that look and sound amazing. And how can you not love looking at that face?!?

Anyway, to get the ball rolling, last night I made the following:  Sophie's Chopped Salad  (Sophie is Bobby's daughter by the way) and it was delish!  So good in fact I had the leftovers for breakfast today.
     For the entree I made his Red Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with Black Bean Sauce and Jalapeno Crema. (Note to lay folk: "Crema" is Bobby's cool word for "sour cream." I usually prefer "Creme," but because this is Bobby's gig, we are going to call it "Crema". Got it? Good.) I'm not a person who uses the phrase OMG, but if I did, I'd be OMGeeing all over it. We loved the glaze; it was just the right amount of sweet and hot and when the sugars in the honey hit my smoking hot cast iron skillet it made a nice crust that held the moistness in. Mine was cooked perfectly, about medium on the edges and just a shade past medium rare in the center. Sadly, I had to kill The Big Guys salmon ~ to well done. Because of his bone marrow transplant, he has strict diet restrictions and all meats have to be cooked to well done. Boo-hoo, I know.

The black bean sauce was spicy and flavorful...Four thumbs up. I had a feeling the Jalapeno Crema would be nothing to write home about and all I thought it did was make a spicy dish spicier. Since I was roasting peppers anyhow, I decided to roast a couple of Serranos and make Bobby's Mango-Serrano Crema. I liked it a lot...more than the jalapeno crema and although spicy too, the mangos added a cool factor. With my leftover mango I made a mango salsa and put a dab on the salmon. (My recipe, not Flays).

For a side I made Creamy Green Chile Rice. It involved roasting poblano peppers and then a lot of cream was boiled and reduced down and stirred in at the end, which resulted in a nice creamy texture instead of that old gummy rice you sometimes get with Mexican food.

So that's about five recipes down....I think that leaves about 145 to go. I'm posting the recipe for Sophie's Chopped Salad, so click on the "Soups-Salads-Sides" tab to see it. It really is a GREAT salad for summer, so make it, then let me know if you love it as much as I did!
     Thanks Bobby! Love ya, call me, mean it! ♥

(All photos were taken by me by taking a picture of the picture in the cookbook. My camera was dead last night and I got a crappy picture with my phone so I won't embarrass myself by posting it.)