Never Cook Bacon Naked

Good advice from Chef Dallas of the 10th Street Basque Cafe in San Miguel!

I sat down and browsed through Never Cook Bacon Naked during my lunch break today. Verdict: This is the best cookbook I have come across in a long time! It begins with several pages of tips, hints, and tricks for working in the kitchen...including a section of definitions for terms such as "emulsify", "chiffonade", and "clarified butter". The recipe list includes tapas-style dishes, salads, sauces, breads, apps, entrees, and desserts. These are easy to prepare and approachable recipes. Definitely not intimidating! It got me excited about planning dinner for tonight.

If you have never been to the 10th Street Basque Cafe, GO! It will be the perfect end to a day of wine tasting in Paso Robles. Visit their website at http://www.tenthstreetbasquecafe.com/ . Also, you can purchase the cookbook in our tasting room, or on the website.

Here is one of my favorite recipes from the Tapas Section:
Basque Potatoes (Pair with Midnight Cellars 2008 Estate Chardonnay or 2006 Pinot Noir)
4 medium unpeeled Russet potatoes
1 large peeled yam
1 1/2 Tbs paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
2 Tbs cooking oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup mayonaise
4 tsp chopped garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wash Russet potatoes and cut into bite sized pieces. Peel and cut yam into bite sized pieces. Place yams and potatoes into baking dish and add the oil.
Mix together the paprika, onion and garlic powder, coarse ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt into spice mixture. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the yams and potatoes, and then fold everything together making sure all the potatoes and yams are well coated. Cover and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 3/4 hours.
After you remove potatoes and yams from the oven, add mayonaise and chopped garlic and fold everything together well. Transfer potatoes to serving platter and serve as a Tapas. Serve hot!