Arizona has a long tradition of ranching. Even before statehood in 1912, cattle operations were a majorelement of the Territorial economy, and today, many ranching traditions remain — from cowboys eating around a fire on an open plain to families gathering around a communal table.
With that in mind, we reached out to a few of Arizona’s guest ranches and asked them to share some recipes that might appear on their tables and around their campfires this holiday season. The result is the following collection of main dishes, sides and one decadent dessert.
To the teams at Cherry Creek Lodge, Rancho de los Caballeros, Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch and Tombstone Monument Ranch, thank you. And to our readers, bon appétit.
HERB CRUSTED PORK CHOPS
Rancho de los Caballeros, Wickenburg
Sausage, apple, pecan and quinoa dressing
Ingredients
- 3 ounces yellow onion, diced
- 2 ounces carrot, diced
- 2 ounces celery, diced
- 1 ounce garlic, minced
- 5 ounces white wine
- 10 ounces apple, diced
- 10 ounces tri-color quinoa
- 5 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs thyme, dried
- 5 sprigs fresh sage
- ½ ounce apple cider vinegar
- 20 ounces chicken stock
- 5 ounces sausage, diced
- 3 ounces pecans, chopped
- 2 ounces parsley, chopped
Procedure
Sauté onion, carrot, celery and garlic until softened. Deglaze pan with white wine, then add apple, quinoa, bay leaves, thyme, sage, apple cider vinegar and chicken stock. Cook over low heat until quinoa is tender and stock has been absorbed.
In a separate pan, fry sausage until crispy, then add sausage and pecans to quinoa. Stir until mixed, then season with salt. Allow to cool, then add parsley.
Apple bourbon sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ounce butter
- 4 ounces shallots, minced
- 2 pounds apple, peeled and sliced
- 1 ounce lemon juice
- 1 ounce apple cider vinegar
- 3 ounces brown sugar
- ½ ounce Worcestershire sauce
- 2 ounces chicken stock
- 1 cup bourbon whiskey
Procedure
In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sweat until soft, then add apple, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and chicken stock, then simmer for 20 minutes.
Add whiskey and return mixture to a simmer, then cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste, then purée mixture in a blender until smooth.
Browned butter Brussels sprouts
Ingredients
- 4 ounces Brussels sprouts
- Salt and pepper
- Browned butter
Procedure
Deep-fry Brussels sprouts until tender and crispy, then toss with salt, pepper and browned butter.
Pork chops and final preparation
Ingredients
- 2 bone-in pork chops
- ¼ ounce chopped herbs (sage, parsley, chives and rosemary)
- Sausage, apple, pecan and quinoa dressing
- Browned butter Brussels sprouts
- Apple bourbon sauce
- Small pinch of Micro Chef’s Blend herbs
Procedure
Crust pork chops with herbs, then sear and roast to medium. Line quinoa dressing down center of plate and place Brussels sprouts on opposite corners of quinoa. Slice pork chops between the bones and place on top of quinoa, then top with apple bourbon sauce and micro herbs.
BEST BARBECUE RIBS
Tombstone Monument Ranch, Tombstone
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon barbecue seasoning
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- Up to 4 racks baby back ribs
- 1 can (5½ ounces) apple juice (per rack)
- Barbecue sauce of your choice
Procedure
Preheat oven to 295 degrees. Mix dry ingredients to make the rub, then coat ribs, place in hotel pans and add apple juice. Cover pans with plastic wrap and foil, then bake for 5 hours. Remove cover, drain liquid, coat with barbecue sauce and return to the oven until gooey, about
15 minutes.
AUTUMN HARVEST MASON JAR SALAD
Cherry Creek Lodge, Tonto National Forest
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For the salad:
- ½ cup butternut squash, roasted and cubed
- 2 small Honeycrisp or Fuji apples, diced
- ¼ cup dried cranberries (or any softer dried
- fruit, such as blueberries or chopped apricots)
- ¼ cup shredded carrots
- ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
- ¼ cup crumbled feta or blue cheese
- ¼ cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and
- roughly chopped
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 2 cups mixed greens
Procedure
In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients until well blended. Pour the dressing into the bottom of each Mason jar, 2 to 3 tablespoons per jar. Add the roasted butternut squash as a layer on top of the dressing, followed by a layer of the apples, dried fruit, carrots and pomegranate seeds. For the next layer, add the feta or blue cheese, followed by the nuts and pumpkin seeds. Finish with the mixed greens, filling the jar to the top.
Seal the jar tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to three days. Before serving, shake the jar vigorously to mix the ingredients, or pour the salad into a bowl and toss to combine.
COWBOY BEANS
Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch, Tonto National Forest
Ingredients
- 6 cups dry pinto beans
- 2 cups dry kidney beans
- 2 cups dry black beans
- Salt
- 3 yellow onions, diced
- 4 red bell peppers, diced
- 3 green bell peppers, diced
- 1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
- 2 cups roasted green chiles
- 5 or 6 roasted tomatoes, squeezed
- Seasoning, to taste (see procedure)
Procedure
In separate containers, cover pinto, kidney and black beans with at least 8 inches of cold water, then soak overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day, drain and rinse beans, combine them in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of new water, then cook over medium heat for 2 hours, salting halfway through. Retain enough of the cooking liquid to make the beans soupy.
In a skillet, sauté the onions, peppers, garlic and green chiles in oil until softened, then add the tomatoes. Heat through, then add to the bean pot. Season to taste with seasoned salt, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup or brown sugar.
PUMPKIN BARS
Tombstone Monument Ranch, Tombstone
Ingredients
For the bars:
- ¾ cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
For the frosting:
- 6 ounces cream cheese
- ⅓ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then blend in the pumpkin and eggs. Add dry ingredients and mix well, then spread mixture in a greased and floured 15 ½-by-10-inch jelly roll pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the frosting, mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth, then add the vanilla. Add powdered sugar until the frosting reaches your preferred consistency, then spread on the bars once they have cooled.
KEY INGREDIENTS
You can’t photograph a list of ingredients for herb crusted pork chops. Well, you could, but it wouldn’t look as appetizing as a four-color image of the entrée itself. In food photography, you need food. And it needs to look spectacular if you’re trying to persuade a reader to follow a recipe. That’s one of the reasons Food & Wine has a test kitchen. We don’t have one of those at Arizona Highways. All we have is a 1960s lunchroom with an old Hamilton Beach microwave and an even older GE refrigerator, which makes food photography impossible.
I thought about that as this piece was coming together. I knew we’d get some great recipes, but I also knew shooting them on location in four or five ranch kitchens around the state would be an ordeal, like trying to poach an egg in a Dixie cup. We needed someone to create them locally, so I reached out to Matt Pool. He and his wife, Erenia Lara, are the dynamic duo behind Matt’s Big Breakfast. They’re also at the forefront of the “shop local” movement, which is so important to our community.
They were my first choice for making these recipes, and I didn’t have a backup plan. Fortunately, they said yes. But first, they insisted on doing a test run to ensure that everything would be perfect for our photographer and film crew. (It was.)
“Our focus was to make every recipe exactly to specification,” Matt says, “so that we represented each ranch as best we could.”
The pork chops took the most work. “The dish wasn’t super complicated,” Erenia says, “but it had several ingredients and sub-recipes — the dressing, the Brussels sprouts and the apple bourbon sauce.”
A lot was happening on the day of the photo shoot, and helping out was Matt and Erenia’s son, Christopher, who was home for a few days before moving to New York. “It was so great to have him here,” Matt says. “Literally, he grew up around our restaurants. He worked as a server and a line cook in high school and became a skilled cook in his personal life, which made him especially popular with his roommates in college. One of my wife’s favorite things to do is to cook with Christopher. So, this project was perfect for that.”
It worked out well for us, too. Perfect, I’d say. Thank you, Matt, Erenia and Christopher. In the same way you can’t make cranberry sauce without cranberries, we couldn’t have done this piece without you. We’re much obliged.
— Robert Stieve