From a national park oasis comes this collection of recipes that incorporate ingredients found in the desert.
By Janet Groene, F47166
May 2012
Pioneers found food to be sparse in Death Valley, a barren expanse located along the California and Nevada border. But today’s RV travelers know that the desert has unique culinary delights. They start with sweet, homegrown dates and span from juicy nopales (prickly pear cactus pads) through a spectrum of chilies. At the Inn at Furnace Creek, located in the heart of Death Valley National Park, chef Michelle Hanson (known as Chef Mic — pronounced “Mike”) is renowned for recipes that celebrate the oasis and nearby farms in California and Nevada.
Since 1927 the Inn has hosted the rich and famous, many of them from Hollywood. It is operated by Xanterra Resorts, which has strict “green” guidelines regarding organic, sustainable foods.
Today’s Furnace Creek visitors come to the Inn for fine dining, especially the Sunday brunch. The restaurant’s most famous dish is date-nut bread, which is an ideal recipe for motorhome travel, because it can be made by the loaf or in a large batch and then frozen and served for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack. Chef Mic bakes five to six dozen loaves per day using a big-batch recipe that doesn’t translate well for RV cooks. Here instead is the original Furnace Creek Inn recipe that goes back to the 1920s.
Furnace Creek Date-Nut Bread
½ stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound pitted chopped dates
2 cups water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream the butter, sugars, salt, and baking soda until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the dates and water and mix well. Add the flour; mix; then add the walnuts. Bake at 325 to 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the bread tests done. This recipe makes two 2-pound loaves or four 1-pound loaves.
Note: The original recipe calls for “lined” pans, but I use sprayed foil pans. I make four loaves at a time and wrap them for freezing. The bread slices more easily after it is cooled, wrapped, and left for several hours.
Chef Mic’s Gazpacho
Crisp and fresh, this cold soup is served as is, or it can be topped with shredded crabmeat and/or sliced avocado. Garnish it with fresh lemon or lime wedges, tortilla chips, and cilantro sprigs.
1/4 each of three sweet peppers (green, red, and yellow)
3 Roma tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
3 stalks celery
1/4 of a small red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 can (approximately 12 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 cups V8 brand vegetable juice
1 cup tomato juice
12 fennel seeds
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon green hot sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
Chop the first six ingredients by hand, in a food processor, or with a hand blender, depending on how chunky you like them. Add the remaining ingredients and chill for at least one hour or up to five days. Stir and serve. This recipe makes approximately six 1-cup servings.
Chef Mic’s Crispy Cactus
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
Salt, pepper
1 jar nopalitos cactus strips, well drained
Hot oil for frying
Combine the dry ingredients and dredge the cactus strips in it. Fry in hot oil until the strips are crispy. At Furnace Creek these are served as an appetizer with dipping sauces.
Chef Mic’s Ancho New Potato Salad
5 pounds new red potatoes, scrubbed and cut up
½ cup diced mixed bell peppers
½ cup finely diced red onion
2/3 cup diced celery
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped black olives (optional)
5 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/4 cup pickle relish
Pinch granulated garlic
Salt, pepper to taste
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
5 dashes hot sauce
1 tablespoon ancho paste
Cook and drain the potatoes. Fold in the raw vegetables, eggs, relish, garlic, salt, and pepper. In a separate bowl mix the mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and ancho paste and fold the mixture into the potato mixture. Chill for several hours or overnight.
Chef Mic’s Furnace Creek Bread Pudding
6 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Pinch salt
1 cup milk
½ cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup chopped dates
10 cups torn pieces of day-old bread, Danish, croisssants, etc.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk. Add the cranberries, dates, and bread pieces. Turn the mixture into sprayed pan(s). Bake for one hour at 350 degrees. This is a delicious dessert as is, but Chef Mic bakes it in loaf pans, slices it, and dips it in the French toast batter (see next recipe) to make her famous French toast.
Chef Mic’s French Toast
Make up this big batch of batter and use as much as you need each day. It’s delicious with bread, croissants, or the Furnace Creek bread pudding.
6 eggs
1½ cups milk
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch salt
Whisk everything together. Dip the bread through the batter and fry until toasty.
Chef Mic’s Oatmeal Trout
Here’s a new and exciting way to pan-fry fresh trout.
1 cup quick oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
6 to 8 fresh trout fillets
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Maple syrup
Mix together the dry ingredients and coat the trout. Lightly oil the pan and cook the trout for three to five minutes until browned on both sides. Drizzle with maple syrup and serve.
Chef Mic’s Carrot Ginger Soup
If you have a hand blender, the carrots can be pureed in the pan.
2 pounds carrots, peeled, cooked until very soft, and pureed
3 cups vegetable stock
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
Salt, pepper to taste
Mix everything well and chill for two hours or up to five days. Stir well and serve cold. Garnish with sour cream.
Chef Mic’s Prickly Pear Sticky Buns
To make date paste, process chopped, pitted dates with a little water. Or, stir a tablespoon of hot water into the chopped dates; let stand for 10 minutes; then drain. To make your own cinnamon sugar, mix ½-teaspoon cinnamon into a scant 2 tablespoons sugar.
1 12-ounce jar prickly pear jelly
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup date paste
2 sheets of frozen Danish dough (or use your own favorite recipe)
3 tablespoons soft butter
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
In a bowl mix the jelly, pecans, and date paste. Roll out the Danish dough and spread with two-thirds of the jelly mixture. Mix the butter and cinnamon sugar and dot the jelly mixture. Roll up the dough and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Cut the dough into rounds and place 5 to 8 inches apart on greased sheet pans. Let the dough rise until triple in size and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve hot with the remaining jelly mixture.
Note: With apologies to Chef Mic, I made this with two packages of crescent roll dough. Lay out the dough, press to seal the perforations, and spread with the jelly mixture, saving some of it to spoon over the hot baked buns. Cut the dough into 2-inch-thick rounds and bake at 375 degrees until golden. No rising time is needed.
Chef Mic’s Famous Truffles
Whip up the chocolate filling on a rainy day when you’re stuck indoors. The candies can be formed later.
2 cups heavy cream
1 stick butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened chocolate chips
1 cup cocoa powder
3 cups unsweetened chocolate chips, melted
Bring the cream and butter to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Refrigerate the filling for 24 hours or up to two weeks. To proceed, form the mixture into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden before dipping in the melted chocolate chips. Cool the truffles on waxed paper and keep cool. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before serving.
Furnace Creek Date Butter
This butter will keep for a month in the refrigerator and three months in the freezer, so make a big batch for yourself and to hand out as gifts. At Furnace Creek it’s served with date-nut bread and it’s also good on muffins, toast, and pork chops. Chef Mic says the dates will combine easier if cooked in the microwave oven for 30 seconds. It’s messy to prepare, but the recipe makes a large batch that goes a long way.
1 pound butter
½ pound margarine
1 cup chopped, pitted dates
2/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 pinches nutmeg
Whip the butter and margarine until fluffy, which should take approximately 15 minutes. Process the dates, honey, and spices until creamy. Slowly beat the date mixture into the butter mixture until well blended. This recipe makes approximately 2 pounds of date butter.
The Inn Dining Room at Furnace Creek Resort is open from October 15 to May 15. For campground reservations, call (877) 444-6777 or visit www.recreation.gov. For additional information about Death Valley National Park, visit www.nps.gov/deva.
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