I have a wonderful appetizer that you can serve at your next family gathering, and it will be “love at first bite”! This recipe was inspired by the Jerome Brewery in Jerome, Arizona.

This recipe is called Chef-Shea’s Artichoke Bruchetta.

Here are the ingredients you will need.
(This recipe feeds 3 to 5 people)

3 Medium to Large Artichokes
1/2 – 1 Cup of Mayonnaise
1 5oz Container of Shredded Parmesan/Reggiano
Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

First, you will need to steam the artichokes in a large pan for 40 to 45 minutes so the leaves and heart get nice and soft. You will want to add water about every 15 minutes or so to ensure that you don’t run dry during the steaming process. It can evaporate fast if you’re not watching. Cover the pan and let the steam go to work, checking every 15 minutes when you add water.

Steamed Artichokes

Once the artichokes are steamed to perfection, you can remove them from the steamer and place them on a large plate to cool for a few minutes. You don’t want to “dive right in” and begin shucking and scraping the leaves because they are piping hot right now. Let them cool a little, but not too long.

steamed for 45 minutes

Now, after a short cooling down period, you want to begin to remove the leaves one by one and scrape each leaf from top to bottom with a spoon to scrape off all the wonderful soft “meat” and then put the goodies you scraped in a bowl for mixing later. You will get a good amount of scrapings from the leaves, which you will add together with the artichoke heart, once you reach the heart of each artichoke. For each heart, all you want to do is scrape off the fuzzy part on top of the heart and cut off any of the green stem left on the bottom, so all you have left is a clean artichoke heart, like so.

Now we need to mash the artichoke hearts with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mayonnaise, depending on how much scraping you end up with, and a 1/2 cup of parmesan reggiano cheese. Add ground black pepper to taste. Mash with a fork until creamy and spreadable.

creamy artichoke goodness!

Turn the over to 400 degrees.

Next, you want to arrange some slices of bread on a baking sheet and spread your fresh bruchetta over as many pieces as possible until the mash is all gone. You also want to sprinkle a little more cheese over each piece as well. When the oven reaches temperature, you want to place the cooking sheet in the oven on the middle rack and set the timer for about 8 to 10 minutes. Here is the end result!

Ready to eat!

My wife and I love to use a nice fresh round loaf of Italian bread. This tasty treat will delight everyone who tries it. Not all the Property Management Companies in Phoenix give away secrets like this. Enjoy!

Next, put the chicken in the oven (middle rack) and set a time for 1 and 1/2 hours. Now, just sit back, enjoy a cold drink and wait for the magic to happen. For some amazing reason, which I am truly grateful for, the Stubbs sauce breaks down during the cooking process and mixes with the oil and broth to create this amazing spicy oil-juice that you can save and use on other dishes such as “Chef-Shea’s Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas”, which I will share with you another time, I promise!

(Sneak Peak)

Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas

Once you finally hear the timer go “ding”, it is time to sample some of the best chicken breast you will ever taste!

Spicy Chichen Breast 325 degrees - 1 1/2 hours

You can serve them any way you want to, maybe with a side of veggies and mashed potatoes and a side salad, or maximize your dish and make some tasty spicy tacos or spicy chicken cheese enchiladas. The chicken is fork tender now and full of great flavor. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and don’t forget to save the juices in the pan for later use.

Happy Eats Everyone!

And to all of our visitors that are renting our Vacation Rentals in Phoenix Arizona or any of the premier Homes, Townhomes or Condos from Arizona Lodging Experts, we hope you too can enjoy some wonderful home cooked meals and margaritas during your stay “thanks to great blogs like these”!

On your next visit to Sedona, Arizona, you may want to make time to visit the wonderful Arts & Crafts Village of Tlaquepaque.

Tlaquepaque Shops and Restaurants

Tlaquepaque Village

Today, Tlaquepaque is the ideal place for visitors to come look and wander, to sample and buy, to eat, drink and refresh the body and soul.

My wife and I had the pleasure of taking a drive north to Sedona, Arizona, in mid January this year. We stayed overnight in a gorgeous resort called the Sedona Summit, located just off of Arizona 89A between Cottonwood and Sedona. We arrived at about 8pm on Friday night, so we were not able to really appreciate the stunning view we had until the next morning. It was breathtaking!

This was the view from our 2 Bedroom Suite in Sedona

Saturday morning, we decided to venture into town and grab some breakfast. The town of Sedona is less than 5 minutes from the resort, and the first place we came upon that caught our interest was a small cafe called Cafe Jose. We stopped in and had their Rancho breakfast, which was very good by the way. Once we had our fill of good eats and treats, we took a drive into the heart of town where they have a great variety of shops and restaurants to choose from, and we found the local trolly called the Sedona Road Runner.

Sedona Roadrunner Trolly

It wasn’t easy finding a parking space, but we eventually found one and began our on foot adventures. We must have walked around for hours stopping in as many shops as we could to absorbe the local art work. It was a wonderful day that my wife and I will remember for a long time.

Once reality set in, we remenbered that we had to check out today from our beautiful 2 bedroom suite at Sedona Summit and head back south to Phoenix where we live and work. Before we returned to Phoenix, we were instructed by our good friend Scott to stop in the Rock Springs Cafe and purchase two pies, which he could only describe as a heavenly treat. Rock Springs cafe is just off the I-17 on exit 242. We did as instructed and picked up 2 pies for Scott and we decided to grab one for ourselves. We had to see what the fuss was all about. We also took home a Pulled Pork sandwich with baked beans and homemade coleslaw, which my wife says was the best she’d had in a very long time. The pie was homemade and made with nothing but love and care and it was a really good pie everyone. We might make this a regular stop from now on.

Thanks for the tip Scott!