Author celebrates tastes of native desert plants in new cookbook

Natives of the Southwest tend to take some pretty interesting and unique plants for granted. Flora that seems strange and exotic to others, such as prickly pear and cholla, becomes commonplace and ordinary to people used to the region's desert climes. You've probably stepped on more mesquite pods than you can count, and any close encounters with cacti likely left you cursing, rather than appreciating their wild and rugged charm.

But those who pass by these plants without a second thought are missing out on more than their aesthetic qualities; they're also depriving themselves of some tasty treats.

In her latest book, "Cooking the Wild Southwest: Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants," author Carolyn Niethammer aims to reveal the hidden bounty of the desert with recipes for all manner of dishes, incorporating 23 different desert plants.

Niethammer is hardly the first to discover the culinary uses of Southwestern vegetation. Native Americans have been harvesting and cooking with wild plants for thousands of years. For her first cookbook, in fact, Niethammer traveled around the region interviewing Native American women and garnering recipes and tips that had been handed down for generations.

Her key innovation was to incorporate these ancient foods into more contemporary recipes. You'll recognize most of the dishes in Cooking the Wild Southwest, but the desert ingredients add a unique regional flair to each of them. Niethammer explained the benefits of cooking with native wild plants like mesquite and prickly pear, for both health and economic reasons.

"[Desert plants] are extremely high in really good fibers," Niethammer said. "They help lower cholesterol, lower blood sugar, and help you lose weight."

"Plus, they're easy to gather, they're everywhere, and they're free if you harvest your own."

And unlike some health food, Niethammer insists that when it comes to cooking with wild plants, there's no sacrifice in taste.

"Properly prepared and incorporated into modern recipes, it's all delicious," she said. "I haven't had anyone turn their nose up at anything I've made them."

We asked Niethammer for three of her favorite recipes from her new book and she obliged with a range of dishes incorporating three different desert plants.

Prickly Pear Sangria

Makes 1 quart

You needn't use an expensive wine for this. Any good drinkable red or rose will do.

2.5 cups red or rosé wine

.5 cup orange juice

.5 cup apple juice

.5 cup prickly pear syrup, commercial or homemade

.5 apple, diced fine

.5 orange, quartered and sliced

Combine juices and chill. Add fresh fruit before serving from a bowl or put a little in each glass.

MesquiteCrisp Topping

This is good on top of any fruit – with this topping you can turn any simple pan of sliced fruit into dessert. You should have about a quart of sliced fruit. You want the butter soft enough to work but not melty. Depending on your taste, you could stir a few tablespoons of sugar into the fruit. Goes especially well with peaches or apples.

.5 cup mesquite meal

1 cup raw oatmeal

1/3 cup brown sugar

.5 teaspoon cinnamon

4-6 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the mesquite meal, oatmeal, brown sugar and cinnamon Add the butter in small bits. With your fingers distribute the butter throughout the other ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture on top of a pan of chopped, sweetened fruit. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes.

Cholla Bud Primavera

Makes 4 servings

To make an artful pasta primavera, the vegetables should be cut in a shape that reflects the shape of the pasta. You can't do anything about the cholla buds, cherry tomatoes and olives, but the rest of the vegetables can be cut appropriately. Spaghetti or long noodles don't work as well as tubular shapes like penne.

.5 pound pasta

.5 cup steamed cholla buds

.5 cup zucchini pieces

.5 cup yellow crookneck squash pieces

.5 cup chopped red bell pepper

.5 cup halved cherry tomatoes

.5 cup green or black olives

.5 cup vinaigrette dressing

Cook pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until tender. Drain, rinse and set aside. In a wok or large frying pan, sauté cholla buds, zucchini, yellow crookneck pieces, and red bell pepper. Combine cooked pasta, and vegetables in a bowl. Add olives and dressing. Toss gently to distribute dressing.

All recipes from Cooking the Wild Southwest: Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants by Carolyn Niethammer © Carolyn Niethammer 2011. Reprinted with permission of the University of Arizona Press. http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/Books/bid2302.htm