Tent Rock, New Mexico

Tent Rock is less than an hour’s drive south of Santa Fe and approximately an hour north of Albuquerque. From I-25, take exit 264 to NM16 west. From there, follow the signs–it’s about 20 minutes and you’ll be passing through reservation, private property and onto a dirt road that leads to the parking area. It’s well worth the side trip. Take water and lunch because there is little out there other than a small Indian reservation and dam. Although we passed a school, we did not see a gas station or store. There is one about 7 miles out of your way in the Village of Cochiti Lake near the dam/lake area.

	The first part of Tent Rock trail is interesting, although nothing particularly earth-shattering. The sandstone “tents” look more like teepees, most ending at a point. Some have rocks or boulders teetering at the top, looking quite ready to roll down the cone sides. The most interesting part of this hike is not included in the one mile loop.
	Follow the trail from either side of the loop back into the canyon. That is where the fun starts. For the most part, you’ll be walking on sand, but there are several narrow openings through the canyon where the hard sandstone hasn’t yielded to wind and water. The trail is well-kept and quite gradual until the last quarter of a mile. At that point, you’re climbing level with the “tents” and there are dreaded switchbacks, but it doesn’t go for long, nor is it insurmountable.
	The view from the top is excellent! You can see off into forever–the mountains, the dam, the river, over to Santa Fe and Albuquerque. From this level you also see the “tents” from above, a neat perspective.

The whole hike is between 3 and 4 miles round trip. One side of the loop is longer than the other—it provides more interesting scenes than the shorter side, but if you’re in a hurry, take the short side of the loop back into the canyon.

It’s a great half-day hike–narrow canyon, water-washed walls, scooped formations and the wind whistling through it all.

This national monumuent is open year round, although winter hours list as closing at five o’clock. If you go in the summer, go early as some parts of the trail will be under full sun and quite hot. Winter could be quite cold especially with the wind coming through the canyon. This trip was towards the end of Sept and the temperature was perfect!

I fell in love with Carrabba’s Caesar salad from the first time I tried it. Luckily, the owners of the restaurant published a cookbook with the recipe:

Ciao Y’All by Damian Mandola and Johnny Carrabba

If you want the exact recipe, I’d advise you to get the book or check it out from the library. I tried the recipe, but even with perfection, I had to have my own additions/subtractions, tweaking here and there until the dressing I made was distinctly my own. That said, I certainly do recommended the recipe in the cookbook!

One other note: I keep getting searches by people who want to make caesar dressing without anchovies–try anchovy paste and/or worcestershire sauce as a substitute, but keep in mind anchovy is the heart of caesar salad dressing.

Here’s my version of Caesar Salad Dressing:

Open and drain 1 can (2 oz) of anchovies. Place the anchovies in plain water. This removes some of the salt and since the oil in the anchovies is permeated with the fish, it also keeps the anchovies from being too strong in the recipe.

Soak the anchovies for five to ten minutes and drain the water and oil off.

Mince 4 medium or 2 large cloves of garlic and put in bottom of blender with 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Blend on low speed (you won’t get much blending at this stage).

Add to blender:
1 scant tablespoons capers
8-10 anchovies (1 can) –or 1 1/2 tablespoons anchovy paste
Blend on low speed until completely mixed.

Add:
1 and 1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp sugar
Blend again on low speed.

Add:
3 egg yolks with a little of the egg whites (or two very large eggs)
Blend on low speed until everything is creamy and well-mixed.

After everything has mixed well, continue blending on slowest speed and drizzle slowly into the blender:

1 1/4 cups olive oil.
Adding it slowly allows the mixture to “cream.”

When everything is well blended:
Add 8-9 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
juice from 1/2 medium lemon

Blend

Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup grated (not packed) romano or asiago cheese and blend again.

For the salad, tear romaine lettuce and slice fresh mushrooms. Toss. Use about 2 tablespoons of the salad dressing per salad serving. Serve with extra romano, parmesan or asiago cheese on top!