Caramelized Pineapple and Jalapeno Margaritas

The farrier schedule filled fast this year — faster than last year, which was faster than the year before. Word moves in ranch country the same way it always has: someone mentions you to someone who mentions you to someone, and one morning in January your phone has three new voicemails from people with horses in counties you've never worked before. I added a Tuesday route that takes me through the Moccasin range and back, which adds four new clients and about sixty miles to the week. I don't mind the driving. The driving is where I do some of my best thinking.

The book is in copyediting. I get occasional emails from the copyeditor — a precise and thoughtful woman named Helen who has been doing this work for thirty years and catches things that I am slightly embarrassed not to have caught myself. A word I used twice in the same paragraph. A month I got wrong by one. A sentence that said something I didn't mean. She repairs these things without comment, with a kind of clean efficiency that I find deeply comforting. Every piece of good work has Helen in it somewhere.

Patrick's contractor was in and out in three days, as promised. The grab bars are installed in the bathroom and the hallway, the shower bench is in, the nightlight does its job. Patrick used the shower bench for the first time on Saturday and said afterward, with the air of a man admitting something he wishes he didn't have to admit: "That's actually better." I agreed with him and moved on immediately, which is the correct technique.

The cold broke slightly mid-week — twenties instead of single digits — and I spent an afternoon doing fence checks on the south pasture. The horses were out and Mariposa followed me along the fence line at about ten yards, curious about the work in the way she never was about anything when she first arrived. She has become herself over this year. I don't know who she was before the neglect, but I suspect she was always going to be this: watchful, interested, willing.

Posole this week — dried hominy with pork shoulder and guajillo chiles, the long simmer, shredded at the end and served with all the toppings in small bowls: radishes, cabbage, lime, dried oregano. January needs a substantial pot of something. Posole does the job with enthusiasm.

The posole takes the better part of a Sunday afternoon — there’s no shortcutting the long simmer, and I don’t want to. While the guajillo broth was deepening and the pork shoulder was doing what it needed to do, I had time and I used it: I made these margaritas. The caramelized pineapple picks up a smokiness that echoes the dried chiles in the pot, and the jalapeno adds exactly the kind of clean heat that belongs on a January evening after a week of fence lines, voicemails, and cold that finally broke just enough to feel like a mercy. Set up your toppings bowls, pour one of these, and let the house smell like something good.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeds removed (leave seeds in for more heat)
3 oz blanco tequila
1 1/2 oz fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 oz triple sec or orange liqueur
1/2 oz agave nectar
Kosher salt or chili-salt, for rimming
Ice, for shaking and serving
Lime wheels and jalapeno slices, for garnish

Instructions

Caramelize the pineapple. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add pineapple chunks and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6–8 minutes until pineapple is golden and slightly caramelized at the edges. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
Muddle. Add the caramelized pineapple (with any pan juices) and the jalapeno half to a cocktail shaker. Muddle firmly until the pineapple breaks down and the jalapeno releases its oils.
Rim the glasses. Run a lime wedge around the edge of two rocks glasses. Dip each rim in a plate of kosher salt or chili-salt and set aside.
Shake. Add tequila, lime juice, triple sec, and agave nectar to the shaker with the muddled fruit. Fill with ice. Shake vigorously for 15–20 seconds until the shaker is very cold.
Strain and serve. Double-strain through a fine-mesh strainer into the rimmed glasses over fresh ice to catch all pineapple pulp. Garnish with a lime wheel and a thin jalapeno slice.

Nutrition (per serving)

Caramelized Pineapple and Jalapeno Margaritas — A Little Heat for the Long Simmer