SHOW & RECIPE FOR JUNE 23

This week we broadcast from summertime San Antonio, where a song-and-dance folkloric show called Fiesta Noche del Rio has been packing ‘em in for more than 50 years.

THE REAL AMERICAN FOODS
It used to be a landmark brewery – you remember Pearl, don’t you? Thanks to some serious investment dollars involving an heir of the Pace picante sauce empire, the complex of buildings has given birth to a host of inventive enterprises, including a Center for Foods of the Americas. Today, we tour the facility and its professional cooking school affiliated with the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Needless to say, at these cooking classes, se habla espanol.

FIFTY YEARS OF FIESTA
Even before there was a Riverwalk in San Antonio, there was a Fiesta Niche del Rio – a show devoted to all the sounds of Texas but most importantly the colorful Hispanic singing and dancing that make the city so special. We talk to the director, choreographer and others who have kept the show running (and selling tickets) all summer for more than half a century.

TO THE PROMISED LAND
San Antonio is home to one of the nation’s most interesting dairy farms – well the corporate office anyway. The cows, of course, have their offices somewhere else – outside the city limits of San Antonio, amidst the wide open spaces of south Texas. But the special care given to these hormone-free all-Jersey cows and their milk has spread the reputation and finally the availability of Promised Land far beyond the borders of the Lone Star State.

This Week’s Delicious Mischief Recipe…
CRABMEAT AND AVOCADO SALAD

1 ½ pound fresh lump crabmeat
1 ½ cups mayonnaise
¼ cup bottled chili sauce
½ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced green bell peppers
¼ cup diced red bell peppers
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon English dry mustard, dissolved with a little water
4 drops Tabasco sauce
½ teaspoon salt
3 large firm ripe avocados
12 bibb lettuce leaves
2 large ripe tomatoes, stemmed and cut into wedges
3 hard cooked eggs, cut lengthwise into quarters
8 radishes sliced thin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chive

Combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce, celery, peppers, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and salt in a deep mixing bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are well blended. Add the crabmeat and toss gently with a rubber spatula until the crabmeat is evenly coated. Cut the avocado in half, and with the tip of a paring knife loosen each seed. With a large soupspoon scoop out the flesh from each avocado half and place on 6 individual chilled salad plates. Spoon the crabmeat mixture into the cavities and arrange the bibb lettuce around the avocado.Garnish the leaves with the tomato wedges and hard cooked eggs. Sprinkle the sliced radishes and chives on top. Serves 6.