Throwing Food

In a totally offtopic comment on Slashdot, an anonymous poster provided this recipe. It sounded pretty good, so maybe I'll give it a try.

Skirt Steak Tacos with Fresh Lime Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 pound skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chile powder, divided
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
• 6 green onions
• 2 ears of corn, husked
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime peel
• 8 5- to 6-inch corn tortillas

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Sprinkle skirt steak on both sides with salt and 1 1/4 teaspoons chile powder. Whisk 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon lime juice in 11x7-inch glass dish. Add meat and turn to coat; place in single layer. Marinate 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush green onions and corn with 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill vegetables until slightly charred, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes for green onions and 7 minutes for corn. Working over bowl, cut corn from cob directly into bowl. Coarsely chop green onions and add to corn. Stir in cilantro, lime peel, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon chile powder, 1/2 tablespoon oil, and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Season relish to taste with salt and pepper.

Grill skirt steak to desired doneness, about 2 1/2 minutes per side for medium. Transfer to work surface; let rest 5 minutes.

Place tortillas at edge of grill to warm and soften, about 1 minute.

Arrange 2 warm tortillas on each of 4 plates. Thinly slice skirt steak across grain. Divide skirt steak and juices equally among tortillas. Spoon relish over each and serve.

Technorati tags: cooking recipe tacos steak slashdot

Posted by Mike at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The sun poked through the rain clouds this weekend, so we got in the mood for some lighter, summery fare. I dug through our recipe folder and found a couscous salad that was based on something from a Naked Chef episode we saw years ago. It's great served in pita.

Summer Couscous Salad

Ingredients

• 10 ounce box of couscous
• 2 cups of water
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1 handful asparagus, trimmed
• 2 smallish zucchini, sliced lenghwise into 1/4 inch thick planks
• 1 small bunch of green onions, trimmed and finely sliced
• 3 chile peppers, seeded and finely sliced
• 1 handful each of cilantro, italian parsley, mint
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Place the couscous in a large bowl with the water to soak while the rest of the salad is prepared. Roast the red peppers by placing them directly over the flame of your gas burner to blacken them on all sides. You could also place them under the broiler, turning to blacken each side. Once blackened, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. As they cool, the steam will loosen the skins for easier removal. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then remove the skins and seeds and roughly chop. (Alternatively, you could buy pre-roasted red peppers and save yourself the mess.)

On your grill or a grill pan, lightly char the asparagus and zucchini. Roughly chop. Also roughly chop or tear the herbs and place the red peppers, zucchini, chile peppers, green onions, and herbs into the large bowl with the couscous. Mix well.

In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 tablespoon each of the salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add to the salad and toss well. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper and sprinkle with red wine vinegar until it's tangy enough to suit your palate.

Serve as a side dish or stuff inside pita bread as a main dish.

This goes well with Herby Flank Steak.

Technorati tags: cooking recipe salad couscous vegetarian

Posted by Mike at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As mentioned in the post about my Le Cruset cast-iron pot, I've got a chili recipe that Carol and I really enjoy. It's somewhat based on a recipe I found on All Recipes a few years ago, but I've modified it a bit, replacing the ground beef with nicely browned stew beef and adding a few other things here and there. If you've got a few hours free on a Saturday or Sunday, give this one a try!

Chili with Beef

Ingredients

• 2 pounds stew beef, in 1-inch cubes
• Vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 chile peppers, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 14.5-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Salt
• 1 15-ounce can black beans
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans
• 3 big handfuls tortilla chips, crushed

Trim the beef of any unpleasant looking fat and silverskin. Sprinkle it generously with salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a heavy stew pot over medium high heat. You'll want to be sure to turn on your stove hood to high now, if you can, and get out your splatter gaurd, if you have one. Browning the meat can get very messy.

Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the beef, piece by piece until you have a uncrowded single layer of beef. Allow the beef to sit for a few minutes until the side that's facing down is dark brown, but not burned. Turn the beef and brown a second side of each piece. Remove the beef to a bowl and brown the remaining beef in similar batches, adding a little more oil between batches, if needed.

With the beef removed from the pot, turn the heat down to medium and add another tablespoon or two of oil, if needed. Add the onions and a big pinch of salt. As the onions cook, stir occasionally to scrape up the brown, beefy goodness from the bottom of the pot (a.k.a., the fond). Once the onion starts turning translucent, add the chile peppers and garlic, and cook for a few more minutes until the onions are soft.

Pour in the tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the whole tomatoes with your fingers. (You could chop them prior to adding them, if you'd like to keep your fingers clean). Fill one of the empty tomato cans with water and add to the pot, to raise the liquid level a bit. Add another big pinch of salt and the black pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano, cinnamon stick, and cloves. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Stir in the beans and crushed tortilla chips and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.

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Technorati tags: cooking recipe stew beef chili

Posted by Mike at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)