Using Christmas loot!

So, my mother-in-law gave us a Ninja Master Prep for Christmas this year - BEST. GIFT. EVER.

I have used it soooo many times since Christmas - milkshakes, smoothies, guacamole, refried beans and marinades galore! It's an amazing appliance, and we plan to upgrade to the full-on professional grade Ninja.

Anyway, enough with the shameless plug. On to the cooking!

Tonight, I decided to make chicken fajita bowls. Started out by making a marinade of about 3/4 of a cup of lime juice, 1/4 of a cup of tequila, a splash of mesquite liquid smoke, a smidgen of vegetable oil, a handful of cilantro, a quarter of an onion, a quarter of a jalapeno, and spices (garlic powder, green chile pepper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, Hungarian paprika, chili powder, ground cumin, oregano leaf, onion powder and Kosher salt). All of that went into the Ninja, and after a few pulses, into a bowl with the chicken breast strips.

While the chicken was marinating, we got a pot of salted water with a sprinkling of the green chile flakes on to boil for brown rice. Once the rice was cooking, I turned my attention to the beans. I picked up a can of no-salt-added black beans at the store today, a blank slate to work my magic on. I sauteed some minced jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro in a small sauce pan, then added the beans, which I seasoned with ground cumin, garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper and Kosher salt. Turned the heat way down low and let everything simmer together and get yummy.

Finally time to cook the chicken! I dumped the bowl of chicken into a colander to drain off the excess marinade, then turned on the electric griddle. I sprayed it with a light coating of Pam Grilling Spray (awesome invention, that), then added the chicken pieces. I let them get nice and browned on one side, then flipped them and moved them to one end of the griddle so I could cook the veggies. I had sliced some bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and onion. That mixture was added to the open end of the griddle, spritzed with the Grilling Spray, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, the rice was done, so my wife mixed in some lime juice and chopped cilantro and fluffed it with a fork, then popped a bag of steamable sweet corn in the microwave. After the corn was done, I dusted it with a little chili powder and sea salt, and set to assembling the bowls. Rice on the bottom, then some beans, the grilled veggies, a few pieces of chicken, a couple of spoonfuls of corn, a sprinkling of cheese, a few dollops of guacamole (also made in the Ninja) and a generous helping of  Herdez tomatillo salsa. After I took this picture, I added a little bit of hot sauce to mine.

Yes, that's a marble rolling pin in the background. My wife, the designated pastry chef, swears by them. She does make some damn fine biscuits and cinnamon rolls with it.

Enchiladas - Day 2

First, by special request, a photo of the pile of shredded beef:

So, today when I got home from work, I took the shredded beef out of the fridge and microwaved it at half power for about five minutes, just to take the chill off.

For the sauce, I started out by sweating half a yellow onion and 1.5 tablespoons of minced garlic in a little oil, then added some kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and chili powder.

Next, I dumped in a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, sauted them for a few minutes, then added a big can of tomato puree. Let that heat for a few minutes, then used the immersion blender to chop up the peppers. Let it simmer for a few minutes and tasted. Too spicy. Added a tablespoon of sugar and two tablespoons of vinegar. Simmered another few minutes, still too spicy. Added another two tablespoons of sugar and a little salt. Still too spicy. Added a regular size can of tomato sauce. Still a little on the spicy side, but good enough with sour cream and cheese and lettuce and tortilla and all that. Next time, I'll either use half a can of the peppers, or just strain them out instead of blending everything together. Live and learn.

I mixed a little of the sauce into the meat.

Rolled a good portio of the meat into the tortillas (flour, I don't like the texture of store bought corn tortillas and don't have the proper equipment to make my own), then topped them with sauce.

Baked them for about 15 minutes at 350, then topped them with 2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese blend (cheddar, Monterey jack, queso blanco, and asadero). Back in the oven for about 8 minutes, and this is the result:

Topped each serving with some shredded lettuce and sour cream, and some refried beans on the side (canned, but doctored up with the addition of salt, pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, chili powder, and a couple of tablespoons of salsa).

Enchiladas - Day 1

Well, here's a first: a dish that takes two days to prepare. (I did season the Spanish pork tenderloin the day before, but this actually involves cooking on two days.)

Today was prep day for the filling: shredded beef.

I dumped a can of chipotle chilis in adobo into the blender, added in half a yellow onion, five cloves of garlic, about a tablespoon of lime juice, a little clump of fresh cilantro, a few drops of hot sauce, and a cup of water. Blended all that, then seasoned the meat.

I used a 4-ish pound rump roast. Seasoned it on every side with fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, chili powder, smoked paprika, and kosher salt, then rubbed everything in. Back to the sauce mixture - I poured about half of it into the bottom of the crock pot, then put the roast in and rolled it around to cover it. I then poured the rest over the top of the roast, then measured three cups of water in the blender pitcher to get all the remants and poured that around the roast and mixed it in. Set the cooker to low, and let it go. I started it around 11 in the morning, and Cheri turned it off around 7 pm.

That's the roast at 11 this morning. I got off work at 9:30, then had to go to Wal Mart (bleh) for a headlight bulb for the car, so by the time I got home a little after10, it had cooled down enough to shred by hand (I wore gloves). So that's in a bag in the fridge, waiting for tomorrow.

Stay tuned. I'll try to post the follow-up tomorrow night. That post will include my first attempt at enchilada sauce from scratch.

Southwestern-ish

So, I went to the grocery store today, and I was trying to figure out what to get to cook for tonight's dinner. I walked up to the meat counter to place an order for some Andouille links to pick up next week (jambalaya!), and while I was doing that, I spied a curious item - a 1.17 pound piece of flank steak that had been wrapped up and marked down for quick sale, because it had been in the case too long. I paid $4.67 for the steak ($3.99 per pound for those of you keeping score at home - the regular price on flank steak is closer to $6.99 per pound). It just so happens that the steak had pretty much been dry aged by the enviroment it was kept in - a cotrolled low temperature, sitting in a pan with an absorbent pad under it, with the pad changed regularly.

Once I got it home, I trimmed off the hard edges, and mixed up a marinade.

Southwestern marinade for an approximately one and a quarter pound flank steak

3 Tbsp corn oil
1-1/2 Tbsp lime juice
1-1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (I ran out of lime)
1/2 Tbsp green jalapeno Tabasco sauce
1/2 Tbsp mesquite liquid smoke
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp dried cilantro
1-1/2 tsp chili powder
4 grindings black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup water

Whisk everything together, place the steak in a gallon size plastic storage bag, pour the marinade into the bag, seal the bag, move the steak around to coat it with the marinade, then place the bag in a square dish and refrigerate for at least two hours, longer for stronger flavors from the seasonings.

After I got the steak marinating, I turned my attention to rice. Following the directions on the bag of Par Excellence brand extra long grain white rice, I put 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water into a saucepan and brought to a boil. Instead of butter and salt, I added 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp dried cilantro, and 1 tsp kosher salt. After it came to a boil, I reduced the heat to low and simmered the rice for 15 minutes, undisturbed. I then let it sit covered for five minutes before I fluffed it with a fork and covered it again to sit and come to room temperature.

When it came time to actually cook dinner, I sliced up a couple of largish green bell peppers, and 3/4 of a medium large yellow onion. The other 1/4 of the onion and a little green bell pepper from the garden got diced. I turned on the broiler and let the broiler pan heat up, then took the steak out of the marinade and put it on a wire rack over a cookie sheet to drain off any excess marinade. Next, I put the big cast iron skillet over high heat and let it preheat for about 6 minutes. I added just enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan, then added the diced pepper and onion and a heaping tsp of minced garlic. I sauted that for a minute or so, then turned the heat down to medium. About that time, I put the steak in to broil. Back to the cast iron skillet, where the aromatics were just starting to get tender, I sprinkled on a liberal helping of chili powder, then deglazed the pan with a little beef broth. I poured in about 1/8 of an inch worth, let that cook off, poured in the same amount, let that cook off, then added a can of black beans (drained, but not rinsed). I mixed that all together, added about 1/4 inch worth of beef broth, and let it simmer while I flipped the steak. I then put the room temperature rice into the cast iron skillet with everything else, and poured the rest of the can of beef broth (about 1/2 a can). I stirred everything together, and simmered until the liquid was all absorbed or evaporated away. Then I stirred in half a jar of Chi Chi's thick and chunky salsa, let that heat up, and moved the pan off the heat and covered it.

Meanwhile, the steak is perfectly medium rare. I took it out of the broiler and put it on a wire rack over a cookie sheet to rest (not the same one the raw steak sat on, by the way). Then I put the smaller cast iron skillet on the stove over high heat and heated it for about 5 minutes, until it was screaming hot. I sliced the steak into thin strips across the grain, then prepared plates.

A little vegetable oil went into the HOT skillet, then I added a small handful of the sliced bell pepper and quickly sauted it, giving it a some nice sear and heating it all the way through, but still leaving it fairly crisp. I put the peppers on top of a portion of the rice and beans, then laid a couple of steak strips over that, and topped it all off with a sprinkle of shredded Mexican blend cheese. That was my daughter's plate (she likes her steak with a decent chance of recovery, just like her dad).

For my wife, the process was mostly the same, only I used pepper and onion, and also put her strips of steak into the pan to get rid of the pink. For mine, a hybrid of the two - peppers and onions, bloody steak. Yum!

(Sorry there's no pictures. I only took two shots of a finished plate since the action in the kitchen was so hoppin'. The first didn't have enough light, so the colors were way off, and the second had plenty of light, but I was too close and the focus was all fuzzy. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.)