Sasha's Kitchen: Chipotle Rubbed Flank Steak with Corn-Avocado Salsa

I made this delicious steak recently, on Christmas Eve for our stay at home boring Jewish Christmas.  The meal was surprisingly easy and delicious.  The one thing I didn't anticipate was how smoky grilling a chipotle rubbed steak is - it made the kitchen very smoky! The resulting flavor was a little but on the spicy side, but very flavorful and went nicely with the corn and avocado salsa.  This would be a great summertime dish made on an outdoor grill as well, although I obviously made it indoors in a grill pan.

Sasha's Chipotle Rubbed Flank Steak with Corn-Avocado Salsa
One 1/2 lb flank steak
2/3 cup orange juice
3 canned chipotle peppers in adobo
2 diced cloves of garlic
2 T olive oil
1 cup corn
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
1 T lime juice
1/2 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup minced red onion

In a blender, combine the chipotle peppers, orange juice, olive oil and garlic and puree.  Marinate the steak for ten minutes.  Remove the steak from the marinade and let the excess drip off but don't wash off the marinade.  Grill as desired in your grill pan or outdoor grill on both sides.

In a separate bowl, combine the corn, avocado, lime juice, jalapeno and red onion and serve on top of the flank steak as salsa.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chipotle Rubbed Flank Steak with Corn-Avocado Salsa

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Snapper and Mango Salsa with Rice and Beans

With the heat still blanketing the city and me in my element with it, I decided it was finally time to have company over to my apartment now that I have a brand new balcony! After disclosing my plans to finally start cooking again, my insanely talented musician friend Jimi Maze (check out his music here) agreed to play guinea pig in my epicurean experiments. A few days earlier, he very graciously brought me a pepper plant as a house-warming gift. Add this to the Pakistani mangos I had bought earlier that week in Little India and of course, this got my creative juices flowing! How could I use these gorgeous colourful peppers and sweet juicy mangoes in some way? My brain immediately supplied the answer; mango salsa!

Given the heat, I decided that serving something light was a good idea so I headed to my local megamart to see what kind of fish they had. Once that was done, I needed a side dish. Given that I was already on a South American path with the salsa, I decided some rice and beans were in order! My mother had brought me some farm-fresh corn the previous day and I decided to incorporate it into my efforts. I added a salad with homemade dressing and dinner was set!

Mixy's Mango Salsa

1 mango, peeled and chopped into cubes
1 avocado, chopped and cubed
1 green onion, chopped fine
3 tbsp black beans
1/2 red or yellow pepper, seeded and diced
1 bird's eye chilli, seeded and chopped fine (or leave the seeds for extra heat)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp chipotle
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped fine
1 lime, squeezed
dash of lemon juice

Mix everything together and use right away or let it hang out in the fridge for 30 minutes to meld the flavours. Make sure to add the citrus before you add the avocado and mix it in so the avos don't turn brown. This is lovely over fish but I also had leftovers of the salsa over pork chops that I covered in chutney, seared and popped in a 400F over for 10-15 mins which was delicious! Jimi and I had the salsa with snapper that I put in a 375F over for 17 mins with some olive oil, lime juice, salt and salad herbs.

Add to this my side of rice and beans that I cooked in my rice cooker. If you don't have one (and you really should!) just cook the basmati according to the package instructions with all the ingredients in the pot at once; easy one-pot wonder!

Beans and Rice - Michelle-style

1 ear corn, corn sliced off the cob (use raw)
1/2 can black beans
3/4 c basmati rice
3/4 c water
3/4 c chicken stock
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 lime squeezed for juice
1 bay leaf

Put everything in your rice cooker and hit "start". I felt it needed more salt, but Jimi said his was great, so salt to taste.

I love entertaining and plan on doing much more of it before the summer is over. Must take advantage of my brand new balcony and killer view!

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Snapper and Mango Salsa with Rice and Beans

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Curried Egg Salad

Sometimes the best inspirations come randomly. I was at my parents looking for a quick lunch on the way out shopping with my mother. I decided on an egg salad, but wanted one with some pizazz! I started adding flavors I thought would taste great together and they did, to my great satisfaction.

Curried Egg Salad

1 boiled egg, whole
1 boiled egg, white only
1 tbsp fat free mayo (I used fat free Miracle Whip)
1 tsp chutney (I used Mrs. Ball's)
1 tbsp carrot, chopped fine
1 tbsp cucumber, chopped fine
1/4 avocado chopped
1/4 sprig green onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp raisins, reconstituted in hot water for about a minute
1 tbsp chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric, depending on taste
salt to taste

Mash the egg, mayo, chutney, turmeric and salt until it is the desired consistancy to your taste. Fold in the other ingredients and enjoy!

Yield about 1 cup

I put this on crackers but it's great on its own or spread on a sandwich. I made enough for two people, but feel free to increase the amounts as needed.

Michelle's Kitchen in Toronto - Curried Egg Salad

Sasha's Kitchen: The Use Of A Molcajete In Preparing Guacamole

This post perhaps comes a bit late.  I am not the biggest football fan, and this year my husband (who is) and I watched the Superbowl from home, with our pug Dakota on the couch by our side.  I did, however, prepare my classic guacamole for us for the Superbowl, using a molcajete.  A molcajete is basically a mortar and pestle made out of volcanic rock, and is an essential kitchen tool for making high quality guacamole.  The molcajete was first used by the ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures (and might even go back further than that in different forms), and is most commonly used today (primarily in Mexican and South American cooking) to grind spices, and prepare salsas and guacamole.  It works because the basalt (the volcanic rock) provides an excellent porous grinding surface,  Basically, the guacamole acquires the perfect texture by grinding the avocado into the basalt.  You can get one at either Crate & Barrel (where I got mine as a wedding registry gift a few years back) or William Sonoma.

The guacamole was the perfect Superbowl dish as we watched the Saints bring the Lombardi Trophy to the City of New Orleans.  Here's how I make my signature guacamole:

2 medium sized avocados
1 tomato, diced with the seeds removed
1/4 of a small to medium sized onion, diced
2 T lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (this is not an especially spicy guacamole, if you prefer more heat, add more red pepper flakes or use cayenne pepper)

First, mash and grind the avocados using the texture of the molcajete.  Let the air bubbles in the volcanic rock do the work.

Dice the tomato and onion and mix both of those ingredients in the mix.  The season with salt and pepper, and add the red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper to add the desired heat.  Finally, my secret ingredient here, cumin, is actually an Indian spice - I always add about half a teaspoon.  This may sound strange with guacamole, but let me assure you that it tastes amazing and is well worth trying out.  I prefer my guacamole without cilantro (although I love cilantro in salsa).

Enjoy, for the next big game.  For Eric's chicken fajitas with guacamole, click here.  If you are reveling in the Saints victory and are ready for Mardi Gras to start early this year, check out my recipe for New Orleans beignets (creole doughnuts), or Matt's recipe for Cajun Jambalaya.

Sasha's Kitchen: The Use Of A Molcajete In Preparing Guacamole

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Guacamole & Chicken Fajitas (Super Bowl Special)

This post is really more about the Guacamole than the Fajitas as we were just trying to use up some leftover Grilled Chicken plus everyone seems to really like my Guacamole. It's a recipe that started as my Mom's but I have evolved it over the years a bit and I honestly think she likes mine more than her own now... I figured this is a good time to post my Guacamole recipe so that people can hopefully enjoy it during the Super Bowl!

These are the ingredients I use for my Guacamole:
2 ripe Avocados
1/2 medium to small tomato, seeds removed and diced
1/4 medium Vidalia onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced
1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Some sort of hot sauce or red pepper flakes
Fresh lime juice

I find that if you don't remove the seeds of the tomatoes it get can a bit too watery. I also insist on mashing mine up with just a fork instead of a food processor since the flavors remain more in tact and the consistency feels more natural to me. As long as the avocados aren't under-ripe, this should never be a problem.

The lime juice is probably the second most important step since it also helps to keep the color of the avocado from going brown if you have to set it aside for a while. I've also heard that keeping bits of the rind in your guacamole helps but not sure how true this is...

When it came time for my fajitas I just reheated my leftover grilled chicken with some sliced Pepper Jack cheese and then sauteed some mushrooms and onions. We also added some roasted garlic Green Mountain Gringo salsa, which is by far my favorite salsa.

In the end we had a delicious meal that certainly didn't feel like leftovers.

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Guacamole & Chicken Fajitas (Super Bowl Special)