From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I was planning to put together a salad for dinner on Wednesday after a long day, but when I looked around I had all the ingredients for tacos and that inspired both dinner that night and tonight’s recipe exchange.
For my tacos that night, I used homemade fajita seasoning (recipe for seasoning and fajitas here) instead of packaged taco seasoning. The recipe makes a lot, so I always have some on hand.
On the taco front, not to be missed are JeffreyW’s awesome Fish Tacos (pictured above, recipe and photo directions here).
Earlier in the week, an excellent and creamy, sharp goat cheese was the center piece of my Stuffed Burgers (recipe here) for dinner. So easy to make and full of juicy flavor.
The Dinner Menu was a given, since Olathe Sweet Corn finally arrived in stores. This menu was also the first one I put together many years ago, because it was and still is, a summer staple. Menu, recipes and shopping lists here.
For the pet lovers, here’s Bixby awaiting our lunch guests and a bonus Greek Pasta Recipe.
With that I leave you to the comments. Tacos, burritos or fajitas, what’s your favorite? And what’s on your weekend menu as we move into the last month of summer?
Now for the featured recipe:
Grilled Herbed Steak for Tacos or Burritos
Notes: Serve with either corn or flour tortillas and stuff with fresh garden items, such as tomatoes, lettuce, diced zucchini, grilled corn, and top with Fresh Garden Salsa (recipe here). And if you don’t like cilantro, there are alternatives offered at the bottom of the recipe.
Herb Paste
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves*
3 tsp crushed garlic
3 green onions
1 medium jalapeno, quartered – remove veins and seeds for milder, otherwise, use it all
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh limejuicePulse in a food processor or blender, cilantro, garlic, scallions, jalapeño, and cumin until finely chopped. Add oil and process until mixture is smooth and resembles pesto. Transfer 2 tbsps of the herb paste to medium bowl; whisk in lime juice and set aside.
Steak
2 lbs flank steak – cut lengthwise (with grain) into 4 equal pieces (cooks quicker this way)
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oilUsing dinner fork or tenderizer, poke each piece of steak 10 to 12 times on each side. Place in large baking dish; rub all sides of steak pieces with salt and then coat with remaining herb paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator 5-10 minutes before cooking.
To cook: Scrape excess herb paste off steak and sprinkle all sides of pieces evenly with sugar and pepper. Sear steak pieces on the grill for 3 minutes, then turn and grill the other side for 3 minutes. Continue to cook (don’t turn more than one more time) until internal temperature registers 125 to 130 degrees, usually an additional 2 to 7 minutes. Transfer steak to cutting board and let rest 5 minutes.
To Serve: Using a carving knife, slice steak pieces across grain into 1/8-inch-thick pieces. Transfer sliced steak to bowl with herb paste-limejuice mixture and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve with tortillas and choice of vegetables, shredded cheese and salsa, etc. Garnish with additional limejuice if desired.
*If you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute celery leaves or fresh basil, or try a mixture of both.
That’s if for this week, have a terrific weekend – TaMara
schrodinger's cat
If TaMara is the Food Godess why isn’t JeffreyW the Food God, considering that at least 50% or more of the recipes featured are his.
rikyrah
GOOD looking food.
Benw
Definitely tacos. Possibly the world’s greatest food delivery system. These sound delicious, although I’m going to substitute mushrooms for steak.
raven
@Benw: The Mexican lunchbox!
Benw
@raven: that’s racist! :)
Iowa Old Lady
I tried a new way to cook sweet corn this week that gets rid of the silks really easily. Without husking the cobs, I cut the stem end off so the bottom of some kernels showed. Then I microwaved it, 4 ears for 11 minutes. Then I gripped the silk end with a towel (because it’s freaking hot) and squeezed and the cob sort of pops out the bottom end while the silks stay in my hand.
raven
@Benw: aw darn it
schrodinger's cat
@Iowa Old Lady: Grilled corn is the best. Dash of lime and cayenne and salt, butter optional.
dexwood
Tacos, burritos or fajitas, what’s your favorite? And what’s on your weekend menu as we move into the last month of summer?
Tough choice. Enchiladas might fit on the list. Love some NM green chile enchiladas with chicken. Ooh, carne adovada burritos, red chile paste for the slow cooking. Tacos, though, always a place in my hungry heart for them, especially fish tacos. Can’t decide.
Omnes Omnibus
Tamales.
Wag
Olathe sweet corn is the best corn in the world.
dexwood
@Omnes Omnibus:
How could I have forgotten them. Hand made using a handed down family recipe.
Schlemazel
I love grilling skirt steak with peppers and onions in the summer – fajitas! Here is my marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup lime juice (6 to 8 limes)
1/2 cup oil (I like peanut but corn would work, I wouldn’t use olive for this but YMMV)
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cumin seed
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chili (I mix ancho with chipotle for heat and smoke)
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
This is enough for 2 lbs of skirt or I will use rib tips if skirt is not available. I put it all in a large ziplock, squeeze the air out & seal it and let it sit in the fridge at least 4 hours
schrodinger's cat
@efgoldman: Butter does make everything better, but I personally like my corn without the butter, it just tastes cleaner.
On the other hand, I like butter with my toast. My weekend indulgence, buttered toast and an omelet.
Suzanne
Tacos. Adore tacos. Fish tacos are the best.
schrodinger's cat
Celery leaves and basil, taste nothing like cilantro, I don’t think that substitution is not going to work flavor wise. Flat leaf parsley may be a better bet.
schrodinger's cat
@Suzanne: Agreed! I pan sear the fish, usually tilapia, sometimes haddock or cod.
NotMax
Used to be a place here whose specialty was octopus tacos. Yes, it was named Tako Taco.
Tonight will be baked pollock burgers on onion-poppyseed bagels,, with melted Swiss cheese and either a homemade wasabi tartar sauce or a yogurt/jalapeño spread, probably around 5 or 6 hours from now as not even peckish, let alone hungry.
@schrodinger’s cat
Also works well (and thankfully tastes nothing like vile, repulsive, soapy cilantro): chives or a mix of chives and basil. Lesser alternative is using blanched celery leaves sprinkled with a bit of coriander.
@Iowa Old Lady
Microwaving unhusked ears is a time saver, as the silk falls right off. Like to wrap the husks with damp paper towels to give at least a little steaming effect during microwaving.
Tip for removing the silk when husking raw corn cobs by hand is to slightly dampen a paper towel and rub the silk – it pulls off easily. A clean nylon stocking or clean nylon pantyhose will accomplish the same task as well.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
I’m roasting rolled pork belly stuffed with mushrooms, pepper, caraway and orange zest.
Scallops with sautéed green garlic, toasted breadcrumbs and fresh pecorino to start, and all followed up with icecream from the new Turkish icecream place down the road – sour cherry, melon and feta, and baklava.
Yatsuno
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Kan I haz come over plz?
Just ate a few leftover wings after a FANTASTIC feast at the wedding today. I will say if one is to have a wedding on a cruise ship, one should make certain it is during Fleet Week and there is an amphibious attack ship parked next door. Was actually more entertaining than the wedding itself.
TaMara (BHF)
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Are you having a party, or is this just an average dinner at your house? I suspect the latter. Yum.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Yatsuno:
The scallops might be dried out by the time you get here.
Yay for Fleet Week. I do like seafood.
How are you, dear? Still feeling like a pincushion?
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@TaMara (BHF):
Definitely a dinner party. If I ate like this every weekend I would look like the side of a house.
Uncle Ebeneezer
I recently discovered that Cost Plus World Market has some killer dry rubs. They have: Korean, Morrocan, Thai/Sriracha and Lime Habanero. All of them are super tasty. Korean is probably our favorite but I made Lime Habanero Carnitas last night for tacos and it’s great though very spicy. The only gripe is that it’s not a ton of rub so it’s easy to run out if you’re not careful. I make Korean wings and usually with 20 wings the last couple don’t get much/any rub.
NotMax
@Yatsuno
The ship or the hunky seamen?
TaMara (BHF)
@schrodinger’s cat: Actually it works really well for people who don’t like cilantro. Parsley by itself isn’t quite the right flavor, but added in moderation to the other leaves would add to the flavor.
p.s.. I think JeffreyW is a food God as well, that’s why I searched him out and begged/cojoled him to post his photos and food adventures on my blog. Have never regretted it. He’s awesome, as is Mrs J.
TaMara (BHF)
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Those are some lucky guests. My weekend menu plans look quite puny now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Bloody hell.
Mike J
@Yatsuno: I was on the Boxer yesterday! It’s the ship where they took Captain Philips of the Maersk Alabama after he was rescued.
Mike E
The flank is in the same neighborhood as the skirt steak, and this recipe makes lovely fajitas.
Mary G
I have been obsessing about green corn tamales from El Cholo. The only one semi-close to me shut down last year. Google has some knockoff recipes I might have to try.
22over7
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Yes! My favorite is Squeal, which is a beautiful dry rub for pork or chicken. On the other hand, my spouse brings back so much yummy stuff from the ABQ Fiery Foods Show, that I have lots of flavors from which to choose.
NotMax
Some may cringe in horror or call it kitchen sacrilege, but find parboiling the whole steak and letting it cool before marinating and slicing into strips to be grilled or seared makes for a more tender result.
Sprinkling sugar on a steak seems, well, oddball. But whatever floats yer boat.
@Mike E.
Skirt steak is, after all, the more common and traditional cut of beef for fajitas.
Yatsuno
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: I’m in the slowly improving but getting there stage. I’ll have about two more weeks until I’m back to the grind. Although I did decide to put in for a position with the FAA that it turns out I’m overqualified for. Which means I might just get it.
@NotMax: …
Yes.
Assault ship = gyrenes.
@Mike J: It was tempting to take a tour after the wedding but we were tired so bagged the idea.
Also: Why is my comment vanishing?
Omnes Omnibus
@Yatsuno: Really, you go for pretty but dumb?
I kid, I kid.
Nevertheless, pretty and whip smart is possible.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy, contemplating a young Matthew Broderick passed out on the bed:
“If you’ve got an I.Q. over 80, there is no God.”
:)
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: My taste is markedly different in a vast number of ways.
Yatsuno
@Omnes Omnibus: Pretty and dumb has its uses. But I have found pretty and smart in a few uniforms as well. I’m not HUGELY picky honestly.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yatsuno: I shan’t pry.
Mike E
@NotMax: Yah, I’ve done this recipe laid directly on the hot embers…it’s amazing.
NotMax
@Yatsuno
Soldier of Love.
NotMax
@Mike E.
Really liked Alton Brown’s Good Eats. His current show, however, is pathetic.
TaMara (BHF)
@Wag: I know, we’re so spoiled. I mean there is lots of great sweet corn out there, but Olathe… just something about it.
TaMara (BHF)
@Yatsuno: Glad to hear you’re doing good. We’re like two ships that pass in the night lately.
Speaking of ships – fleet week, Boston, 1987. I’ll never tell. LOL.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Gawd, you just brought Marshall Crenshaw to mind. Thanks.
Mike E
@NotMax: He put his heart and soul into Good Eats, and it’s a proud achievement worthy of praise. Thank goodness for innernetz archives… I go there often.
Major Major Major Major
Mmm, tacos are the best.
Damn it, now you have me wanting tacos and I’m next to some of the best taco places in California. But I have a date and tacos are… Contraindicated, shall we say.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Yatsuno: I’m so glad you’re getting better. Keep it up. :-)
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Major Major Major Major: No tacos? We have one great place for tacos nearby in woodinville, called OobaTooba’s (the one in Woodinville is just Ooba’s but it’s owned by the same people. Soft, warm corn tortillas filled with steak or chicken or, well heck, here’s the menu:
http://www.oobatooba.com/menu.html
Major Major Major Major
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): date flaked out. Getting tacos.
Joseph Nobles
I just made ground beef tacos this week. I sauteed an onion in some olive oil, threw the meat in, drained it when it got brown. Then back in the pan with some salsa, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, and Sriracha sauce. Soft flour tortillas with some shredded cheddar. So very good.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Major Major Major Major: Well, dammit. I hope tacos is somewhat of a compensation.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Joseph Nobles: Sounds yummy.
It was too hot to cook tonight, again. We went to DQ.
I will probably bake two apple pies tomorrow, one to send home with my youngest and her fiancé. We have a glut of windfall apples that are a bit on the small side and a little too high in alum to make them great eating apples, which is what they normally are. The 2 dozen left on the tree are sizing up and hopefully will hang on until they are properly ripened. It’s the heat. First decent crop on this youngish tree and it’s spoiled by the heat. The strawberries ripened early and too small, and weren’t nearly as good as usual.
Another Holocene Human
@dexwood:
I make ’em with crema mexicana (crema centroamericana will work in a pinch, I’ve found), served with premium refried black beans the make you want to swallow your tongue.
You gotta start with homemade whole chicken, shredded, though. Kinda adds prep time.
I must differ with Tamara on her seasoning. In this house, there is always coriander, usually 2:1 with cumin, and some cinnamon (canela) as well, even if you can’t consciously taste it. And whole garlic cooked in with the meat, not that powder stuff (which has its uses, I will admit).
I get my coriander at the Indian store. Best value & freshness, hands down.
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemazel: That sounds uh-Mazing.
Can I come over to your place for dinner?
Another Holocene Human
@NotMax:
Yessssss!
I hope they were good. I don’t really like whole baby octopus (obligatory: I don’t like the way it looks, tamago, tamago), but I used to love takoyaki before I had to stop eating wheat. (Takoyaki is festival food and terrible for you, but om nom nom.)
satby
@Iowa Old Lady: that is cool! Going to try that next time I have corn.
tybee
@dexwood:
that’s the one.