chipotle lime steak: adding zest to friendships.

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There is nothing better than the relaxed commotion of a morning filled with laughter, pajamas, and Aunt Jemima syrup. I adore my apartment (even more) when there are people filling it.

Chris's friend Tim is out from Ontario visiting, and to herald the occasion, they decided to make an enormous breakfast. My lovely roommate, helped by her wonderful sister and adoring boyfriend, set herself to breaking their nightime fast with copious amounts of meat, french toast, and fruit - with sides of silliness, indie music and smiles. It was the perfect thing to wake up to.       

Friendship. There is nothing like it.

And the day continued in entente cordiale. My friend Gord (one of us Powell-River-enthusiasts) came over, and we meandered (of course stopping for my pseudo obsession - 25 cent candy machine jelly beans) to Save-On-Foods to grab food for a BBQ at Anne's house.

And, not only following the traditions of friendship, but also of gender, the boys hung out while we girls made dinner.

It's been argued that friendship in the modern Western world is dying. But in my life, I beg to differ. Those who know me, realize how dang small my family really is. In all actuality, it consists of my mom and me (and a dog and a recently-deceased cat who can spray all he likes in heaven, but not on earth in my mom's house). My friends, therefore, are my family. They rejoice with me through joy and grieve with me in sorrow. Every moment spent with a friend is never a moment wasted.

So to celebrate friendship, we brought over four steaks. All marinated at my house so they had a good couple of hours to absorb the flavor. In the end, we only ended up using three because Josh is a burger connoisseur, but the thought was there.

I feel as if I have been writing quite a bit concerning BBQs lately, but it's summer. In winter, trust me, there will be many posts about soup. My favorite dish during the summer is one that comprises of fresh crisp veggies, with a slivered slab of meat on the side. And I take my hat off to the Mexican's and their use of simple, yet powerful ingredients to accomplish this..

Lime juice becomes a tenderizer for meat. The acid acts to break down the protein naturally, through denaturalizing - hence why when its left on too long, it can make the meat mushy - so watch out! 2-3 hours is the limit for larger cuts of meat, while never marinade seafood for more than 30 mins. Unless you are eating fish raw, such as with cerviche, where the acid actually 'cooks' the meat and makes it safe to eat. Lime in general is just a wonderful flavor, and adds a bit of zest to any dish. It definitely is one of my favorites.

All in all, a good day, with some good food.

Chipotle Lime Steak 

4 canned chipotle limes in sauce
1 lime, juiced
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. cilantro, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tbs. olive oil
1 steak (take your pick, but definitely go for one with good marbling throughout)
salt and pepper to taste


1.  Blend first seven ingredients. Pour into a plastic bag; add steak. Marinade for about four hours.

2. Heat BBQ to high heat (you want a grill that will cook as fast as possible without scorching the surface - if you have a hot BBQ, bring down the temp a bit). Remove steak, place on it. Baste with remaining marinade in the bag (do this frequently). Always err on the side of caution concerning 'doneness' - I don't know how you like your steak, and chances are you know how long to grill it for youself - however, you should rest it under tinfoil for about 5 minutes afterwards, so always be aware that it will cook a bit after you remove it.

3. Pray. Eat. Swat away flies (and moochers) because you are outside at a BBQ and your food is so dang tasty. Enjoy.

carne asada: the asada(ing) of the carne.

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 I enjoy any food that isn't stereotypical American. Vietnamese, Lebanese, Japanese, Cantonese - all of these hold a special place in my heart, and belly (I also like other varietites that don't end in 'ese', but these are much more fun to say . . . thai doesn't have nearly the lulling syllables). So the other night, when attempting a 'sous vide' (if you don't know what that is, my explanation and means of cooking can be found here. I decided not to just do the standard North American steak. Instead, I thought Carne Asada would be much more appropriate.   

For one thing, the word Carne makes me think of men, big strong men, ripping into a thick huge steak with their teeth, the juices dribbling down the side of their mouths, absorbed into their thick bushy beards. After being a vegetarian, that's just hot. Dang sexy. The steak I mean. A big, thick, juicy steak. Mmmm. So, any recipe with the word 'Carne' is automatically going to make me try it.  Carne asada literally means 'roasted meat' - that can't mean anything but good. 

Now this dish you could eat alone, and get your protien intake for a week. However, in the streets of Mexico, it is standardly served thinly sliced with cambray onions, lime juice, guacamole, and pico de gallo on a small soft tortilla. That sounds even better than steak alone. 

Traditionally, the steak is a flank or skirt steak - so it has to be marinated for a generous amount of time (I'd say 4-8 hours is good). The basic marinade is garlic, onion, cilantro, black pepper and lime juice, but, as with other marinades, things can be played around with. The trick is also to grill it on high heat, as you would a steak, so the inside remains juicy and the outside is a bit crispy.  

Carne Asada   

(adapted from Mexconnect)

Marinade

4 Cloves garlic, minced 

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, chopped finely

1 Jalapeño pepper

2 limes and their juice

1 pepper (diced) with adobe sauce (about 3 tbs. of sauce)  

1 freshly squeezed orange

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (can substitute with white vinegar)

1/2 Cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 Teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon Mexican oregano

Salt

Pepper 

2 lb flank or skirt steak

flour tortillas (I like small ones)

1 onion (sliced)

lime wedges

pico de gallo (recipe follows)

1. Add marinade ingredients to a blender and create a runny paste.** Add salt and pepper to taste. Put the steak in a large baking dish, add the chopped onion and the marinade. Cover and regfridgerate for at least 4 hours. 

2. Do the steaks by way of Sous Vide - instructions on the process can be found here. Or, to be completely loyal to the traditional way of creating Carne Asada, preheat a BBQ. Brush the grill with olive oil so it doesnt stick. Grill to preferred doneness (always consider how thick your steak is). Remove the meat and let it settle for at least 5 minutes. 

3. While the meat is resting, saute the onions from the marinade to add to the tacos. Warm the tortillas for about 30 seconds on each side on the grill. Slice the steak thinly across the grain. 

Enjoy by adding  some sliced steak, onions, pico de gallo and the juice of a lime wedge to each taco. 

**You can also add beer, or a couple tablespoons of vinegar to the marinade. 

Pico de Gallo

(Adapted from the Canadian Living Test Kitchen)

3 cups roma tomatoes (seeded and chopped)

3/4 cup white onion (finely diced) 

1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp jalapeno pepper (minced)

1/4 tsp salt

Stir all ingredients together. Add salt to taste. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Serve on soft tacos with (mmmmmmm)meat or taco chips. 

well here it is: the first, with a bit of steak. sous vide steak.

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My goodness, I never thought I would create a blog.

But what else is someone to do when they just graduate from university with a nonsensical degree (sorry all you international studies students out there) and an continuing economic stupor which has heralded thoughtful headlines like 'Uh Oh' in Politics Daily, and 'The Worst of the Pain' in The New York Times.

Sad. But, as many say when there is a depression - let us eat meat! Spending will help the economy right? So why not throw more meat in our grocery carts! Don't  worry - I still purchase the cheaper cuts (while helping the economy, I also have to help my wallet). This will be the day of experimentation! A new day! And a first post.

A year ago I was living, what many of my friends and family considered, a 'dangerous' lifestyle. That's right - I was vegetarian. For a full four years. Four years without meat. A travesty.

I've since come back to the light where there is iron and protein and succulent pieces of meat cooked medium rare. But achieving that perfect center of a steak, that strip of perfection, has always eluded me. I don't know whether it is my hands which are too used to kneading the water out of tofu or my brain which tells me my bean veggie burger patties should be cooked all the way through - all I know is vegetarianism has tainted me. Not to say that I can't cook a damn good meatless meal, I just can't cook meat as well as my carnivorous counterparts who have never strayed from the path of a good steak. So I researched a fail-safe method which even those of us raised on the meatless spectrum throughout our lives can not screw up.

It is called 'sous-vide'. The answer to prayer.

Turns out all those 'perfect steaks' that you are served in the high-falutin' restaurants are all cooked this way. This is the way that no moisture is released and the inside is cooked to perfection ([per-fek-shuhn] 1. the highest or most nearly perfect degree of a quality or trait.). This concept makes my knees waver, my stomach howl, and my brow release little specks of moisture that I have to wipe off with a tentative hand. I need this steak.

Good ol' Wikipedia gets it right in the sous-vide definition - "Sous-vide (pronounced /su vid/), French for "under vacuum", is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period at relatively low temperatures. Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlike cooking in a slow-cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60°C or 140°F)."

Unfortunately, those flawless steaks are given birth from machines that are astronomically out of my price range - a thermal immersion circulator and a chamber-based vacuum sealer are, let me just say, stainless steel dreams (they factor among the pony and the house with a white picket fence).

But, like anything that is good, a knock-off can be created for a fraction of the price! A good meat thermometer in water on the stove can suffice for the thermal immersion circulator (unfortunately, since you are the one keeping the temperature steady instead of the machine, you constantly need to check the temperature and give a good stir). Don't go lower than 55°C or 130°F or there might be the risk of bacterial growth. Luckily, for that good med-rare steak, 130°F is perfection. If you lack the meat thermometer, are just plain lazy, or perfection is not your forte, a good slow-cooker's 'low' is around 130°F.

To seal the deal, or really to seal the steaks, ziplocs are a cook's best friend. Place the steak in a ziploc and lower it into a bowl of water (carefully so excess water from the bowl does not dribble into the plastic bag) to seal it (you can also use your hands to aid this process by pressing out all the air). Don't forget your aromatics! Personally my favorite steak marinade is chipotle peppers in adobe sauce with a bit of lime, oregano, cumin, shallots and garlic. But that's just me - people might have other leanings concerning their marinades. . . don't worry, I'm a non-judgmental person concerning small differences in the kitchen. However, if you put ketchup on pasta, I don't think we can ever be friends. A tangent, but true.

Be sure to cook that darling of a steak (and trust me, it need not be fillet mignon or even t-bone, I would do this with a chuck steak - that's right you heard me, and yes, I am that poor - because there is hardly any loss of moisture and a normally tough yet flavorful steak will melt on your tongue) for at least 45 minutes. Technically, you can leave them in the water bath for 12 hours but honestly, even if it was fillet mignon, I would equate it with high school 'mystery' lunch meat by that time - you have no idea what could be growing in it.

For 'la grand finale' (does this use of French make me slightly pretentious?) add a generous glug of sunflower or canola oil to a pan (they both have high smoking points) and sear that steak on high for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

And there it is. Perfection. Attainable for once.