Summertime Fajitas (no iron skillet required)

Yes, I've been on a mexican kick these past few weeks.  So sue me. :-)

So almost everyone I know likes fajitas. Think about it. Whenever you go to a Mexican restaurant, everyone stops and stares as the sizzling platter goes by. When someone at your table orders some, you look longingly across the table wishing you had them... And for some reason, they're one of the most expensive recipes on the menu. By they way, you know that the majority of the sizzle comes from the lime juice they squeeze on the skillet at the last minute, right?

So I created a fajita recipe that is tasty, easy and you can use almost any type of meat. You don't need the customary iron skillet, so don't go buy anything if you don't already have it. This is great for a summer meal out on the patio for 4-5 people. Feel free to double or triple it depending on the size of your party.

Fajitas

Serves 4

Marinade
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
two limes
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chipotle sauce (either bottled or from a can of chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Cholulu, Tapatio, Tobasco, or your favorite)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
*Spicy version, add one finely chopped jalapeno (include seeds if you really want to bring the heat) and 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Meat: 1 1/2 pounds flank steak, sirloin steak, chicken breasts or shrimp (with tails removed)
Veggies: One onion, one large green pepper, one large red pepper

In a large Ziploc bag, combine all of your marinade ingredients and either shake or squish the bag to mix everything together. Add the meat to the bag and roll it around until the meat is completely covered by the marinade. Place that bag in another Ziploc bag to make sure nothing spills in you fridge (trust me, that's an ugly mess) and let it chill for anywhere between 1 to 24 hours (it's flexible).

When your ready to cook the meat, prepare the vegetables. Slice the top and bottoms off of the peppers. Slice up the peppers lengthwise so you have strips that are about 1/4 inch wide and 2-3 inches long. Take the top and bottom off the onion and then cut the onion vertically so you get a number of small slivers. Place all of the veggies in a bowl for later...

Fire up the barbecue and set it to medium heat. While that's happening, heat a large pan or skillet to medium/meduim high and place 3 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil inside to prepare to fry the veggies. Once the grill is nice and hot, pull the meat out of the marinade and place immediately on the grill (if you're doing shrimp, place them on skewers so they don't fall through the grates). As the meat is cooking, dump the onions and peppers into the heated pan. Stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.  When the meat is done, slice up the steak or chicken into small edible strips. If you're using flank steak, make sure to slice across the grain of the meat so the meat is as chewable as possible.

After about 10 minutes in the pan, the peppers will char and the onions will caramelize. Remove the veggies from the pan.

How you present the concoction is up to you. If you want to serve it family style, I prefer to place the veggies on a plate, and then place the meat on top, but if you want to mix it all together, that's fine. If you have enough cash to own individual cast iron skillets, then why aren't you at a restaurant having someone cook them for you... but you could also heat those skillets in an oven for 15 minutes while you're cooking the meat and veggies and place a good portion when ready. Squeeze the juice of half of a lime onto each skillet so you can get the requisite sizzling sound, that's how they do it in the restaurants.

And when it comes to tortillas, go for the best you can. Store bought is OK, but the fresher they are, the better. If you have access to authentic tortillas from a Latin grocery store, definitely use them. If not, you can buy uncooked tortillas at Costco or your local grocery store. It's a little more work, but I think freshly cooked tortillas really bring a better flavor to the party.

Make sure to have all the condiments on hand. Lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and some good pico de gallo or your favorite salsa. Also, have slices of lime on hand to add that little bit of tanginess.

I like to have a little Spanish rice on the side, and I just happen to have a recipe for that as well, so find it and use it if you'd like.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles and How to Temper Chocolate

Yes... I'm weird...

I know, those who know me well are saying "What's new?".

But I started thinking about Christmas the other day. Five months to go and I'm already starting to get into holiday mode.  So since we're in a new neighborhood, I started to think about neighbor gifts.  Now my wife is the master baker and candy maker.  She has great recipes for Christmas cookies, popcorn balls, etc.  If I ask really nice, she'll let me post those recipes in December.  But I wanted to add something of my own.  So I started to search for some truffle recipes on the web and found Alton Brown's Chocolate Truffle recipe.  In case you don't know who he is, he's a chef on the Food Network with a show called Good Eats.  He doesn't just tell you what the recipe is, he explains the science behind it.  I've used his frying technique to perfect my Stuffed Chicken Parmesan which my wife sampled while we were dating, and said to me later that after trying that meal, she knew she would marry me one day.  So I obviously hold him in great regard. 

Anyway, I used his recipe that is posted on the Food Network website, but I changed it up a little. I tried making it 'as is' but substituting out the brandy for raspberry liqueur.  They came out a little squishy, even when the centers were chilled.  So I removed it and added the half cup of peanut butter and it solidified nicely.  Now I used dark chocolate for the centers, but you could use bittersweet, or semisweet, or even milk chocolate instead.  I'm also trying a few other the variations of the recipe, testing out a different raspberry truffle, as well as coconut, orange, mint, and rum.  As I get the recipes locked down, I'll post them, hopefully by Christmas so you could use them too.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Makes roughly 32

Truffle Centers
12 ounces bittersweet, dark,semi-sweet or milk chocolate (according to your taste), chopped fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter

Outer coating - options include
16 ounces of dark,semi-sweet or milk chocolate (according to your taste)
10 ounces dutch processed cocoa
2 cups crushed peanuts
2 ounces white chocolate chips

Slowly melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat.  Dump the chocolate into the saucepan and stir until all the chocolate and butter is melted. Next slowly pour in some of the cream and mix until it's incorporated.  Keep repeating until all of the cream is included.  Pour in the corn syrup, then drop in the peanut butter.  Continually stir again until the peanut butter is blended into the mixture.  Once it's all melted, remove it from the heat and pour the contents of the pan into a brownie pan (8x8) and chill in the fridge for an hour or two. 

Once the truffle mix is chilled, remove it from the fridge.  Using a melon baller, scoop out some of the mixture and then form the little balls of goodness.  You can use your hands to form them, but it gets messy.  If you have kids, this can be a lot of fun for them...  But if you want to stay clean, or if you're a very warm blooded person like me and chocolate instantly melts in your hand, use latex gloves. 

When you're ready to coat them you have a number of choices. 

If you want to go the easy way, just warm the coating chocolate up in a pan until it's melted, coat the truffle with the new chocolate and let set for about 15 seconds.  Take the truffle and roll it in the dutch chocolate or peanuts and place it on the wax paper again.  Chill for an hour in the fridge and eat as many as you can handle.

Now you can go fancier if you'd like... For that, the base should be a shell of tempered chocolate. Tempering chocolate means taking it to a higher temperature to melt all of the cocoa solids, then taking it back down to a magical temperature where it coats the truffle perfectly.  It makes a smooth, shiny shell that allows you to decorate them later.  You want to warm the chocolate up to around 110 degrees, and then let it cool down to between 88 and 93 degrees and keep it there. 

If you want to attempt to temper the chocolate, melt the dipping chocolate in a saucepan over medium low heat and check the temperature with a digital thermometer.  As soon as it gets to 110+ degrees, pour the chocolate out of the pan and into another container.  Stir it, trying to mix in a little air to cool it down.  Check the temperature regularly and as soon as you hit 93 degrees, you can start dipping the truffles.  You will want to keep the dipping chocolate between 88 and 93 degrees, since the chilled truffles will cool the chocolate as you dip.  So wrap the container holding the dipping chocolate with a heating pad and check the temperature often.  Don't let the temperature go over 94 degrees, or you'll have to heat it over 110 again and let it cool back down.  If the chocolate gets too cool, you can heat it back to 88-93 again as soon as you can, but the exterior may not be as shiny unless you go through the heating process again.

To get that very smooth exterior, I've found stabbing the centers with a bamboo skewer to dip them works best.  Dip the chocolate center and roll it around until it's complete covered.  Place the truffle back on the wax paper cookie sheet and use another skewer to push against the truffle until the first skewer slides out.  Repeat with the others, but make sure that dipping chocolate stays between 88-93 degrees.  Once all are coated, place them back in the fridge for an hour. 

If you want to pipe designs on the top of them, melt white chocolate (or any other type of chocolate) in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Stir the chocolate and microwave again for another 30 seconds until it's melted.  The pour the contents into the piping bag and decorate them any way you wish.

I cheated on the one in the picture and placed a white chocolate chip on the top.  I poured hot water into a glass, then rubbed the bottom of the chip against the warm glass just long enough to melt it, then stuck it on top.

Feel free to coat them, roll them in candy, nuts, coconut, pipe designs, whatever you want to fit your taste.  Remember, it's not wrong if you like it!