Oregano Steak with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Oregano has rocketed to the top of our favorite-herbs list... we love the tangy, slightly-spicy, and a-little-bit-bitter flavor it adds to savory dishes - both in fresh form (growing out on our deck) and in dried form. Obvious oregano uses are in sauces and on pizzas, but we decided to add a healthy amount of dried oregano to a dry rub on a big boneless top sirloin - to see how the flavor went with a grilled steak.

Along with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, we rubbed in a good deal of dried Mexican Oregano (less sweet, more spicy than Medditeranean Oregano) all over our steak, then wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and let it hang out in the fridge for a couple of hours. The steak was then removed from the fridge to come close to room temperature, and we started the grill.

When the grill was good and REALLY hot, that steak went right in the middle and cooked for 4 minutes/side. We removed the steak to a cutting board to rest - and sprinkled some fresh oregano leaves over the top. The heat woke that fresh oregano up and - combined with the grilled oregano in the rub - it smelled fantastic.

Along with the steak we grilled some sweet potato wedges and mixed up an onion-and-chive dipping sauce to go with them: 1 cup low fat sour cream, 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tbs Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning, some white pepper, salt, and some garlic powder, and dried chives.

This sauce - and some sliced cukes - added to the Greek feel of the oregano steak, which was tangy and spicy and delicious! Now, where will we apply oregano next??

Yellow Tomato Salsa over Grilled Chicken

Along with the tons of cucumbers my parents gave us from their northern Maine garden, they also gave us 10 smallish green tomatoes. We asked them what kind they were, but they couldn't remember the exact name other than they've planted them before -- or had they!?!?! When they started to turn yellowish, we started drooling --every day we would watch them, but they weren't turning red! What was going on?? One started getting soft too, so I gave Mom a call to find out what was up! Did they not like being in Boston? Nope, Mom said, I think your father bought yellow tomato plants by mistake! Well, that gave us the go ahead, and boy were they delish. In this dish they remind me of mango or yellow pepper b/c for us, it is rare to have a yellow tomato! This was a very simple Friday night meal, but it was full of flavor!




For the salsa, I chunked up 2 yellow tomatoes, 1 avocado and a quarter of a red onion. Some salt and pepper and the juice of 2 limes, et voila that's it! M brined some chicken breast earlier in the day, and topped them with some Penzey's Cajun Seasoning. Grilled to perfection with a side of couscous and topped off with the yellow tomato salsa, a great summer night meal!

Cucumber Salad at Grandma's House

Grandma's House

I remember eating dinners in the small kitchen in Lisbon Falls, Maine - six of us around the table in the middle of the room, my Brother and my Father sitting across from my Mom and I, Grandma at one end and Grandpa at the other. The kitchen often smelled like fresh baked bread back then - Grandma was still baking her own in the antique oven - and the old, white cabinets and light linoleum floor and table made the kitchen relatively bright in the otherwise dark, small home.

My Dad grew up in that house and we'd visit twice a year, in the summer to go with the whole family down to Old Orchard Beach, and in the autumn to visit for Thanksgiving. My Brother and I would play with my dad's old vibrating football game or bang tunelessly on the piano in the living room as the adults watched the old television set in the family room. It was a long drive, but we liked going up there... the house had a mysterious quality to it that made it feel adventurous for my brother and me.

Those dinners were a highlight. Typical New England boiled dinner - meat, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions - all boiled until they were all the same soft consistency. My Dad would take all of those items and mash them up together in his bowl until they became "mush" while my brother and I laughed at him goofing around. Grandpa Andy, eating quietly and deliberately at the end of the table, was not as amused.

But our favorite part of dinner may have been the accompaniment of our Grandfather's favorite side dish - cucumber salad. The memory of this concoction has stayed with us years later, and my brother and I have recently breathed new life into the recipe by starting to make it again - just like it used to be made:

Very thinly-sliced cuke rounds single-layered in the bottom of a big glass bowl, salted heavily, then topped with 1/4" sliced white onion rings to seperate from the second layer of thinly-sliced cuke rounds, heavily salted, layer of onion, cukes, salted... Maybe three layers from 2-3 cukes works well.



That bowl sits covered at room temperature for an hour for those salt crystals to go to work breaking down the cellular structure of the fresh veggies (I don't know if Grandpa knew that was what was happening - but I know he liked it). After an hour, the cukes and onions are limp and have given off alot of water. We dumped that water out and gave them a rinse or two, then took handfuls of the cukes/onions and squeeeeeeezed all the water out that we could - adding the then-squeezed handfuls to a new bowl, and repeating with another handful until all were drained of their water.



A big TBLS of sugar, ground black pepper, and a couple of splashes of apple cider vinegar are then added - and just a enough water (not much) so all the cukes are barely immersed. Stir and taste the liquid and make sure you like the flavor, then pop them in the fridge until you are ready to eat them. Tastes great right then, even better the next day.

As I took the cuke salad out of the fridge to plate with a grilled piece of salmon with some dilled sour cream over top and a little couscous on the side, I caught the smell of the cukes and onions and sugar and vinegar - such a unique scent! It whisked me back to that small kitchen in Maine and to that dinner table where we'd sit and eat and laugh before Grandma washed all the dishes by hand as we ate dessert.

Grandpa died over 20 years ago and Grandma still lives in that same house in Lisbon Falls. We try to visit her once or twice a year - she doesn't cook anymore so we'll pick up a pizza from down the street and eat it at that small table in the middle of the kitchen and we'll talk and laugh.

Chicken Enchiladas with Cuke and Corn Salsa

Same delicious Enchilada with Mole Sauce and Cuke and Corn Salsa recipe that we made last month - with the same delicious results - but this time we ended up playing around with our new camera with video and our video editing software!

So, without further ado... our premiere Boston Chef video!

Mixed Grill Mole Enchiladas with Cucumber Salsa

We craved authentic Mexican food - the kind we'd get at La Paloma in Quincy or Salsa's in Southie... smooth textures, a little spiciness, cheesiness, and a hint of chocolate lingering in the background, mole-style. We thought we'd try a new one (for us) to satisfy this craving and make Baked Enchiladas.

We had to construct this one from the outside in - so here's what we knew: we wanted the filling to be comprised solely of beans and meat, we wanted some fresh green salsa-type topping to offset the meat and beans, we wanted to make our own enchilada sauce, and we wanted that sauce to be mole-style - with a little chocolate flavor mixed in with just a hint of spicy chipotle.

That left us with questions - firstly, what kind of meat? We knew we'd be making dinner with leftovers in mind (as usual) so we came to the conclusion - we got the room, why not TWO kinds of meat? Why not, indeed. So we picked up an inexpensive steak (top round, about 1lb) and a package of boneless/skinless chicken thighs that were on sale (also about a lb).

Second question - beans. We wanted to make our own refried beans because we know what texture and flavor we like in our beans. Refried beans aren't actually RE-fried - they are only "fried" once. So, what kind of beans? Ummmm.... how 'bout RED!

What kind of fresh salsa? Cuke-and-corn. How do you make enchilada sauce? With a roux, raw tomato sauce, and mucho gusto. What to drink with this enormous meal? Margaritas, of course! Plus we can use some tequila in our mixed grill marinade.

So we did just that - we allowed the chicken thighs and the steak to marinate in separate freezer bags consisting of some healthy splashes of tequila, some good-old American lager (these were some drunk meats), olive oil, cumin, chili powder, and salt. They stewed in their liquor for an hour or so before they were ready to meet the grill.

At the same time, we prepared our Cuke-and-Corn salsa in advance so it would be given time to settle in the fridge: into a bowl went an English cucumber partially peeled and chopped into quarters, two vine-ripe tomatoes cut into chunks, one 8oz can of corn (drained), the juice of 2 limes, 1 tbps olive oil, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro and a few pinches of salt. The salsa needed some heat, so we took out a jar of sliced jalapenos and added four minced little rings. After adding a couple of splashes of cider vinegar, it was ready to go in the fridge for a couple of hours.



Back to the meat - since we'll be shredding these and cooking them again in the oven, cooking times seemed less important - so all the meat went on a hot grill and got flipped and smoked and grilled for a while, we lost track of how long. When they appeared ready (and were tasting deliciously tangy and spicy), they came out for a rest - later to be chopped up into little pieces - and we soldiered on...

We were ready to start the final two componants - the sauce and the beans. We started a roux in one pan with a couple tbls of canola oil with a couple tbls of flour. When that was a nice tan, we added a bunch of chili powder and slowly mixed in one 8oz can of tomato sauce, then about a cup-and-a-half of water. That got to a great consistancy right away, so we added some cumin and a little salt and let that come up to a simmer.



In the other pan, we started sauteing some garlic and onion, and then we added two cans of drained red beans. Then Stacey got out her masher and went to work. After the mashing was complete, we added some liquid that we mixed from some of that enchilada sauce combined with water. When that liquid combined with the mashed beans achieved the texture we were looking for, we added some of those same old Mexican spices until the beans were the exact flavor we were looking for.



The final touch on the sauce - some semi-sweet chocolate chips (only about a dozen or so of them, a little goes a long way) and a few shakes of ground chipotle to LIVEN things up.

Oven to 400-degrees, we were ready to assemble. First, we spread a little enchilada sauce across the bottom of a glass baking dish. Then, wheat tortilla in hand, we spread some beans on the bottom and topped with the now-shredded meat, rolled the tortilla up, and placed seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat for a total of four times with chicken and four times with steak.


(we need a new camera)

Over that? All that mole enchilada sauce... poured over it and spread out so everything gets moist. And over that? What do you think - cheese! A good amount of shredded "Mexican" cheese.

Into the oven for ~25 minutes, the cheese on the top browned up nicely (we actually finished it by firing up the broiler for 5 minutes) and the bubbly concoction came out. We plated one steak and one chicken for each of us and topped with some healthy scoops the cool cuke salsa (cool? spicy!)...

Absolutely delicious - such a great texture and the tortilla edges had crisped up a little... just a hint of chocolate (you can smell it more than taste it) and a touch of spicy chipotle, all cooled down with the cuke and cilantro. Wonderfully authentic-tasting - and with two kinds of meat! We enjoyed these with a margarita and the Red Sox night game and thought about warmer summer temperatures to come.