Skirt Steak Tacos with Guacamole

Summer is upon us, and with it- grilling season. I love just about anything off the grill. Roasted vegetables, chicken, buttery vidalia onions, kebabs... I could probably list items forever. One my favorite items is the seriously underrated skirt steak. Its economical, easy to cook, lean and grills beautifully. I like to pick some up and make tacos out of them. Again, it's very easy and is a big crowd pleaser.

If you have been keeping abreast of my entries, you'd know I enjoy a good marinade because of the amount of flavor you can pack into your dish. my favorite way to marinate skirt steak, particularly for tacos is simply with some citrus, a bit of garlic, cumin, and cilantro. Simple flavors.

First things first, I place my steaks in a bowl, drizzled a little bit of olive oil over them, because it helps the spices stick. I sprinkled some salt, pepper, cumin and the minced garlic over them and rubbed all the seasoning in.

I topped this off with citrus juice. You can use any and all citrus you have in the house. I generally use lemon and lime juice, though orange would be good too.


Zest from the citrus is excellent too, it smells wonderful and a little goes a long way. Roll your lemons or limes on your counter or work surface, it helps release the juice.


Zest them first, and then squeeze the juice out of them being careful to avoid getting the seeds in your food. You can do with or without the crushed garlic. I add garlic to everything, so I used some. You can also add some red pepper flakes for a spicy kick. You will want to marinate this for at least an hour or two before grilling, so the meat tenderizes and absorbs all the different flavors.

I grilled these on my stove top grill, though obviously a real grill would be great. About 10 minutes on each side should suffice if you like your steak medium rare. Grill it until the outside is charred and the center is cooked to your liking.


When you remove it from the grill, it's important that you let it rest for a few minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. It will also be softer if you let it rest properly.


Once the steaks were grilled, and had time to rest, they were sliced and the tacos were assembled. I used hard taco shells, shredded cheddar cheese (though pepper jack would also be excellent), and some mixed greens on top of the sliced steak in my tacos.


I served them with some homemade guacamole, the recipe is below:

Guacamole
This guacamole is the perfect accompaniment for the tacos. I can't overstate how much better guacamole is if you keep it simple. I like to go with the basics: lime juice, cilantro, and a little bit of garlic for sharpness.

I like to use Haas avocados because they have a creamy richness that I haven't detected in other avocados. Right after I slice them open, I always drizzle a little bit of lime juice on them, because I don't want them to oxidize and turn brown. Brown guac is not very appetizing.

After the avocados have been scooped out of their husks, I added a handful of chopped cilantro, more lime juice, salt, pepper and minced garlic. If you find that your avocados are a bit under ripe, you can add some olive oil to smooth it out.


Use a fork to mash the avocado, you can keep it as smooth or as chunky as you like. Garnish with some cilantro and lime and you're done! You can add chopped tomatoes, or a spoonful of salsa, but the most important thing is to keep it simple and let the nutty taste of the avocados shine through.

*A helpful tip. If you want to store any leftover guacamole, put it in a ziplock bag and squeeze out as much air as possible- this will keep it from turning brown in the refrigerator.

Red Wine Marinated Lamb Chops

Variety is the spice of life. In addition to cooking chicken, fish and other lean proteins, it's nice to treat myself to a nice piece of meat every now and then. Lamb has a lovely flavor and takes to different spices well. A good marinade helps eliminate a little bit of the game-y taste, in addition to infusing it with good flavor, though it certainly helps to cook it properly.


One of my favorite ways to prepare a good lamb chop is by marinating it in red wine. The sweetness compliments the meat very nicely, and if you pan sear the chop, it caramelizes beautifully. For complexity and depth I add some minced garlic, and some dried rosemary since I always have some in my kitchen, though if you have fresh rosemary you can certainly use that too.

Place the chops either in a bowl and seal it, or use a large zip lock bag. Give them a good sprinkling of salt and pepper, top with the minced garlic.


Pour the red wine over them. Use just enough to cover them. I like to use a good dry red wine, like Shiraz or Cabernet though a dry Spanish wine like Rioja would be excellent, or a Bordeaux. You won't use the entire bottle for your chops, so it helps to buy something that you would like to drink afterwards. Remember that using good quality ingredients makes for better food. I never cook with a wine I don't like, because its taste will permeate throughout the dish.


Let the chops marinate for a least an hour or two in the refrigerator. The longer they soak, the stronger it will taste. I pan seared mine today because I didn't want to fuss with a grill, though they are excellent on the grill. Remove them from the marinade and let the liquid drain off a bit, preheat a nonstick skillet with two tablespoons of olive oil until the pan is piping hot. Cook them for 4 or 5 minutes if you like them slightly pink in the middle, a little longer for a more well done chop. Don't overcook them, the meat will dry out and become rubbery. Also try to avoid flipping them over more than once, it will keep them cooking evenly, and ensure they get nice and brown.


I was feeling rather indulgent today, so I served them with my grilled potato salad with bacon and a mustard vinaigrette. Yum. The recipe for the potato salad is below.


Warm Potato Salad with Bacon & Mustard Vinaigrette
The idea for this salad came to me after watching a marathon of grilling shows, Bobby Flay's in particular. He grilled his potatoes after partially boiling them, a step I skipped. I simply boiled them, the way you would for a regular potato salad. You can find the original recipe here.

This side is really easy to put together. Boil baby red potatoes whole in a big pot of water for about 18 minutes. You want to cook them until they are fork-tender, but not mushy.


Slice them into wedges:


Add bacon lardons to your potatoes. Lardons are pieces of bacon that have been cut into rectangular pieces. Cook them until they are golden brown and reserve some of the pan drippings for the dressing.

While the lardons cook, you can start to assemble the vinaigrette. The dressing consists of a tablespoon or two of mustard, some olive oil, chopped parsley and basil, salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar.


Whisk it all together, add your potatoes and bacon, stir and you're done! This salad is perfect alongside something off the grill or a nicely cooked piece of meat. The acid in the dressing counteracts the fat in the lardons leaving a smoky, savory but balanced flavor.

Banana Bundt Cake

I've been feeling rather desert-y lately. Between my refreshing lemon tarts, or my recent inclination to get a piece of pastry with my afternoon coffee. I was chatting with fellow blogger and baking queen of ovenproof and we decided to make use of some bananas that she had laying around the house. If your bananas go brown, the best thing to do, naturally, is make desert out of them.

She mashed said bananas as I brought over some ingredients. We used a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking" book. It's a pretty standard recipe- cream the butter with the sugar. Add the dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, and salt; then the wet- eggs, some yogurt, and vanilla. Beat it all together, and then incorporate your mashed bananas into the mixture. The fruit will make it chunky, so don't over mix it in an effort to smooth it out.


We buttered up one of her beautiful bundt molds, poured the batter in, and baked it at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Be sure to grease every nook and cranny of your mold, it will help the cake come out with a little less struggle. Here's the bundt after it came out of the oven. You'll want to cool it on a rack for 10 or 15 minutes before attempting to remove it from the mold.


And here it is after we had inverted it.


When we sliced into it, the center of the cake had tons of fun little brown flecks from the banana.

*This photo was nabbed from ovenproof, as I had no photo of the inside of the cake

What was great about this recipe, besides making use of some overripe fruit was how incredibly moist and flavorful the cake turned out. My roommate was so enthused about having this in our kitchen, that she nearly devoured the whole thing herself. It was really delicious warm straight out of the oven and still a bit chewy, but also fantastic the next day for breakfast with my morning coffee.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets

I was shopping at my favorite grocery store when I saw a special on Meyer lemons. For those of you who don't know the back story- Meyer lemons are native to china but were brought to the states in the early 1900's. They're the delicious saffron colored lovechild of mandarin oranges and lemons. They are sweeter and less acidic than regular lemons, and are excellent grilled with fish, and pretty much anything you would use a lemon for. The first thing I thought of when I saw them, was how tasty they would be in a tart or a curd.


I stumbled onto this recipe for Martha Stewart's lemon curd, and thought I would use the filling for little tartlets topped with meringues. I was making these for mother's day, and was running a little short on time, so I used store bought graham cracker crusts. But if you have the time, it's very easy to whip up a nice, crunchy crust. Pulse 12 whole graham crackers in a food processor with 6 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar until combined. Then press it into a tart shell, or in this case, individual tartlet shells and bake for 10 minutes or until it sets. Let it cool before putting any filling in it.

I made a few changes to Martha's curd, the first of which was that I used my Meyer lemons instead of regular lemons. I also wanted a really thick tangy curd, so I used 4 egg yolks instead of 3 and a little bit more than 1/4 cup of juice. I started by separating 4 eggs- the yolks for the curd, the whites for the meringue.


*Cook's note: In this situation I'm using the whites to make the meringue, but if you ever find yourself separating eggs, just freeze the whites or the yolks, don't throw them out! You can always use the whites later for a healthy egg white omelet, and the yolks for baking. If I know I'm not going to use them immediately, I freeze them in ice cube trays, that way I know that one cube = one egg white/yolk.

The yolks go into a small saucepan with the zest and juice of three lemons, and a cup of sugar over medium-high heat. You will need to stir to incorporate all the ingredients, and then stir consistently and briskly for about 10 minutes until the curd starts to thicken. If you find that it's not thickening, just turn up the heat.


You will know that your curd is thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon. A trick I use is to dredge my stirring spoon in the mixture, draw a line through it. If the curd doesn't run then it's done as displayed here:


When your curd is the right consistency, move the pan from the heat and stir in 8 tablespoons of butter and a pinch of salt. For all you naysayers, yes the butter is necessary. It smooths out the curd. As for the salt, you won't notice it, but if you don't add it you will miss it. If you are using the curd to make my tartlets you can pour the mixture directly into the shells. Otherwise, transfer it to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Wrap it tightly, all the way down to the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming.

here are my tartlets before I refrigerated them to cool, ready to be decorated with meringue:


To make the meringue is really quite simple. I used about two of the egg whites from the separated eggs, added two tablespoons of confectioner's sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. You can add lemon zest if you'd like, or you can omit the vanilla. Another quick cooking tip: the cap of the vanilla extract bottle is always equivalent to a teaspoon. I used an electric mixer to beat the whites, work at them until stiff peaks form.


I wanted to make these special, so I spooned some of the meringue into a makeshift piping bag made out of a sandwich bag with the tip cut off. I decorated the tartlets and popped them under the broiler to briefly brown them. When you put anything under the broiler, don't wander too far. After a few minutes the top of the meringue had browned. You want to let them cool a little before you serve them, but after you have, you'll wish you made a double recipe. These disappeared so quickly I personally wish I made more. The curd delivered and amazing lemon punch that was sweet and extremely tart. I think that most of the credit is due to the fruit, using meyer lemons made a big difference in the flavor. I really enjoyed the texture of the smooth curd against the crunchy graham cracker crust, though it completely overpowered the meringue. Perhaps in the future I would use more of it.


Lemon Curd (adapted from Martha Stewart's "Favorite Lemon Curd" Recipe):
-4 large egg yolks
-Zest of 3 lemons
-1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon meyer lemon juice
-1 cup sugar
-8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into chunks

Classic Meringue
-2 egg whites
-2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Basic Graham Cracker Crust
-12 whole graham crackers
-6 tablespoons butter
-3 tablespoons brown sugar