Okay - not the biggest, not the fanciest, but here it is:
GeeMe's Salute To Tex-Mex
First, a shot of the whole shootin' match:
What's for lunch:
- Grilled Ostrich burger on chile-cheese bun with arugula, grilled tomato, grilled tomatillo, grilled hab and sauce
- Just for Paulky black beans
- Corn-radish-jap salad
- Blue corn chips with simple salsa
- Raging Bitch beer to wash it down
What's for dessert:
- SL-inspired pepper-spiced rum cake with grilled peppers and pineapple marinated in rum
- San Juan rum/espresso/dark chocolate/red pepper salute to FD4
Just an ever-so-closer shot of the burger:
What's
in the burger:
Ground Ostrich
Panko
Lime zest and juice
Tequila
Orange Habanero, chopped
Garlic clove, minced
Tarragon
Fresh Basil
Bacon fat
Onion
What's
on the burger:
Sauce:
Plain yogurt
Red pepper
Cumin
Garlic powder
Topping:
Thinly-sliced tomato and tomatillo, briefly grilled
Green Habanero, briefly grilled
Arugula
The finished burger:
A few more facts:
Chile Cheese Bread
(if you want the actual recipe, pm me. Note this bread takes the shape of the pan you make it in.)
Bread Flour
Fast-acting yeast
Sugar
Salt
Canola oil
Sharp White Cheddar cheese
Finely minced jalapenos
Black Beans
Half pound dry black beans
Thick Bacon, chopped, about a cup (could use ham for this)
More Bacon, for garnish, at least 4 slices
One onion, roughly chopped
Garlic cloves, minced
Chile peppers to taste (I used 2 serranos), seeded and sliced
Smoked sea salt to taste
Cumin
Tequila
Cilantro, chopped
Wash the beans, then put into a dutch oven (do not soak overnight.) Cover with 5 cups of water, and remove any beans that float. Add the cup of chopped bacon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer 2 hours. Periodically stir the beans, and if the water gets too low, add some. (The water should completely cover the beans at all times.)
Fry the rest of the bacon in a skillet. Remove the bacon once well-brown (should easily crumble.) Drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Add the onion and fry until golden. Add the chiles and garlic, and continue frying until the onion is nicely caramelized. Stir this into the beans, then add the cumin and smoked sea salt. Let simmer at least another half hour, then cool and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors blend together. Heat beans slowly, then stir in cilantro and tequila shortly before serving. Serve in bowls topped with crumbled bacon.
Simple salsa
Tomatillos
Garlic
Green onion
Lime juice
Jalapeno
Cilantro
And just for SL:
San Juan (Rum 1)
6oz Dark Chocolate
6oz Espresso
9oz Silver rum
Chile pepper flakes to taste
Sugar to taste
Combine in a saucepan, and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, pour into coffee cups, sprinkle with chile pepper flakes. Note this is
thick - more like drinking rummy chocolate syrup.
Feisty Pineapple Rum Cake (Rum 2)
1 Golden Pineapple
1 Bottle (375 ML) Gold Rum
Fresh Raw Peppers to taste (I used 2 long thick red cayennes, about 9" each)
Coriander
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar (1/2 Cup or more)
Cut the pineapple into large cubes or wedges. Lay flat in a glass pan. Slice peppers, scatter around pineapple. Sprinkle with coriander, then a generous sprinkle of cinnamon. Sprinkle with brown sugar to cover. Pour rum over all. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 36 hours. Stir/mix at least 2x/day.
After the above has marinated at least 36 hours, make the cake. Very generously grease and flour a bundt pan. In a large bowl, beat together the following for at least 4 minutes:
1 Box Yellow Butter cake mix (ignore the directions on the box!)
1 Small Box Instant Vanilla Pudding
Coriander (sprinkle and stir some into dry ingredients - I didn't measure)
Chile Pepper powder (sprinkle and stir some into dry ingredients - I didn't measure)
1/2 Cup Rum (drained from the pineapple/pepper mix)
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs
Pour into bundt pan, then bake at 350F 50-60 minutes. Note that if you were stingy on greasing and flouring the pan, this next step may cause the cake to stick to the pan.
About 20 minutes before cake comes out of oven, combine the following into a small saucepan:
1 Stick Butter
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Rum (drained from the pineapple/pepper mix)
(Note: If you let the pineapple and peppers marinate in the rum for more than 36 hours, you might need more rum at this point.)
Stirring constantly, bring to a boil about 1 minute. (Note this mixture will boil over very quickly - it is important to stir constantly, and lift the pan from the burner as needed.) When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it with a skewer, then pour the rum sauce over it. Let it sit in the pan on a cooling rack until rum has completely soaked into the cake. Invert onto serving ware, and let cake cool completely.
Remove the pineapple and peppers from the remaining rum. Grill them, periodically stirring, until the pineapple is nicely browned. Serve the pineapple and peppers with the rum cake.
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Clearly the rum-soaked peppers and pineapples had to start marinating Friday night. The chile-cheese bread was started Friday night, as well, spent Saturday rising, and was baked yesterday. The black beans were started last night, because I find letting them sit in the fridge overnight improves the flavors. The rum cake itself was also baked last night, to let the rum fully soak into the cake. All the rest was made and assembled this morning. You got my "cheat" version of the rum cake, because I don't give away my made-from-scratch version's recipe. Still and all, it's a darned fine thing!
So the only "dish" without chile peppers in it is the beer, and the just the salad and salsa are missing alcohol.
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And now I'm going to sit back, page back, and read all the fun I've missed today, while I enjoy another San Juan!
, but found out that it took 24 hours notice to get ground exotics because of the holiday today...
