Carne asada en adobe de guajillo

My friend Sarah recently returned from Arizona with a couple of bags of chiles in tow; keen to use them but not really sure what to do with them. So I offered to help. If you have a “I want to make things with chiles but don’t really know where to turn” emergency, I’m you’re gal. So we set a date for some Mexican cooking basic training and I set out figuring out something delicious to do with either cascabel or guajillo chiles.

I particularly enjoy guajillos because they have a beautiful deep red colour as well as a lovely fruity flavour without too much heat. Quite often people are afraid of cooking with chiles because they don’t want to eat spicy foods but the beauty of many Mexican chiles is that they’re not crazy hot but deliver a delightful flavour punch.

If you’re ready for some great grilling, this marinade is absolutely spectacular and worth making over and over again on the BBQ this summer (and also winter if you’re anything like me.)

Ingredients:

2 pounds flank or skirt steak

Marinade:

4 dried guajillo chiles

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp cider vinegar

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes or so. Dry roast the garlic (with the skins still on) also in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, vinegar, salt, sugar, cumin, and a 1/4 cup or so of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth paste. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Take the steak and cut it into two pieces then put it in a non-reactive (preferably glass) plate and smother the meat with the marinade. You want every bit covered in it. Cover and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least four hours but better for eight or so.

When ready to cook, heat the grill until it is super hot. Put the meat on and sear each side for 8 or so minutes. Then flip it a couple of times to finish it off. Make sure you use up all the delicious marinade during the cooking process. Remove it from the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then slice thinly and serve in a taco or over rice.

And why not grill up some shrimp along with it! They are great with salsa verde or marinated in lime and garlic.

© Gail J. Cohen 2016

Chile powder

My love of chiles knows no bounds, so I'm always looking for different things to do with them. The reality is, though, that you can't cook every meal with chiles because the people you live with might not be quite as in love with them as you are. That doesn't mean my mind isn't always thinking about things to cook and ways to use all the beautiful chiles Mexico has to offer.

The most recent round of chile idea generation was spakred by my friend Sarah, who recently went to Arizona and came home with a big bag of cascabels. Cascabels are cutie little chiles - they look like big cherries, but, you know, with a bit of a kick. Unlike many chiles, the cascabels don't flatten out when they dry. Literally cascabel translates to "rattle" as the seed inside rattle around when the chile is dried and you shake it all about. The Gourmet Sleuth describes cascabels as "moderately hot and have a nutty flavor with a rich tannic and slightly smoky nuance."

While Taco Tuesday has become quite the thing, I am all about Taco Everyday. So I figured I'd try making some chile powder to make tacos later. This is what I whipped up it's still making my nose tickle hours later.


Yield: 2-3 tablespoons

Ingredients

2 dried cascabel chiles
2 dried chiles morito (chipotles)
2 dried cayenne peppers (I grew these in my garden last summer)
1 tsp dried cumin
1 tbsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried coriander

Deseed the chiles. Then add all the ingredients to a grinder - I have a coffee grinder that I use only for spices. Grind it all up until it's a fine powder.

Use it as you would any chile powder.

(c) 2016 Gail J Cohen

*********

With this, I made some tasty beef taco. Just took 3 teaspoons of the chile powder, 1 pound of ground beef, 1 chopped/sauted onions, and a tablespoon of tomato paste and cook it all up for 20 minutes or so.  Then add the fixings and it's  Taco Saturday Night!