cilantro and lime, mmm
So, in preparation for tonight's dinner, I did a lot of lime-squeezing, zest-grating, and chopping of cilantro. I really need to get a zester or something.
Three things got made with cilantro and lime: First, I put a nice handful of cilantro, some lime juice, a pinch of salt, and a bit of lime zest into olive oil to 'steep' overnight. I'm going to brush that onto tortillas and bake them to make chips.
The chips are for the salsa, which has both grape and regular vine tomatoes, three kinds of onion (red, vidalia, and green) and just a bit of seeded serrano, plus of course the cilantro, as much lime juice as I didn't need for the other stuff, some salt and some garlic powder (no fresh garlic in the house, I forgot).
The salsa will also be used mixed with rice later to make Mexican-style rice. I may or may not be adding some canned tomato sauce -- the salsa's looking pretty juicy so I might decide it's not needed.
Lastly, I made a yogurt-based cilantro lime sauce. More zest than juice in that one.
Later today, I will be cubing chicken breasts and chopping some more red onion and cooking that together, probably in a bit of the cilantro-infused oil, and with some paprika and serrano peppers. While that's cooking, I intend on lightly broiling two poblano peppers, just enough to char the skins, and then cutting them in half in preparation for being stuffed. I'm still debating about skin on or off.
Once the chicken and onions are mostly cooked, I'm going to mix in the sauce and then spoon that into the peppers and bake them, probably with a sprinkle of 'mexican' cheeses (whatever is in the pre-shredded mexican cheese we bought).
We'll have chips and salsa for a snack and that served with rice for dinner.
On a Top Chef note... I'm losing interest in this season. I think it's partly the editing, which seems substandard this year, but I'm also losing interest in most of the contestants. Also, I've totally had it with Hung. The whole "There's nothing wrong with my food, you just all have crappy palates and no clue what I'm doing" thing is so 5 minutes ago.
Three things got made with cilantro and lime: First, I put a nice handful of cilantro, some lime juice, a pinch of salt, and a bit of lime zest into olive oil to 'steep' overnight. I'm going to brush that onto tortillas and bake them to make chips.
The chips are for the salsa, which has both grape and regular vine tomatoes, three kinds of onion (red, vidalia, and green) and just a bit of seeded serrano, plus of course the cilantro, as much lime juice as I didn't need for the other stuff, some salt and some garlic powder (no fresh garlic in the house, I forgot).
The salsa will also be used mixed with rice later to make Mexican-style rice. I may or may not be adding some canned tomato sauce -- the salsa's looking pretty juicy so I might decide it's not needed.
Lastly, I made a yogurt-based cilantro lime sauce. More zest than juice in that one.
Later today, I will be cubing chicken breasts and chopping some more red onion and cooking that together, probably in a bit of the cilantro-infused oil, and with some paprika and serrano peppers. While that's cooking, I intend on lightly broiling two poblano peppers, just enough to char the skins, and then cutting them in half in preparation for being stuffed. I'm still debating about skin on or off.
Once the chicken and onions are mostly cooked, I'm going to mix in the sauce and then spoon that into the peppers and bake them, probably with a sprinkle of 'mexican' cheeses (whatever is in the pre-shredded mexican cheese we bought).
We'll have chips and salsa for a snack and that served with rice for dinner.
On a Top Chef note... I'm losing interest in this season. I think it's partly the editing, which seems substandard this year, but I'm also losing interest in most of the contestants. Also, I've totally had it with Hung. The whole "There's nothing wrong with my food, you just all have crappy palates and no clue what I'm doing" thing is so 5 minutes ago.