Iron Chef OOT 3/21-4/1

[CardSharpCook]

Congrats to Iron Chef - Asparagus, StevieG! For this week's challenge he has chosen chili peppers. (no bell peppers)

[Analyst]

Aye carumba!

I assume ground chili powder is OK?

[CardSharpCook]

Past Contests: Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Bacon, Rice, Beef, Avocado, Ricotta, Garlic, Catfish, Radish, Duck, & asparagus

Past Winners: Matt2500, Analyst(2), Mrs. Utah(4), StevieG(2), ElSapo, and Ron Burgandy(2)

[CardSharpCook]

YES!!!

[Mermade]

Entree

<font color="red"> Mesquite Grilled Ribeye with Roasted Poblano and Red Jalapeño Sauce Topped with Fried Green Tomatillos </font>

Ribeye

Soak mesquite wood chips. Add wet chips to hot charcoals. Wait a few moments until the chips smoke. Salt the steaks with kosher salt and add a few turns of freshly ground pepper. Grill to medium rare.



Roasted Poblano and Roasted Red Jalapeño

Poblano chili pepper
Red jalapeño chili peppers
Crema poblana
Chopped onion
Cream
Grated Cotija cheese

Note: I was looking for Poblano peppers and couldn't find one. I picked up a Pasilla pepper which looked like a Poblano. When reading up on Pasilla peppers I found out that in California Poblano peppers are often called Pasilla pepper, so there you go.

Cook poblano and red jalapeño chili peppers over open charcoal flame until the skin blackens and blisters.





Place in a paper bag for a few minutes. Remove peel. Chop.

Take 2 small pans. Place poblano and chopped onion in one. Place red jalapeño and chopped onion in the other. Saute until onion is tender. Add ample amounts of crema poblana. Stir and let cook a minute or so on low heat. (I purchased crema poblana with salt so salting the sauce was not necessary). Blend sauce with a hand blender until some of the pepper is incorporated into the crema but not until completely smooth (I wanted a little bit of the bite of the onion and peppers to remain in the sauce). Toss in a handful of grated cotija cheese. If the consistency is not what is desired you can add a little bit of regular cream to the sauce.

Fried Tomatillos

Tomatillos
Cayenne Pepper
Crushed Red Chili Pepper
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Salt
Corn Flour
Corn Meal
Milk
Crema Poblana
Oil for frying

I had my tomatillos ready to fry in a 1/4 slice



and realized I didn't have any egg. I took 4-5 tbsp of milk and thickened it with approx. a tbsp of crema poblana instead. Then take equal parts corn flour and corn meal add Cayenne Pepper, Crushed Red Chilis, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Salt.



Put the tomatillos in milk mixture and then dredge in the flour/meal mixture. Fry until golden.

Plate steak, sauce, and top with several fried tomatillos. Chop cilantro and parsley and sprinkle generously. Place a cilantro sprig amongst the tomatillos. Enjoy!

[Mermade]

The ribeye was really delicious. The mesquite flavor was great, there was a nice char on the steak while the meat was pink and tender. The sauces were yummy. I liked the red jalapeno sauce slightly better because it had a little heat. It was my intention to make two sauces identical but for the chilis used, so you could really taste the pepper and the contrast. I think this was successful. The tomatillos were surprisingly sweet, very sweet, which is a fun change from fried green tomatoes. I thought it was a nice addition and you could certainly taste the crushed red chili and the cayenne, the amount of which can be adjusted to taste. I really likes the cotija cheese and may think about using it for other purposes where I would have used parmesean instead.

[Analyst]

Sounds absolutely delicious, Mermade!

One comment on the plating, though - I love lots of sauce, but I had to look very carefully to see the steak on the plate. Might it have worked to use a bit less of the sauce, and show the steak more?

[Mermade]

Excellent point. I had a steak with a creamy sauce(with cilantro/lime?--I can't remember) at an authentic Mexican restaurant in Houston TX. That must have been 7 yrs ago or so. Anyway, it was served with sauce all over the plate--even more than what I put on the Ribeye. It was less pretty than what I put together, but I remember sopping up every last drop of that sauce. First with my steak and then with anything else that would carry that creamy deliciousness into my mouth. That's what I was thinking of with the quantity.

That said, I gave the steak pictured to Jingleheimer and when I plated for myself there wasn't as much sauce left. (We gave the short guy in our house a plain ribeye with some poblano sauce on the side.) Anyway, hate to speak for Jingleheimer, but he said that it was absolutely delicious, his only comment was that the amount of sauce he got obscured the mesquite flavor of the ribeye. The amount on my steak was a perfect balance, I thought. So when I make it again, I will plate less sauce. I didn't snap a photo of mine, unfortunately.

[Mermade]

Bonus

<font color="red"> Red Cactus Pear and Chile de Arbol Margarita </font>

1 red cactus pear
1 fresh chile de arbol
sugar
water
1 lime
ice
tequila

Use a sharp knife to remove the peel from the cactus pear and cut up into cubes.



Pop into the food processor and puree. Add juice of 1 lime. Make a simple syrup from sugar, water, and lime zest. Approximate amounts: 3 Tbs sugar, 1 Tbs water, 1/4 tsp zest. Cut up one chile de arbol.



Add simple syrup to the puree. (Amount will depend on your taste and on the sweetness of your fruit.) Pulse the processor to combine.

Pour puree into a cocktail shaker with ice, tequila, and chopped chili.



Shake well. Depending on how much kick you want wait 2-10 minutes. Arbol chiles are pretty hot. Check it out here on the Scoville heat scale.so if you're not into spicy think about cutting the amount down to 1/2 a chili and let it sit on the short end. I used a whole chili seeds and all and let it sit 10 minutes. Serve straight up. It was delicious with a BIG KICK. The color was just gorgeous.

FYI: For those who don't drink, mine was virgin because I can't drink right now. I missed the tequila but it was still very good.

[StevieG]

I was thinking the same thing as Analyst on the plating. It does sound delicious, though.

I don't know if I can get my hands on crema poblana, sad to say.