For all you carnivores and tequila drinkers out there (I hope there are a lot of you), here’s a sure fire Valentine’s Day dinner guaranteed to spice things up for some possible later-on-in-the-evening fun. Last week, I was developing recipes using the new Talero Tequila, in response to Talero’s CEO’s request for 2Gourmaniacs to come up with several original recipes where tequila could be a key ingredient. Not a problem.
For a couple of years I lived on a small Caribbean Island where purveying fresh food was a challenge and even cooking-grade white wine was hard to come by. What was abundantly available at ridiculously cheap prices was rum. Within six months I was substituting rum for virtually every alcohol that was called for in a recipe: and I must admit I was also doing an incredibly good job of consuming vast quantities of rum as well. Like I said, there wasn’t a great choice of wines to be had on this island. So for the tequila recipes project, I drew from some of my culinary rum experience, and I developed my tequila flambe skirt steak recipe. If you’re a carnivore, do yourself and your partner a favor and try this for Valentine’s Day. And, oh yeah, have a couple of shots of tequila while you’re making it: you’ll find that it gets you right into the spirit of the whole thing.
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)
For the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa:
4 tomatillos husked and sliced in half
3 garlic gloves skinned removed and slightly pressed with the back of a knife
1 7 oz. can of Goya Chipotles in Adobo Sauce (or make your own*)
Method:
Sauté the garlic cloves and sliced tomatillos, face down, until browned, about 3-4 minutes. Turn the tomatillos over and brown the outer sides. With a silicone spatula, toss the garlic around in the pan to roast all sides. When tomatillos and garlic are cooked, transfer to a blender, add the can of adobo chipotle sauce and 2 ounces of Talero tequila. Purée until smooth.
* To make your own Chipotle Adobo Sauce:
7-10 medium size chipotle chiles, split in half and seeded
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
5 T red wine vinegar
¼ cup ketchup
¼ Tsp salt
3 cups of water
Simmer all the above ingredients in a medium size sauce pan until the chipotle chilies are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender and purée. Add the tomatillo and garlic from the sauté pan and 2 ounces of Talero tequila and pulse until well blended. It’s worth the extra effort.
Ingredients:
For the Flambé Skirt Steak:
1 ½ Lbs Skirt Steak trimmed of fat
3 T olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1/3 cup of Talero Tequila
Method:
Heat a cast iron or heavy skillet and then add the olive oil. Take the trimmed skirt steak and add it to the hot skillet. Grind some fresh pepper and a couple teaspoons of salt over the steak. Over medium high heat, sauté each side for 2 minutes for medium rare. Then turn up the heat to high, add 1/3 cup Talero tequila to the sauté pan with the steak, and carefully ignite the tequila with a long stem lighter. After the flames subside, remove the skirt steak to a cutting board, reduce the pan drippings for a couple of seconds and add it to the adobo sauce.
To Serve:
You can either slice the skirt steak into long slices and serve over a bed of greens with some tomatoes and the chipotle salsa on top (as pictured above), or you can slice the skirt steak and serve with corn or flour tortillas topped with Mexican cheeses, chopped greens, and the chipotle salsa. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
RMA
