Artichoke Chimichurri Skirt Steak

Let's just face something here...when we go to each others sites and see those mouthwatering plates of food, we wish it was right in front of us! Maybe we had already eaten, but now we are hungry again. About a month ago I kept seeing steak or other dishes with chimichurri sauce. Hubby and I had already had flank steak not that long ago, and I do not like to repeat dishes too often. Honestly, my diet has gone up and down, but I refuse to give up, so meat is only prepared once or every other week in my kitchen to cut back on fat in our diets.

My personal chef client is mostly vegetarian, and we both have a great love affair with eating lots of vegetable based dishes each week. I even brought Quinoa and other gluten free foods with me to Virginia (just in case I could not find it locally). Lisa's farm has provided plenty of garden fresh vegetables to go along with my fru fru food. Her daughters loved the muung bean sprouts we let sit out over night. I will miss eating meat dishes like this during my stay here, but with all the hiking, river fishing, camping, and site seeing I already feel great!



















Artichoke Chimichurri Marinade

1 cup drained, canned artichoke hearts, small chop
1 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt



















Puree all ingredients in processor; stir in chopped artichoke. Transfer to bowl. Marinate steak for two hours on each side. Grill (I used grill pan, since we had lots of rain lately).

I grilled some asparagus to go along with the main course, and let's just say now looking back on my own dish...drool...I am making this again!



















If you are interested, I have posted some of my Virginia pics on my TMI blog...

Asian Skirt Steak & Udon Noodles

Marc @ No Recipes comment about how he was reminded it was time to re-visit the Latin food realm, and he reminded me it was time to pull out the chop sticks. I did have a number of palates to entertain...
















Lets paint the canvas with some lemongrass, cilantro, chili paste, and soy...





















Steak has been on my mind lately, and No Recipes Asian thought provoking influence swayed me to begin contemplating my company's menu. Sometimes just throwing a little oil on a good hunk of marbled meat (which is great), cooking it to our liking, and devouring it with out much thought was going to be enough. No, they would want more.

Asian Skirt Steak would do the trick...

Yeah I thought...just go for it. What about a two course meal eaten with chop sticks? I needed another side dish. Noodles of some sort came to mind. Udon noodles perhaps? Would a green curry would help fool the brain into believing they were eating healthy vitamin enriched vegetable broth, or I could create amuse bouche of greens and other ingredients. The noodles and broth would fill you up. Both dishes would tantalize their palates...
















Karē udon– "Curry udon." Udon in a soup made of Japanese curry. May also include meat or vegetables. I used tofu as my added component to this dish. Take your tofu and drain it on paper towels while you are putting this together; then cube them, and add to the Karē udon.

Green curry paste is made by pounding in a mortar green chillies, shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, fish sauce and salt. Usually the paste is briefly fried in split coconut cream, then coconut milk, meat or fish, and vegetables added along with a pinch of brown sugar. I only added some chili oil, coconut milk, basil, and lime juice; then letting it simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavors. I took the mixture and pureed it in my little food processor, adding more coconut milk to thin it out a bit more.

Disclaimer: Also, I wanted to mention that shrimp paste, kaffir lime leaves, and basil are traditionally added at the end of this curry recipe. I take liberties with my recipes that some might consider not authentic, but hey its my kitchen and as long as the food taste good...




















Oh, you want to know what is in the dumplings? Portobello mushrooms and goat cheese simply pureed in small food processor, and placed into small wonton wrappers. A great flavor combination for the skirt steak and broth...
















Many times I have certain ingredients in mind, or things I have sitting around that need to be used before they go bad, and at first it might seem like a blur; until a the perfect thought provoking moment occurs...
















HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!