This picture is actually not part of the carne asada, but it does fit in with the grilling theme. Earlier in the week we grilled this asparagus, and I experimented with grilling a few chard stems. The asparagus was delicious, but I probably wouldn't recommend the chard. It was kind of tough and stringy. It made a nice picture though.Now on the real subject of this post. Last night we had two other couples over for dinner, and since the weather was nice, we decided to grill out, Mexican style.
I decided to try to use as many local ingredients as possible. This is zucchini from the Pierce's in Orleans. It's getting bigger and better as the summer starts to really warm-up up there.
This is cilantro from Blake's Farm in Blue Lake. It's probably the nicest, most flavorful and aromatic cilantro I've ever seen. I am in total awe of Blake - he grows some of the most beautiful produce around....and he's an incredibly humble person. I bought two bunches and picked the leaves from the stems.
These little spring onions aren't local...but they're from Northern California somewhere. They reminded me of the little onions I've had grilled in Mexico. These were just a little bigger than those Mexican cebollitos, however.
Johnny made guacamole. He won't tell me exactly what's in it: "It's a secret," he says. It sure was good though - our guests made short work of it!
This is the cheese I used. I couldn't find any Mexican cheeses at the Co-op (kind of shameful, given that we have cheeses from all over the rest of the world!) so I went to Rita's Market behind the Co-op and got this. It's Oaxacan style....kind of like mozzarella. Unfortunately, it's not organic. It's rare that I eat non-organic dairy, but I figured cultural correctness was more important than organic in this case. Besides, I like going to Rita's - I get to practice my Spanish!
Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the actual grilling. Our guests got here, and I was too busy making tortillas and helping Johnny oversee the grilling to remember to take pictures. Someday I'll take pictures of corn-tortilla-making for this blog, but not this time. It's actually quite easy....all together we had tortillas, meat (marinated in lime juiceand grilled,) grilled veggies, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, guacamole, salsa, chips....perfect!
The best thing about a meal like this one is the left-overs! This was our dinner tonight: Left-over tortillas made into quesadillas, lettuce from the garden, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, chopped tomato, beans, and re-heated grilled meat and veggies. Oh, and of course lime. Oh, how I wish limes grew locally!
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