Sambal Chicken Skewers with Pineapple Jicama Salsa

I know, I know... another sambal-centric dish.  But, in my defense, these dishes were eaten a month apart, only blogged right in a row. Furthermore, this Bon Appetit recipe made the cover of the July issue, so the juicy chicken was just staring at me constantly from the coffee table, tempting me.  It had to be made.

A simple, tasty marinade/sauce for BBQ chicken, for sure.  However, for me, like in the case of the sambal/banana/shrimp dish, my Indonesian sambal (labeled "EXTRA PEDAS") was a bit too spicy... I think the heat from the stuff I buy here is several notches higher than the sambal oelek you get in the U.S.   Tim and I had a couple coughing fits while eating this (which may also be partially due to the fact that I cooked this chicken on the cast iron grill pan inside, being too lazy to wait for the charcoal to heat up outside). We did think the flavor was nice despite the excessive heat, though.

I served the chicken with a side of cooling pineapple-jicama salsa and some lime and cilantro couscous.  I think the salsa was the big hit of the night: crunchy, fresh, a little sweet, super healthy... give this recipe a try for sure!

Salmon with Guava BBQ Sauce

Mmmm... guava BBQ sauce. So good.  Made with my guava jam and caramelized on top of a nice piece of salmon, quite tasty.

I used this recipe, although I added a liberal squirt of Sriracha for extra spice to balance the sweetness in the sauce.  I plopped the salmon atop this bell pepper free mango and cucumber salsa recipe from Simply Recipes, mixed with a can of black beans.  Good stuff.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Tim and I had some folks over to grill this weekend and we needed a starter.  I had big plans to make some guacamole, but couldn't quite get the avocados to ripen simultaneously, so salsa it was.  

As I said last week, the tomatoes here are not the best, but when roasted they perk up a bit, so I made a roasted tomato salsa, loosely based on this recipe from Closet Cooking.  Pretty good!  Roasting the tomatoes gave it some depth and a bit of a smokey flavor... good stuff.  Lots of lime juice and cilantro gave it some contrasting zing.  

Carne Asada Tacos

Last week, Amy made some carne asada based on this recipe from the LA Times. She switched things up a bit, using straight adobo sauce instead of tomato sauce plus chipotle plus adobo, and with significantly less oil. Pretty good overall!I think if we made it again, we'd add more heat and perhaps a little more salt to the marinade. Also, our steak must have been thicker than the one used in the recipe, as it took much longer to cook to medium rare.

Not pictured, but totally awesome with the carne asada: homemade tomatillo salsa. Mmm...

Fire-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salsa

Tomato time continues!

Today's recipe was a fire-roasted corn and Roma tomato salsa, served on top of chicken quesadillas (chicken breast was rubbed with cumin, chili powder and garlic salt before cooking) with chipotle-lime sour cream. Yum.
This salsa is really nice- it's fresh, it has a kick, and the sweetness of the fresh corn compliments the acidity of the tomato and lime. Super easy, too, especially if you don't bother to peel the tomatoes (which I didn't because I was lazy).

Mexican Feast

I heard that chilaquiles is what people in Mexico eat when they're hungover. Today I think I still had a bit of a hangover from Chuck and Liz's party on Friday night, so I thought chilaquiles might do the trick. Stale corn tortillas, crisped up, cooked in roasted tomatillo salsa, topped with onions, sour cream, feta and a fried egg. Mmm.

Served with a side of Mexican-style street corn (off the cob, as Tim is due for a root canal tomorrow)... awesome.

Zucchini and Toasted Corn Tacos with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Wow- I've made vegetarian tacos before, but these were by far the best. The toasted corn gave these a unique flavor- some awesome caramelization... mmmm.
Plus, topped with feta and freshly made salsa verde with CSA tomatillos: to die for.

Chicken, Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

After a long day catching some Rolling Thunder and doing a little shopping at Eastern Market, we were jonesin' for some Tex-Mex food (well, I was at least), so we whipped up these tasty chicken, black bean and spinach enchiladas with a sour-creamy sauce and a tomatillo salsa. Pretty good! We grilled the chicken after sprinkling it with chili powder and cumin, then shredded it. I think next time I would add some of the white sauce to the interior of the enchiladas to glue them together and moisten them a bit. Otherwise, quite tasty!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

These tasty enchilada-esque things were a recipe-less creation from pantry items we had laying around. Laziness and unwillingness to go to the store are the mother of invention, I guess.

I roasted some cubed sweet potatoes in olive oil, sprinkled with some chili powder and cumin (and salt and pepper, of course). The black beans were heated with some minced garlic and onion that I briefly sauteed. Threw it together, topped it with some grated cheddar, wrapped it in a tortilla and put it in a baking dish that I had coated with some salsa verde. Topped the whole thing with some more salsa verde and cheese. Baked at 350 for about 10-15 minutes.

Chuck made some homemade guacamole - mashed an avocado with some grated onion and garlic, minced tomato, lime juice, hot sauce, and cilantro.

Pretty great for a made-up meal!

Cantaloupe Salsa

I saw this post on cantaloupe salsa from Smitten Kitchen, and it's like she had some inside knowledge of what my CSA had in store for me the following week... cantaloupe, sweet Walla Walla onion, jalapeno.

Sweet, spicy and limey. Mmmm.