A Cautionary Tale

Hi friends!

Was it worth it?  Absolutely. 

Let me begin by telling you my story of woe, so you do not repeat my mistakes.  In the past week, two bottles of olive oil have met an untimely demise.  The first incident was when I reached, on tip toes, into my unorganized and overcrowded spice/olive oil storage cabinet and instead of taking the extra five seconds to move a bottle out of the way to get to the bottle behind it, I knocked the first bottle onto the floor and spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up Cayenne Chili Olive Oil and a broken bottle (and heart).  All the while I had to endure listening to my son say, "Mom, did you make a big mess?  You have to clean up your messes!"  Yes, William.  Thank you.  Later that day my husband said, "Is Matilda holding broken glass?" Yes.  Yes, she was.  Parent of the year!  The next incident occurred two days later.  I ran into Cask & Grove to refill my Butter Olive Oil so that we could have our afternoon popcorn snack at home and did not seal my bottle.  Oh no, I'm just taking it from the store to the car to the house.  Nothing will happen!  Famous last words.  The cork came out and now my purse/diaper bag and the contents therein will forever and always smell like Butter Olive Oil and tears.  So, my dears, take those extra moments to move your bottle out of the way and get them sealed up tight, and you can avoid my misery.

"What's new at the store," you ask?  Oh, quite a bit.  We finally(!) have the Lavender Balsamic for Spring.  You can grab some Lavender Balsamic to put on your fresh farmers' market greens. I love Market time! We also have a lovely new California Roasted Almond Oil.  It's delicately nutty and will surely be a new favorite.  Thanks, California, for not being in a drought anymore; we really appreciate your Almond Oil. All of our Extra Virgin Olive Oils are fantastic Northern Hemisphere crops.  We have a Melgarejo Hojiblanca and a Melgarejo Koroneiki from Spain, a robust Cobrancosa from Portugal, which will soon be replaced by a robust Galega from Portugal, and an Organic Arbequina and Organic Arbosana from California.  I ordered more of those chili and garlic stuffed olives that we were missing for a while. Oh! And we now have a super spicy, excellently flavorful Baklouti Green Chili Olive Oil, which is our sale oil for the time being! 20% off the Baklouti, folks, for all your spicy needs.

New stuff!  Hooray!

"What recipe are you going to give me to go with your sale oil," you ask?  Green Chili Chocolate Cake.  No, just kidding! Fajitas. Amazing, life changing fajitas. I do not have any photos of the fajitas I made, because I ate them too quickly.  By the time I remembered to take a picture, my plate was wiped clean. The marinade comes together really quickly and gives your fajitas a nice clean spice that you can't quite place.  They are smokey, thanks to the cumin and chili powder, and sizzly, thanks to cooking them on a high heat. You should make them this weekend!  I think I will, too.  Maybe I'll remember to snap a photo this time around.

What you do is: make the marinade, put half of it in a large ziploc and add your steak or chicken (or tofu, if that's what you do), put the other half in another large ziploc and add your onions, peppers and mushrooms.  Refrigerate both bags for an hour or a day or however long you remember to marinate things.  Light a grill or a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and do your veggies first, until they they are cooked to your liking.  Put them on a plate, set it aside and do your meat or non-meat to your desired doneness. Mix together your meat and veggies and you have...FAJITAS! Put them together with your favorite fixings.  I like salsa, sour cream, guacamole, a few black beans, jalapenos, maybe some queso, cilantro and really, it just all falls apart onto my plate, so I use a tortilla to mop it up, just like I was mopping up that spilled Cayenne Oil.  I'm still bitter.

See you guys soon!

Baklouti Green Chili Fajita Marinade
Adapted only slightly from Ree Drummond

1/2 c. Baklouti Green Chili Olive Oil
1/3 c. Lime juice, fresh squeezed from 3-4 limes
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Cumin
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

1 Flank Steak or Chicken Breasts (1 lb? 1.5?)
3 Bell Peppers, sliced thin
2 Onions, sliced thin

Matilda on Fajita (Guacamole) Night

1 package Mushrooms, sliced

In a large bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients. Marinate your meat in one ziploc bag or glass dish and your veggies in a separate bag or dish for 1-3 hours.

Grill or cook your veggies in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat until cooked to your desire (8 minutes?).  Put your veggies on a plate and set aside.  Grill or cook your steak until medium (another 8 minutes?) and then let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice your meat, toss it with your veggies and serve.

Cheers,
Andrea