Rio Grande Fritter Cakes Food

RIO GRANDE RUB STEAKS

Steps:

• Let steaks rest from refrigerator for a few minutes to take the chill off.
• Preheat grill pan or indoor electric grill to high heat. Combine spice rub ingredients: ground Ancho chile, cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Rub spice blend into steaks.
• Coat sliced red onion with a drizzle of oil. Season with salt and pepper.
• Grill steaks and onion slices 5 minutes on each side. Remove from heat. Let meat stand 5 minutes for juices to redistribute. Season steaks with salt. Top with separated rings of red grilled onions. Serve with hot Cracked Cornbread and Cheese Squares and Mexican Salad.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with butter. Stir cheese, corn, and scallions into packaged mixed corn muffin batter.
• Pour batter into baking dish and bake at 400 degrees F until golden, 15 to 18 minutes.
• Yield: 4 + servings
• Cut avocados in half, working around the pit. Separate the 2 halves. Remove pit and scoop out avocado flesh with a spoon. Wedge avocados and pile in the center of a large platter. Seed and wedge tomatoes and arrange around the avocados. Spread sliced onion over platter. Sprinkle platter with cilantro. Squeeze the juice of 2 limes evenly over vegetables. Season with coarse salt. Drizzle platter with oil and serve.
• Yield: 4 servings

SALMON CAKES

Steps:

• Heat a large, heavy skillet with 1 inch of frying oil over moderate heat.
• Flake the cooked cooled salmon with a fork. Add cracker meal to the bowl and work through the fish with your hands. Add the eggs, seasoning, pepper, chives, dill, pepper sauce, and the zest of one lemon to the bowl. Combine the ingredients well with your hands. If the mixture is a little wet, add a bit more cracker meal. Form 3-inch patties of salmon cakes 1-inch thick. You should yield 8 to 10 cakes. Fry cakes until golden in a single layer 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towel lined plate.
• Toss salad greens with coarse salt and the juice of the lemon you zested. Drizzle the greens with a little extra-virgin olive oil and re-toss the salad to coat.
• Combine mayonnaise, chili sauce and relish in a small dish. To serve, place salmon cakes on a bed of baby greens, 2 cakes per person and top with chili mayonnaise sauce.

RIO GRANDE EGG PUFFS

Steps:

• For the sauce, warm the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chile, breaking it into lumps. Gradually pour in 1 quart of water, stirring to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it coats a spoon thickly. (The sauce can be made several days ahead, then cooled, covered, and refrigerated. Reheat before proceeding.)
• Separate the eggs, placing the whites in a nonplastic mixing bowl and the yolks in a separate medium bowl. Whisk the yolks lightly, just to combine, then add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat the egg whites with a mixer on high speed until they are stiff but not dry. Gently fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites. It's fine to have a few streaks remaining.
• Heat 1-inch of oil to 375 degrees F in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Drop a large spoonful of the batter gently into the oil. Within seconds it should puff up to be about double in size. Fry briefly until golden-brown and crisp, turning as needed to cook evenly. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Cut into the fritter to verify that is has cooked through but is still moist with a nearly melting center. Adjust the oil temperature a bit if necessary to get the desired result. Fry the remaining fritters a few at a time until all the batter is used. Spoon chile sauce on a platter and arrange the fritters over it. Serve immediately, passing any remaining sauce separately.

BACON WRAPPED BEEF TENDERLOIN STEAKS WITH SPINACH AND CHEESE CAKES

Steps:

• Defrost spinach in microwave. Wring spinach dry by nesting in kitchen towel and twisting towel over garbage bowl or sink until spinach has given off all of its liquid. Place spinach in a medium mixing bowl. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat, add oil and onion and saute the onion until soft, 5 minutes. Add onion to spinach in bowl and return pan to stove top. Turn off heat.
• Add remaining ingredients to spinach: bread crumbs, cheese, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Combine mixture with a fork, then form into 3-inch patties. Set aside.
• Line bacon up on meat-safe cutting board a few inches apart. Preheat a second skillet over high heat. Reheat the spinach cakes skillet over medium high heat. Season steaks with salt and pepper and set on bacon slices in the center of each slice. Wrap bacon over steaks. Place seam side down in pan and cook 2 minutes on each side. Add 2 tablespoons oil to spinach cakes pan and set cakes in to cook. Work in 2 batches if necessary. Cook cakes 3 minutes on each side.
• Reduce heat to medium under steaks after the first 2 minutes on each side. Cook meat another 6 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, for medium rare to medium well doneness.
• Remove meat from the pan and let it rest. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and flour and cook together 1 minute. Whisk in wine and deglaze pan. Whisk in broth and thicken sauce 1 minute. Add remaining tablespoon butter and remove skillet from heat.
• Quarter tomatoes lengthwise.
• To serve, set the spinach cakes and steaks beside each other on 2/3 of serving plates and pour sauce evenly over steaks. Scatter a quartered tomato next to spinach cakes on each plate. Drizzle tomatoes with oil, season with salt and pepper and top with chopped chives. Serve plates immediately.