Lunch of the Week; Lunch of the Weak
Lomo Saltado with steamed rice. Or as I like to call it, Steak Fries.
It’s not too early to start making lunch plans for next week. I’ve already got a date with the esteemed John Estus, who makes his triumphant return to Oklahoma and Journalism on Monday.
For that date, I’ve identified one possible destination and one place we will definitely avoid.
Lunch of the Week: El Pollon de OKC, 2106 SW 44 St.
El Pollon serves Peruvian cuisine, which means you won’t get chips and salsa on your table and you won’t find fajitas on the menu. What you will find is what might be the best chicken in Oklahoma City, bar none.
Eischen’s gets all the hype for its whole fried chicken, but El Pollon will be getting my money for its whole rotisserie chicken.
These beautifully bronzed specimens are served quarter, half or whole with two sides. I took pal Justin Billinger over last week for a little story research and conversation about the future of newspaper.
If you think the newspaper industry is in trouble, you should’ve see how the half chicken we shared fared.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. We started out with the papas huancainas, a mound of simply boiled potato wedges slathered in a yellow cream sauce that looked like Indian Mango pudding but tasted like a chile patch growing two doors down once you enter the pearly gates. I don’t know what’s in this sauce, but I have a team of chefs working on it.
We also shared lomo saltado. Now lomo saltado I’ve had at various Mexican Restaurants. Zarate’s in Edmond, which is owned by a Peruvian family and serves dishes from all over Latin America, serves a nice version. At El Pollon, their version is steak and fries with a few onions, sweet peppers and roasted tomatoes thrown in for good measure. Genius.
I couldn’t help but wonder how a glorious a site this dish would be to one just dispatched from Edna’s or Cock of the Walk along with the other spirits having flown.
Much as JB and I like to solve the problems of our little world when we eat, the conversation centered around the food before and eventually within us. Can’t wait to go back.
Lunch of the Weak: Louie’s.
Here’s the deal: Burger with overcooked blue cheese crumbles, french fries from the same supplier as Freddie’s Custard Stand (not a bad thing) and an iced tea served in a plastic cup cost more than $10, not including tip.
Never again.
Feliz Navidad Fiesta
Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure to cook for some very friendly folks at a party hosted by local homebuilder Caleb McCaleb. We had a great time. I prepared Salpicon, a favorite in El Paso, Brie and chicken quesadillas, guacamole, and two kinds of salsa. For dessert, we had Smore Bars with Dark Chocolate Gravy Here are the recipes:
Salpicon
1 12 pound brisket
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 cups beef broth
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 cups olive oil
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 7 oz. can chipotle in adobo
Juice of 1 lime
2 cups diced cheddar cheese
1 cups diced green onion
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Place brisket fat side up in a roasting pan with onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Put the stick of butter on top of the brisket and seal the top with foil. Cook 10 hours or until internal temperatures is 180 degrees. Let cool an hour then shred into fine ribbons.
Mix oil, vinegar, chipotle and lime into a vinaigrette.
Combine all ingredients and serve in warm tortillas, tortilla cups or wonton cups.
Chicken and brie quesadillas
16 oz. brie, peeled and diced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1/4-inch cubes
2 green onions
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
Half a stick of butter, sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup of dry white wine
1-2 tablespoons chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
6 large flour tortillas
Fry the chicken in butter on high heat until it’s browned. Add green onions and soy sauce and cook down liquid. Add broth and cook down. Add salt, pepper and chile, then deglaze pan with wine. Mix well and set aside.
Heat a griddle to medium high heat. Melt a slice of butter on the griddle and spread. Place a tortilla on the griddle, placing a large spoonful of chicken and several cubes of brie on one side. When the cheese begins to melt, fold the uncovered half over the covered half. Flip once the bottom is golden brown. When the entire tortilla is golden brown, remove and set aside. Continue until you’ve run out of filling. You may want to keep warm in the oven. Slice the tortillas into wedges and serve with your favorite hot sauce.
Salsa Roja
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, peeled
2-5 fresh serrano or jalapeno chiles
¼ cup cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Half an onion, chopped
Black pepper to taste.
Place onion in food processor and chop. Remove to folded towels and wring out any liquid. Combine remaining ingredients in a food processor. Mix salsa with onions in a bowl, adjust salt and pepper.
Salsa Verde
2 lbs tomatillos
1 full bunch of cilantro, stalks and all.
3-8 serrano or jalapeno chiles
Juice of 1 lime
3 sliced green onions
Salt and pepper to taste.
In a large pot, boil tomatillos 10 minutes and allow to cool. Cut out stems and combine with remaining except for onions ingredients in a food processor. Important: Store overnight in the refrigerator and add onions before serving the following day. Tomatillos need a little more time to blend with other ingredients. Onions are best added just before serving as they can overpower when left in too long.
Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ of an onion chopped
1 roma tomato chopped
Juice of half a key lime
Optional ingredients: fresh chiles, chopped cilantro leaves.
Using a mortar and pestle, mash salt and garlic into a paste. Peel avocodos and scoop into a bowl with garlic paste remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings to suit your taste.
Smore Bars
Crust:
14 whole graham cracker boards, crushed (2 1/4 cups crumbs)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted
Brownie:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Topping:
1 jar (7.5 ounces) marshmallow cream (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup mini chocolate kisses
3 whole graham cracker boards, broken up
Heat oven to 350.
Crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and melted butter in small bowl until the graham crackers are moistened. Press evenly in the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Refrigerate until the crust sets. About 30 minutes.
Brownie: Combine bittersweet chocolate and butter in bowl and microwave on high 1 minute at a time until melted. Stir until smooth.
With a hand-held mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the eggs and sugar until well blended. Reduce speed to medium and gradually add the melted chocolate-butter mixture to the egg mixture, beat until smooth, scraping the side of the bowl occasionally.
Stir the flour and salt into the egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla until smooth. Scrape brownie mixture into the crust lined pan. Bake at 350 oven for 30 minutes.
Topping: While the brownie layer is baking, whisk together the marshmallow cream and the milk in a small bowl until well blended and smooth.
Once the pan is cool enough to handle, pour marshmallow topping over the brownie layer and spread or tilt the pan to cover the top completely.
Sprinkle the mini kisses over the marshmallow topping. Then scatter the crumbled graham crackers all over the top.
Dark Chocolate Gravy
12 oz. dark chocolate chips
1-½ sticks butter
½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
Heat syrup and cream to 180 degrees, mix in chocolate until thoroughly combined. Fold in butter.
More tamale filling recipes
When we had our tamalada last weekend, besides red chile pork tamales we also filled some with chicken and others with a black bean, corn, green chile and cheese filling. Also, here’s the recipe for the salsa crema:
Salsa Crema
1 jar Mexican table cream, or crema fresca
2 green onions diced,
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds, crushed into powder
Juice of half a lime, or 1 teaspoon lime zest.
salt and pepper to taste
Mix thoroughly and serve.
Chicken tamale filling
1 whole chicken
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
3 cloves garlic
1 onion quartered
12 whole peppercorns
2 teaspoons olive oil
Half thin sliced onion
2 cloves garlic minced
2-3 cups reserved broth
1 toasted ancho chile toasted, seeded and sliced in strips.
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
7 oz. diced canned tomatoes
Place chicken in a stockpot and cover by two inches with water. Add next five ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer about an hour, skimming the top periodically.
Remove chicken and let cool. Strain and reserved stock.
Shred chicken once cool enough to handle.
In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil and sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer at least 30 minutes. Makes 25-30 tamales.
16 oz. whole kernel corn
16 oz. grated
4-6 roasted poblano chiles, roasted skinned, seeded and diced
8 oz. black beans, drained of any liquid
4 sliced green onions
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2-4 serrano peppers chopped
¼ cup chopped cilantro
You can roast the poblanos in broiler, on a hot griddle or in a deep fryer. Roast until skin is blistered thoroughly and immediately transfer to an airtight container or bag for 20 minutes. Once out, the skin should peel off.
Cook the corn, preferably on the cob and over hot coals.
Then combine all ingredients.
Hafta try kafta
My chief food co-hort, Jesse Olivarez and I happened upon the annual Mediterranean Food Festival at St. Elijah’s Church on Saturday.
The event was a fundraiser for the church and included a car raffle, food market, dinner, lunch and dessert. Got myself involved with a chicken kafta sandwich. Typically, kafta is a ground meat dish. It’s derived from the Persian word Kufta, which means to beat or grind. But this was a nice Okie-friendly interpretation that included a full, grilled chicken breast with dressing, onions, black olives and feta. The tabouli was less reliant on bulgur than others I’ve had, instead using it as a complement to the parsley, mint, green onions and tomato. Finally, we had a baklava sundae. Yes, baklava ala mode and striped in chocolate and caramel. Yes, it was soooo good.
Dinner included cabbage rolls, kibbe, salata, pita bread, and hummus.
They also had a bake sale featuring an assortment of Lebanese entrees, breads, cookies, cakes, pies, cinnamon rolls and baklava.
As was everything. Look forward to dropping in again next year. But next time, I’m not leaving without recipes.
