Last night we had some friends over for an early dinner (school night and
all), and all morning I was trying to think of something that sounded good
without much success...until the book I was reading had a scene where they
were making tortillas for fajitas. Hey! Easy, fast, and quick clean-up!
Here's the menu:
Build-Your-Own Fajita bar (well, table )
Spanish-style rice
Queso Dip
Tortilla chips
Margarita sorbets (without alcohol)
Shaved Chocolate tuiles
Mexican Hot Chocolate

The Fajita bar was made up of the usual condiments: sour cream, guacamole,
avocado salsa, roasted tomato salsa, pico de gallo, queso anejo and cotija
cheese, shredded colby jack cheese, peppers and onions, and a few other
veggies I used the extra marinade on (green beans, asparagus, cherry
tomatoes, and zucchini). And of course, the meats! Shrimp in a chile lime
marinade; Chicken breasts in a marinade with lime, ancho chiles, garlic and
key lime avocado oil; and flank steak in a marinade of orange and lime
juices, cilantro, garlic and grated onion, and blood orange avocado oil. All
the meat was grilled, along with the various veggies. The pepper and onion
slices were sautéed in the key lime avo oil with some lime, white pepper and
ancho chile powder. Tortillas, of course....I think that's everything.
The rice was just white rice, sautéed with minced onion and garlic for a few
minutes, then I added chicken stock, and a can of petite diced tomatoes with
green chiles and a bit of sea salt.
The sorbets were based on Margaritas: regular lime, strawberry and
pineapple. Made the base (lime) flavor first, then divided it and added
pureed strawberries to one batch and crushed pineapple to another. Used the
ice cream maker for 2, and the processor for the last one. Added Tequila in
the glass for those who wanted it.
The tuiles were a regular tuile recipe with shaved bittersweet chocolate
added just for something new...served with the Mexican Hot Chocolate
(chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg. vanilla and a dash of ancho chile)

Turned out pretty good! And the kids (5 total) loved the whole buffet style.

kimberly

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:05:23 -0700, "Nexis" > wrote:

<menu snipped>
>
>Turned out pretty good! And the kids (5 total) loved the whole buffet style.
>
>kimberly
>

Wow, kimberly. This sounds great. I got the impression this was
supposed to be an 'easy school night dinner' for some friends. Maybe I
was wrong because it sounded like a lot of work went into the whole
menu and preparation. Good job.

Ginny

It was alot easier than it sounds The salsas were already done from
something I'd made Friday, and once the prep work was done, it all
cooked quickly enough. The sorbets and the marinade were based on base
recipes, and then I made variations of them by adding other
ingreditents. My girlfriend and our two daughters helped with the prep
which made that fun too.

Thanks for the compliments, btw