Black Bean & Potato Enchiladas

These black bean & potato enchiladas are vegetarian and filling at the same time. The filling is simple, it's just black beans, potatoes, cilantro, a little bit of jalapeno, cheddar, and jack cheeses.

Cobb Salad

We are running a Cobb salad at the salad station until Thursday. Blue cheese, hard boiled eggs, avocado, tomato, bacon, grilled chicken, romaine, and your choice of dressing.

Pastrami & Swiss on Rye

We are doing a Pastrami & Swiss on Rye today at the grill.

Chayote Squash

We got some Chayote squash in today. Chayote is also sometimes called a pear squash, Veracruz, Mexico is a main supplier for Chayote to the United States. Chayote has a crisp flavor that can be eaten raw or cooked. The outside of a Chayote looks like a pear and the inside flesh is similiar to a pear or apple as well. We like to gently saute it with a little grapeseed oil, garlic, and salt.

Crispy Orange Chicken

We have a Crispy Orange Chicken today, there is also a great Caprese Melt at the grill.

The Caprese melt has fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, and a pesto aioli. Pesto aioli is very easy to make, just take some pesto and mix it with a little bit of mayonnaise. Aioli is just a fancy word for garlic mayonnaise.

Chicken Mole`

Makeing mole` sauce is a very laborous process. I usually start it the day before by frying and then soaking the chiles. The next day I start getting everything ready for the purees and then combining them and cooking them down. Yeah, I guess we could just use a paste to start with, but I prefer to make mole` from scratch. I think the end results are well worth it.

Comfort Foods

A classic meatloaf with our spin put on it. We put a chipotle bbq over the top of it, then wrap bacon over it and bake it.

Sauteed Shrimp

I've had a few requests from people asking how we cook the shrimp. The way we do it is very simple. We just marinate them in a little olive oil and Montreal Chicken Seasoning, then we get a saute pan hot, and saute them until just cooked through, then we cool them done immediately to stop the carry over cooking.

Chimichurri Flank Steak

Chimichurri is originally from Argentina and Uruguay, it's a sauce made from parsley and garlic that traditionally accompanies grilled meats. It is also great for marinating meats. For our flank steak, we make up a batch of chimichurri, set a little aside and add more oil to it to make a marinade. We then marinade the flanks for a couple hours before cooking them.

Seared Tuna w/ Sriracha Aioli and Micro Cilantro

The sriracha aioli is a sauce that I would come across every now and then at sushi spots. It would usually be served with a tempura type of maki roll. Here's my version served with a seared tuna and micro cilantro.

Sriracha Aioli makes 1 ½ cups

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sriracha hot sauce

2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon mirin

Sea salt to taste

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Season to taste w/ sea salt.

St Patrick's Day Lunch

Here's the corned beef brisket and the salmon w/ lemon cream. Sides available today are braised cabbage, boiled new potatoes, sauteed kale, and wild rice pilaf.

Braised Cabbage

Braising cabbage is easy, place cabbage wedges in a roasting pan, cover 3/4 of the way with your preferred cooking liquid (we use a combination of water, vinegar, and pickling spice), cover the pan with foil and cook in a 350 degree oven until the cabbage is tender, usually around an hour.

Garlic Pepper Crusted Strip Loin

With strip loin (New York Strip) we just rub it with fresh garlic, kosher salt, and fresh cracked peppercorns. We then sear it in a hot pan to get a nice crust. Then cook the strip loin in an oven at 375 degrees until you get an internal temperature of 125 degrees. Remove the strip loin from the oven and let it rest for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Espresso Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Espresso Chocolate Fudge Brownies available. These brownies are super moist with a nice flavor boost from fresh ground starbucks coffee.

Peach Ancho Maple Glaze

This is a glaze that we like to serve up with roasted pork. It's a very simple recipe and can easily be done at home.

Maple Peach Glaze makes about 3 cups

2 cup frozen peaches

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 each ancho chiles

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Cilantro chopped

Kosher salt to taste

Dry toast the ancho chiles in a pan. Cook peaches w/ orange juice, maple syrup and toasted chiles. Place the peaches, ancho chile, orange juice, and maple syrup in a blender. Blend well. Return the mixture back to the pan and bring to a boil, allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro, season to taste with salt.

Tri Tip w/ Chipotle Honey

For the tri tip, we do a dry rub consisting of granulated garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika. We then sear the tri tips off in a hot pan with oil to get a noce crust. Then finish them in the oven at 375 degrees until they reach an intenal temp of about 125, then pull them out and let them rest for about ten minutes.



Pork Shoulder

Getting the pork shoulder ready for tomorrow's peach maple glazed pork roast.

Baked Mahi Mahi w/ Tomato Olive Salsa

Lunch today is a baked Mahi Mahi filet topped with a tomato kalamata olive salsa, served over steamed kale and a wild brown rice pilaf.
The tomato olive relish is so easy to make, and would go over most fish or chicken. You could also use it at the table to top bread with. Just chop some fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives, fresh garlic, fresh basil leaves, mix well, add crumbled feta cheese, red wine vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste with kosher or sea salt.

Adobo Pork Roast on Braised Collard Greens

We did some adobo pork today using a slow cooked pork shoulder cut. We use a mix of ancho chiles and guajillo chiles for our adobo. Some braised collard greens were also put out today. Chipotle chicken tortilla soup was also available.

Thai Chicken Curry

This is a very quick Thai Curry Chicken recipe. Use a good Thai curry paste that you can find in most markets. For this recipe, make sure to get the Thai kind and no the Indian type. For the curry, we just use fresh ginger, fresh garlic, onion, carrots, red bell peppers, potatoes, chicken thigh, curry paste, lemon grass, coconut milk, sugar, lime, and Thai basil.
For a great vegetarian version check out this recipe for vegetarian Thai curry at VeggieProject.

Achiote Rubbed Pork Loin

Achiote is a spice blend made from annato seeds. It is used to flavor meats and seafood. It's best with pork or seafood. You can find it in most markets or online at places like Mexgrocer or Amazon.

For the achiote rubbed pork loin, we dissolve the achiote in pineapple juice to make a thick paste, we then season it with a bit of kosher salt. The achiote/ pineapple paste is then rubbed onto the pork loin, then roasted in an oven.

Chicken or Carne Asada Fajitas

For lunch we had Chicken & Carne Asada Fajitas. For the carne asada, we like to use flap meat. We slice it very thin, then marinade it for a couple hours before cooking it. For the chicken, we use chicken thigh meat, it doesn't dry out like the breast meat does.
VeggieProject has a great roasted salsa recipe if you need one to go with fajitas or tacos:
http://veggieproject.com/vegetarian/roasted-salsa/

Orange-Basil Cod Loin

This is a Cod Loin with an Orange Basil sauce.

Pork Loin w/ Rosemary Honey Mustard Glaze

Rosemary honey mustard glazed pork loin today for lunch. The rosemary honey mustard glaze is only five ingredients: dijion mustard, honey, fresh rosemary, olive oil, and kosher salt. All you need to do is, add the first three ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix well, drizzle in the olive oil slowly to form an emulsification. season to taste with kosher salt.

Baby Bok Choy

We featured Baby Bok Choy today. Baby bok choy has crunchy stalks and tender green leaves, and is a good source for vitamins A, C, and K.

To prepare the baby bok choy, we just sauteed it with a little sesame oil, garlic, and fresh ginger, then seasoned it with a bit of kosher salt.

Asian Potato Wedges

We cooked up some Asian inspired potato wedges to go with the Plum-Ginger Beef Roast.

Asian Potato Wedges:

1 pound new potatoes

1 red bell pepper julienned (sliced in strips)

1 jalapeno minced

Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

juice from 1 orange

1 tablespoon fresh ginger chopped

1 pinch red chili flakes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 green onions sliced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

Slice the potatoes into wedges. Boil or steam until just barely tender. Combine the ingredients for vinaigrette in a mixing bowl. remove the potatoes from the water, and combine with the bell pepper and jalapeno in a mixing bowl. Add half the vinaigrette and toss to coat evenly. Place in oven and bake at 375 degrees until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from oven and place back in mixing bowl. Toss the potatoes with the remaining amount of vinaigrette. Season to taste with more salt if needed.

Pop Chips

We've got a variety of Pop Chips flavors in the cafe. They are only 100 calories per bag, and are pretty addictive.

Baked Salmon w/ Basil Pesto, Winter Root Vegetables & Brown Rice

Pesto goes great over salmon. We do a basil pesto using almonds instead of the pine nuts that are often called for in pestos. You could also add sundried tomatoes to this pesto for something a little different.

Basil Pesto yields 4.5 cups

3 cups fresh basil leaves

¼ cup roasted garlic

½ cup shredded parm cheese

3/4 cup olive oil extra virgin

1/2 cup toasted almonds

2 lemons juiced

Kosher Salt to taste

½ teaspoon red chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse. Season to taste with salt.

BBQ Shredded Beef w/ Roasted Potatoes & Coleslaw

For the shredded beef, we like to use a shoulder cut. When you braise the beef, it will be easily shredded with a fork making it perfect for BBQ beef, tacos, burritos, BBQ beef sandwiches, ect. The best way to do this at home is to place the beef in a crockpot, cover it with your seasoned liquid, and cook "slow and low" until the beef literally shreds easily with just a fork.

Here we did a BBQ beef plate, with the shredded beef, roasted new potatoes, and a creamy coleslaw.

Chipotle Hummus and Stacy's Pita Chips

We have house made hummus available on the deli bar. This week in addition to our roasted garlic hummus, we have a chipotle hummus. We also have Stacy's Pita Chips available to go along with your hummus.