SIDE ROADS AND THE TEMPLE OF YUM
I ?ve always been a firm believer in ?side roads?, a term my childhood sidekick Joel Gassaway and I came up with many moons ago. For us it meant leaving the well travelled path, and looking for those rare moments of the legendary and memorably Unusual.
I guess the familiar expression getting ?side tracked? is pretty close, but side roads for us were not necessarily unintentional, more a way of looking at life or a life style.
Yesterday, Lynne and I invited two of our business friends from Brisbane, Tim and Rod, over for lunch. This was their first trip to Goonengerry, and somehow they zigged when they should have zagged. The road quickly turned to gravel, and as they
continued, it became more like a pathway, which dead ended at a property called the Temple of Yum.
Fortunately, the Guardian of Yum was in residence, and pointed them in the right direction. The four of us enjoyed another one of Lynne?s fantastic lunches, and all were touched with the symbolism of the day?s events. Obviously, this image stuck with me though, and I had to share it with you all. It felt like a good omen.
Each of us has access to their own Temple of Yum. It?s a place we go where all is warm and tasty, thoroughly and eternally yummy. Kind of like the following recipe, an excerpt from the Byron Bay Chilli Cookbook, which is due for printing later this month.
This is what we ate yesterday, and for my money, it is a shoe-in for induction into the Hall of Yum.
BEEF FAJITAS WITH ALL THE YUMMY TRIMMINGS
Ingredients:
500g stir-fry beef
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 large tomatoes, cut in wedges
? red capsicum, cut in strips
? green capsicum, cut in strips
?-1 cup of any of the following:
SALSA PICANTE (Mild or Medium)
RED CAYENNE CHILLI SAUCE
GREEN JALAPENO CHILLI SAUCE
12 small flour tortillas
light sour cream
lime wedges
? cup chopped coriander
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan over high heat. Add beef, stirring continuously until browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and add onion and capsicum to the pan. Saut? for 2 minutes. Add tomato wedges and saut? for 1 minute. Return cooked beef to the pan and add salsa or chilli sauce and salt to taste. Stir to combine and saut? until heated through. While the meat cooks, heat flour tortillas. Take the unopened package of flour tortillas, punch a few holes in the plastic wrapping and heat in a microwave until soft, about 1 ? minutes. Alternatively, place unwrapped tortillas in foil and heat in the oven at 180?C for 15 minutes until soft, and warm...not stiff. Set everything out on the table. For each serving, spoon the beef/vegetable mixture down the centre of a hot tortilla, drizzle with lime juice and sour cream, additional salsa or chilli sauce and sprinkle with coriander. Fold over and eat as a soft taco.
serves 4
advance preparation: Meat and vegetables can be cooked in advance and refrigerated. Reheat by stir-frying on high heat just until hot.
variation: 1. Substitute 4 chicken breasts sliced in thin strips. Cook in hot oil as directed above.
Try the Fiery Coconut, or a combination of the Fiery Coconut
and Gold Habanero chilli sauces with this one.
vegetarian: Stir-fry slices of tempeh or seasoned tofu along with vegetables as above. Spicy Sweet Chilli Sauce works well
too.
EXTRA CREDIT- add guacamole
We had fruit juice mineral water, with added lime for drinks,
and chilli laced brownies for dessert. Just add chilli powder
to taste in the batter and icing.
YUM, from our temple to yours...Love and Good Food, the Bolands
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