KA Lime and Spice Fajitas

Another KA quickie! This is quick. This is easy. You will love it. What else is there to say?

OK, I do have a few things to say. Thank you to Jaden Hair and her great Craftsy class for reminding me of the beauty of cooking wok-style. I don’t have a wok, but I do have a nice big saucepan, and the techniques work almost as well (I think!). And thank you to Park Street Pantry for having tasty spicy salts. They are pretty awesome for adding a bit of spice to any dish, be it as a finishing touch or while cooking. Do take care with the ghost pepper salt, though…

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into long pieces

High-heat oil, such as canola

4 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1–2 red bell peppers, sliced

Granulated garlic

Granulated onion

Salt

Pepper

Lime juice

Cayenne pepper powder

Cumin

Chili pepper powder

Spicy salts (got mine from Park Street Pantry)

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Tortillas

Shredded cheese

Napkins

1. Put a dollop of oil into your saucepan or wok and heat over high heat. When hot, add the chicken chunks. Season with some of the above spices—don’t worry if you can’t get everything on the chicken. You will be adding spices in layers via the other ingredients that are coming later. Do be sure to squeeze in some lime juice, though. Turn over the chicken pieces after a few minutes to make sure both sides get nicely cooked. Push the saucepan so it is slightly off the heat—shove the chicken to that part of the pan.

2. If necessary, add a bit of oil. Add the onions to the pan. Sprinkle on some more spices. Squirt on some more lime juice. Stir fry for a couple minutes, until the onions change to a softer texture. Push them against the chicken.

3. Repeat the last step with the mushrooms. They will take 4 to 5 minutes. Push to the side.

4. Last stir-frying step! Add the peppers. Spice, etc., stir. We like our peppers to be warmed through but still have a texture, so I only do 2-3 minutes here. 

5. Mix everything together in the pan and remove from heat.

6. Serve on tortillas with a light sprinkling of cheese on top. Enjoy!

Limp and Delicious Roasted Butternut Squash Fries with Sriracha Mayo Dip

Time for another KA quickie. For those of you who don’t remember what that means—no measurements, also pretty easy and forgiving. I saw a recipe for butternut squash fries on Cook Taste Eat—a very good online cooking show hosted by chef Michael Mina, and often co-hosted by Michelle Branch, that is unfortunately no longer online. Chef Mina created a batter for his squash and actually deep-fried the fries, but since I am lazy (and also forgot to buy eggs), that did not happen. The result is a quicker, easier, and still deliciously butternut-squashy side dish. As the title indicates, these are not particularly crisp—unless you leave them in the oven too long and the bottoms get black. Best to avoid that. These would also be good sliced into coins and then put on a sandwich with the sriracha mayo as a spread—the flavor combo of spicy-squashy-sweet-salty is quite nice, no matter how you get it in your mouth.

Ingredients

Butternut squash (I used about 5 pounds)

Oil that can take high heat, such as canola

Maple syrup

Salt

Black pepper

Granulated garlic

Granulated onion

Paprika

Cayenne

Dip ingredients

Mayo

Sriracha

Maple syrup

1.       Cut up the butternut squash into pieces roughly fry-like in shape, and about the same size so they bake evenly. This, more than almost any cooking task I have yet undertaken, is seriously more easily said than done. Butternut squashes are intractable jerks, as delicious as they are. The skins are tough to cut through, and the meat oozes a slippery starch when cut. It is, in short, perilous to cut these. Use the sharpest knife you have and BE CAREFUL. Make sure your fingers and other parts of your body are not near the blade or in an area where the blade could slip to. One good thing about this recipe is that it is unnecessary to peel the squash. The peel becomes very soft when baked, so it tastes just fine left on. If you don’t appreciate that yet, you will as soon as you start cutting the evil squash. When purchasing a squash, try to get one that is a uniformly straight-sided specimen—avoid the typical pear shape. This helps to make cutting easier. Cut off the vine and flower ends and don’t forget to scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Good luck!

2.       At some point, take a break from the frustration and put the oven on to 400 F to preheat. You can also cover one or two cookie sheets with foil and oil them.

3.       Toss the hard-won pieces of butternut squash in a large bowl with some oil, the aforementioned spices, and maple syrup. Don’t go overboard with anything—you just want a thin coating of oil and syrup. If you happen to be married to someone who doesn’t love sweet and savory mixed together, make one tray without maple syrup. Spread the squash on the cookie sheet as close to one layer as your patience will permit at this point.

4.       Bake the squash at 400 F for 20 minutes, then rotate the trays. Bake for another 20 minutes. They are done when a fork enters the fries smoothly. No need to flip the fries on the tray.

5.       In the meantime, prepare the dip by mixing mayo with sriracha and a touch of maple syrup. My version is about 1 cup of mayo to 1 T sriracha to 1 t maple syrup—but make it how you like it. Enjoy!