Great Faces, Great Places

And don't forget the great food. It should be noted that only three of the four chefs were present tonight, as one has a weak constitution.

This was the last Sunday night dinner of the summer (though perhaps not technically, as summer continues until September 22) and this was all the reason to take advantage of grilling season in Minnesota and make some fabulous fajitas. On the side were fresh tomato salsa and sweet corn cake. And dessert was the Official Dessert of Summer 2008 - strawberry shortcake.

The fajita recipe is not new to this group. It's from cooks illustrated and has been a favorite for at least two years now. The chicken is marinaded in a mixture of lime juice, oil, worcestershire sauce, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro for fifteen minutes. It is difficult to remember, but one fourth of the mixture has to be saved for drizzling over the cooked chicken. Grilled along side the chicken are red and green peppers and some delicious red onion. This is one of the best recipes ever.



The sweet corn cake was modeled after something served at some of the chain Mexican restaurants. It turned out quite well, though perhaps a little on the dry side. To make it butter, cream, masa harina, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and fresh corn were all mixed together. The corn was sliced off the cob and then Bertha did a lovely job with it.


This was baked for nearly 50 minutes! The end result was beautiful until one chef couldn't keep his hands (and a bamboo skewer) off of it.



The fresh salsa was from cooks illustrated too. It was a relatively simple mixture of roma tomato, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, salt and sugar. That didn't stop CI from making the recipe complicated! The tomatoes drained in the sink for what felt like a very long time.


Overall, the dinner was amazing.




Dessert is not pictured, due to the low quality of images obtained. The low quality of the images does not reflect the high quality of the taste. Added to the enjoyment was a video of last year's vacation to South Dakota. Three of the four chefs (the same three in attendance tonight) went on a long weekend journey to the most patriotic of places, Mount Rushmore (or "The Great Face" as some people like to call it).

*A side note to any cats in the Prospect Park neighborhood: you are neither invited to dinner, nor invited into the Sunday night chefs' kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom or bedroom.