Brand Unawareness

Chicaoji (chee-KOW-jee). What, it’s not a household name for you? Perhaps not yet. But if word catches on about this marvelous product, you may soon be seeing it in stores near you. Mrs. MHK happened to pick up a bottle of Chicaoji on a recent trip to Seattle, and then reaped the benefits during a dinner soon after her return. There are three main components to this marinade/dressing/sauce: chipotles, cacao (ka-KOW), and goji berries. If you’re a regular reader of this blog (and even if you’re not), you should be very familiar with chipotles. Cacao is the raw seed of the plant used to make chocolate, and goji berries are nourishing fruits, native to the China and Mongolia regions. Chicaoji is rounded out with cider vinegar, agave nectar, and salt. The combination is complex and very flavorful. I was not expecting as much heat as the sauce provides – it was actually a nice surprise. The sweetness of the goji berries helps balance out the heat, and the cacoa seed is utilized beautifully. The subtlety of the chocolate flavor is done to perfection, sort of like the use of chocolate in a good mole sauce – you can tell it’s there, but it’s slightly hidden within the other flavors. It adds depth and complexity to the sauce, and the vinegar and salt are measured out in just the right amounts.

There are many uses for this sauce – we chose to marinate some skirt steak in it for about 30 minutes, and made steak tacos. We then also used the Chicaoji as a sauce for topping the tacos. What was interesting was that the heat of the chipotles seemed to mellow out a lot during the cooking of the steak – eating the meat by itself was very flavorful, but not very spicy. But then adding the sauce to the taco provided that heat we were looking for. The tacos were fantastic – just steak, onions and cilantro, along with the sauce (very traditional street taco style).

Chicaoji is made on Lopez Island, Northwest of Seattle, part of the San Juan Islands. You can visit the Chicaoji web site and check out all the info for yourself; you can even order their product. Chicaoji gets the MHK’s Seal of Approval…whatever that’s worth. Enjoy!

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L.A. On a Plate

Speaking in culinary terms, Los Angeles is famous for two things: the birthplace of hamburgers, and fabulous, authentic Mexican food. Those two characteristics are married beautifully in this recipe, found in the L.A. Times’ contest for burger recipes. The cemita is a Mexican sandwich, similar to a torta but the bread and fillings are less varied. This recipe creates a hamburger cemita of sorts, featuring a chipotle-infused burger topped with a chipotle crema and mashed avocado. The spicy chipotles are balanced by the cool avocado, and the cheese adds a nice salty touch. Plus the cilantro and onions give it a nice tang. The result is a very messy burger, but one that’s full of the flavors of L.A. The original recipe called for a few ingredients that might be tough to find outside of places with large Latin-American populations, but this one should be accessible to all. Enjoy!

Mexican Cemita Burger

(serves 4)

Chipotle crema

2 canned chipotle peppers (packed in adobo sauce), diced, and 1 tablespoon adobo sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup sour cream

¼ cup mayo

In a small mixing bowl, combine the chipotle, adobo sauce, garlic, sour cream, and mayo. Mix until well combined.

Avocado spread

1 avocado, lightly mashed

1 tablespoon lime juice

Kosher salt

In a small mixing bowl, combine avocado and lime juice. Season with salt to taste.

Patties and assembly

1¼ pound ground beef

1 canned chipotle pepper, minced with 1 tablespoon adobo sauce

½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

3 oz. Jack cheese, pepper jack, queso fresco, or mozzarella, sliced

4 buns or onion rolls, toasted

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

½ red onion, sliced

In a large bowl, combine the beef, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine, but do not over mix. Divide the mixture in half and form the portions into patties to fit the buns. Heat oil in a skillet over med-high heat, then add the burgers to the skillet. Cook the burgers until set and browned on one side, about 3-4 minutes, then flip. Top the burgers with the cheese then cover the pan with aluminum foil. Cook an additional 4 to 5 minutes for medium burgers, or until the burgers have reached desired doneness. Spread the chipotle crema evenly on each cut side of the toasted buns. Sprinkle the cilantro over the crema on the cut sides of the bun tops. Top the bottom halves of each bun with a cheese-topped patty, a slice of onion and equal amounts of the avocado spread. Top the burgers with the bun tops and serve immediately. Get lots of napkins. Eat!