I am a Chipolte Flavored Goddess!!

Thanks to the brilliant Tracy Zavaleta…A mock Chipolte steak burrito recipe recently landed in my hot little hands…:) Since I would eat Chipolte before almost ANYTHING... except maybe white castle (cause I am totally classy like that:).as well as SUPER health conscious you see...)I of course had to try it. So first we pursued the CHIPOLTE FAN website. Yes… there REALLY is one. Someone loves Chipolte so much that they created a fan website… With MESSAGE boards and allJ!!! The recipe called for a whole bunch of other  stuff like oregano and onions and wine... But the comments from  so called Chipolte employees indicated that that was crap… and the famous fabulous marinade was just chipolte peppers in adobo and salt. So that is what we did. Marinated it all night…. made some pinto beans with garlic, a little fresh salsa… and the famous cilantro lime rice…steamed the burrito tortillas… got out our super duper cast iron stove top grill…. and got ready to grill.. Things got a LITTLE tricky when we started the grilling howeverJ And by tricky I mean… super hot pepper smoke filling the kitchen and burning our lungs and eyeballs tricky…. setting off the smoke alarm tricky…. rushing to put on the fans and open the doors to the freezing snowscape outside trickyJ Coughing up lungs trickyWe suck at this stupid stove top grill..We really really DO…Anddddd… after all the chaos..the steak was charred outside  and raw inside.. so we began a cycle of  the in- and-  of- the- oven dance for a bitJ  All in all though.. it DID taste like Chipolte!! Although more so when it was crazy rare then when all was said and done ( read:WELL which is not MY cup of steak..but so be it)J Soldier man of course did not like it and ended up eating a PBJ as he does most nights we try something newJ.BIG shockJ We used thick ribeye though and he hates any cut with even a smidge of fat… so I should have seen that comingJBut even he admitted the seasoning was dead on. he just requested we use a filet next time and SHRED it. Sigh…JSomehow I doubt the $6 burrito from The real Chipolte uses filet .

But all in all it was pretty easy!! If you love Chipolte..live an hour from one like I do… and know ho to use a stove top grill I highly recommend it!! Recipes following….

Chipolte Steak

I can Chipolte Peppers in adobo sauce..

2 pounds steak

The chipolte  in adobo is available canned  in ANY grocery even here in Green Acres)

If you want to get the peppers dried and soak them and make the sauce more power to you but I used cannedJ

Dump the peppers and sauces in a plastic bag… add meat… salt with sea salt or kosher salt. shake the bag to coat and then refrigerate overnight.

When ready to grill take the steak out and let it sit for a little ( in my experience most cuts of steak get tough if you grill cold)

As I said we are still working out the bugs with the stovetop grill so I am not much help here..

The directions that came with our grill say to heat the grill to VERY VERY HOT with no oil  (drop of water bounces)

Lightly oil the steaks( and I mean LIGHT with a brush) and put on the grill

Times vary for different doneness so I would advise using your own method or looking it up. Someday if I perfect this I will share!!! Alternately if YOU have a tried and true method PLEASE SHARE!!!

Do not over grill…l as the unique Chipolte flavors went away when we cooked the meat to well.. I think the rareness has something to do with the flavor.

When done tent with foil and let the meat rest a bit before cutting so you do not lose all the juice!!!

Lime cilantro rice

In a rice cooker combine 1 cup rice with 2 ½ cups water 3 tbsp lime juice and chopped cilantro to taste

(or boil rice in a pot according to the package directions)

Set to cook (mine takes 20 minutes… when it switches to warm it is done)

(FYI,,My rice cooker was one of Jays mad-dash-to-Walgreens-filler-xmas-gifts and  turned out to be one of the BEST things I own cooking wise..LOVE this.. if you don’t have one and you eat rice  GET ONE…)

Pinto beans

Combine one can pintos or 1 cup fresh(soaked dried and cooked the day before ) with 6 cloves chopped garlic(or 3 tbsp canned minced) ½ a small white onion and ¼ cup water or stock

Simmer on low 30ish minutes

Salsa

Chop tomatoes jalapeno white onion and cilantro (or throw in food processor) mix with 3 Tbsp limejuice sea salt and black pepper

Perfect Guacamole

Smash avocado with potato masher stir in lime juice salt black pepper and a few Tbsp of the salsa. Mix just a little

Stick the pits in the bowl until serving so it does not get brown too fast and refrigerate

Then just steam your tortillas fill them and rollJ

Pretty easy and CLOSE to the real thingJ

Variations

Low Carb

Use a low carb tortilla (9-12 net carbs for burrito size) or make it a bowl and cut the rice and beans to a ¼ cup ( 10 carbs rice.. 10  carbs beans (roughly 40 carbs in a cup but there IS a lot of fiber in the beans and the rice if you use brown so net counts can vary)

Lower Fat and Calories

If you watch fat and calories use a leaner cut or chicken…. Use light or FF sour cream and cheese and fill it up with more veggies than meat or dairy

Happy Burrito Making!!