Hey Mambo, Mambo Ital-Poblano?

     A few weeks ago, when I had a plethora of jalapeno peppers, I was taking suggestions.  One was to stuff them.  Um, too much work for something so small!  However, I do like a good stuffed chili pepper.  Back in July, I went to Pensacola with Matt & some friends to go sailing.  We took the concierge restaurant suggestion... The Fish House.  (A few days ago, I noticed it was mentioned in Wine Spectator for their not-so-expensive yet impressive wine collection... mine was tasty!)  Anywhoo, I ordered the seafood stuffed relleno... and was pleasantly surprised initially.  Then I realized that, overpowering my crab, shrimp, and crawfish, was a boatload of corn.  Really?  Way to yucky it up.  I'm all about corn, but not an entire cob of it in that kind of a dish.  I told the waiter it was delicious, but could use less (or no) corn.  He seemed to brush me off... (Gosh?  Doesn't he know who I am?  My 6 followers do!)
     Anyway, a few weeks later I ate at a Mexican Restaurant nearby... Juan Tequilas.  Love the place.  Good food, beachfront, & a 25% military discount... and karaoke Thursday nights (and by nights I mean WHILE you eat your dinner...)  One thing I did not love was their stuffed relleno.  I found myself peeling off a soggy omelettey batter.  I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands... even if I didn't have a recipe.  (not a big recipe fan, if you've realized I have never posted one, it's because I don't use them often... how I describe it is kind of what I do...)

     I got some poblano peppers, some crab claw meat, and shrimp.  Sauteed the shrimp, threw it in with the crab claw meat, an egg, and hmmmm.  Binding.  Ah!  I had some leftover organic polenta in the fridge.  I tossed it into the food processor to make it into crumbles, and added it to the mix.  Spiced it up a little, and  stuffed me some poblanos.  Popped 'em in the oven...

     I made a spicy cheesy sauce topping with some added queso and some anaheim peppers, and roasted some tomatoes to add to the plate.  It really was as awesome as it looked.

I'm a Ribeye Girl

     You can keep your hoity toity teeny weeny filet.  I'd take a melt-in-your-mouth marbled hunk o' ribeye anyday.  And last Tuesday was one of those days.
     I was watching FoodNetwork, and just like everyday, I wanted what I saw.  Rach was whipping up a garlic rosemary strip steak topped with an arugula and heirloom tomato summer salad, sided by a mayo-less (aka way-to-my-heart) potato salad fra-diavolo.  We'd been eating quite a bit of seafood lately (love the coast!), so a little red meat was just what the doctor (or PA) ordered.

     I chose to do it with ribeyes.  Because they're awesome.  And awesome they were.  I tried her technique of rubbing garlic directly onto, and all over, the steak, and then coating them in olive oil and fresh rosemary, sea salt, and pepper... lots of delicious flavors in this steak.  Topping it off with an organic baby arugula and farmer's market cherry tomato salad in a lemon/oil dressing was surprisingly good... and I am particular about what I let near my steak, (because if you ruin my steak, watch your back.)  And I thought it was a good combo of flavors.  Matt agreed.  He, however, prefers a mayo-based potato salad.  And, my critique for Rach, the "fra diavolo" potatoes weren't as spicy as she made them sound... but still not bad, seeing as though I also don't really like celery, and it was pretty well-hidden in the recipe.