All Mexican Food, All the Time

Or, Day two of our Cinco de Mayo feast!

This time, it was Chile-Rubbed Lamb Chops with Pumpkin Seed Sauce, and Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup.



First up, lamb chops.

(And yes, I substituted Veat for mine)

Chile powder, ground cumin, dried oregano and coarse salt, rubbed into lamb chops. Heat peanut oil in an oven-proof skillet, and cook chops about three minutes per side. Transfer to oven, and cook till desired done-ness.

Serve with a sauce of cilantro (which we don't like, so we used parsley), mint, shallot, serrano chile (oops...I was kind of on auto pilot here, and added an ancho chile, as well!), lime juice and salt...pureed till smooth.

Matt loved the lamb. It took him about five minutes to eat both. There was a nice, hearty and spicy thing going on from the rub. And the sauce? Whoo, baby. Hot. Really, really hot.
Could have something to do with that extra chile...

But, Matt wants me to make this again. Definitely a winner.


Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup



This is the only recipe not from Food & Wine...in fact, it's from an episode of 30 Minute Meals I saw some time ago!

Chopped onion, sauteed in olive oil (once around the pan!), till softened. Add broth, black beans, chopped tomatoes in juice, and canned pumpkin. Stir till combined, then boil for a few minutes.
Reduce heat, simmer, and add lots of spice!
First, add cream, then curry powder (which for us meant 2:1 garam masala and turmeric), ground cumin, cayenne and salt. Simmer a few minutes, and serve...garnishing with chopped chives.

Tasty! Creamy, with a nice, but not over-powering, pumpkin flavor. Spicy, but not too hot. I really like this. Matt's not so crazy about it...he doesn't like 'thick' soups, and thought the pumpkin came through too strong, was too sweet.
He also admitted he'd just eaten the spicy sauce with the lamb prior to the soup, and it could very well have affected his opinion.

It made a lot (the soup), so we're probably going to hand some of it of to the in-laws.


If the dishes from the previous day were easy, these were...super easy. I couldn't believe how quickly they came together. Less than twenty for the lamb, and not much more for the soup. And that's only because I was doing a billion other things at the same time...

Good meal. Love the soup.



And Matt whipped up a nice Watermelon Agua Fresca, to combat the heat!



I would give this meal a solid A.