Colombian barbecue

We get three food magazines -- Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet -- and often use their recipes even though we have literally hundreds of cookbooks. Why? They're new and up to date, they're right in front of you and seasonal, and they often have really great photos.

So to celebrate the end of summer on Labor Day we used a recipe for Colombian barbecue from a Globe-Trotter's Guide to BBQ in the July Bon Appetit. For six people, it called for two flank steaks (about 3 lbs. altogether), scored in a cross-hatch pattern and rubbed with ground cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil. Then you put the steaks in a marinade of dark beer (12 oz.), Worcestershire sauce (1/4 c.) and thinly sliced green onion (6 or about 1-1/4 c.) for at least three hours, turning occasionally.

You grill the steaks medium rare, rest, slice and serve with two sauces. One is an "aji sauce" of 4 deseeded and coarsely chopped jalapeno peppers (1/2 c.), 2 coarsely chopped green onions (1/2 c.), 1/3 c. chopped Vidalia onion, 1/4 c. chopped cilantro all blended to a paste in the food processor. Then you add 2 Tbl. red wine vinegar (or lime juice) to smooth it out while keeping some texture, and stir in salt and pepper to taste.

The other sauce is a Colombian guacamole, made of one large avocado peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped; 3 Tbl. chopped cilantro; 3 Tbl. chopped green onion or sweet onion; 2 Tbl. chopped serrano chiles (with seeds) pureed in food processor until smooth. Then you add 1/4 c. or more water and 2-1/2 Tbl. lime juice and blend until you get a thick sauce. This is creamier and more saucelike than your typical guacamole and a little hotter.

The steak was great with a hint of the rub in the crust and very tender. We served it with rice, a three-bean salad (see separate post on Rancho Gordo), and corn grilled in the husk after immersing them in water (so the corn is steamed while the husk is charred) served with melted basil butter. The sauces worked well with the steak and the rice was great for mopping up everthing on the plate.

Wine was a deep red Layer Cake Zinfandel that handled the steak and sauces fine.

To splurge for the end of summer we had homemade ice cream sandwiches with chocolate chocolate chip cookies and brown sugar ice cream.