Woo... spicy!

As you will see below, dinner was fairly labor intensive, so I wanted to keep the side tonight quick and easy. I was able to prepare this New Potato Salad during the bits of downtime I had while waiting for a part of the main portion of dinner to finish.

To make sure they kept their shape, we used small whole red potatoes for this potato salad. They are first cooked just until tender - they are then given a chance to cool down to easily be cut into quarters. Coating the potatoes is a crunchy, yet creamy dressing of mayonnaise, crisp celery, red bell peppers, shallots, green onions, white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard. We are not a huge fan of raw onions, but the shallots and green onions are mild enough to add flavor without being too obtrusive. Since you are already getting some texture from the celery, I might think about changing the peppers around and using roasted red peppers for more depth to add one more layer to this speedy dish.

Don't take the title of tonight's main dish lightly as this Fiery Flank Steak with Tomato Jam was darn hot! Lately the jalapeños we've gotten have been duds with very little heat, but these little guys tonight sure had a fire inside them! You can make the jam ahead of time, if desired, as it is a little labor intensive - but be sure to let it come to room temperature when serving. For a different way to remove the skins of the tomatoes, the pulp is extracted by rubbing the tomatoes against the large holes of a grater, leaving the tough skins behind in your hand. The pulp is cooked down with a little sugar to sweeten, grated onion, minced garlic and jalapeños with bright cilantro and lime juice being stirred in at the end to brighten the flavors. We're on the fence about the jam - while it was tasty and quite spicy, it was kind of overwhelming to the meat in this dish!

The flank steak is marinated in a mixture of fresh lime juice, lime zest, a bit of oil, a couple more jalapeños and some garlic - while the tender steak was flavorful enough by itself, it was hard to tell there was a steak underneath the jam if you got too much of it in one bite. If you don't like meals too spicy, I would still use the same amount of peppers, but just be sure to remove the seeds and ribs before you add them.

Recipes
New Potato Salad
Fiery Flank Steak with Tomato Jam