I love Real Simple magazine and their recipes rarely disappoint. I have been introduced to food I may not have eaten, or in some cases never even heard of before. And, when food looks pretty on paper like is almost always does in their magazine, you just have to believe it will be good in real life, right?
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| (photo from realsimple.com) |
One of the many recipes I tried out from the magazine (or even more accessible website) was for Skirt Steak with Pepita Sauce & Warm Tortillas . We used flank steak instead, which is fairly comparable. We pretty much only buy uncooked tortillas now which was a nice side. The sauce was unique and yummy. However, my favorite part was the pepitas.
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| (photo from edibleportland.com) |
What is a pepita you say? It's just a fancy name for a toasted pumpkin seed. Unlike when you roast seeds at Halloween time, these you just pop in the oven dry and just sort of wait until they puff up. I bought a bunch or raw seeds in the bulk aisle at the grocery store. They look like the photo above.
The pre-packaged kind like this are NOT what you are looking for. Dump your seeds onto a baking sheet (dry is ok or you can spray them with cooking spray or use a little oil if you want) and put into a an oven pre-heated to 350 for about 15 minutes. You'll want to stir them around now and then as you are waiting.
When they have puffed up a bit (you may even hear some "pop") and they are nice and crunchy, pull them out and salt them. They are quite tasty with the above recipe, but alone too, so make extras!
(Hopefully you'll try these and they will be good. These pictures (the first and last ones anyway) have been sitting in my Lettie Bee "to blog" folder for far too long. I didn't think to take pictures of the process, but you are smart, you can get it without photos. Plus, you can always ask me if you have any questions!)
Okay, that looks awesome, I have to try that. We get Real Simple for Carson's office and he brings it home for me when it's old and I always plan to read it... and rarely do. I love flank/skirt steak, it's one of my favorite cuts, and this would be a great alternative to fajitas. I have been loving those toasted pumpkin seeds on squash soup and in salads, I will definitely have to try them in a tortilla, and speaking of tortillas, I LOVE the uncooked ones so much but Carson, who usually loves all things fresh especially when it comes to Mexican food, doesn't think they're any better than the regular ones!! I just have to tell him he's SO wrong this time. So what I'm saying is that recipe looks so good for so many reasons that if I had the right stuff I would go make it RIGHT NOW. :)
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