Yucatecan salad gone awry

It's been pretty steamy in Toronto recently so we went with a cold dinner this week.  Back to Fiesta at Rick's for Yucatecan Shredded Steak Salad with Habanero and Cilantro (p. 139) along with guacamole and roasted tomatillo salsa.  But we're starting with dessert, Caramelized Mango Tart with Mexican Chocolate and Pepitas.  Mad props to Mark, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and his wife Niveen for bringing not only a fine French wine, but legitimately bringing it from France.

Vegetative State - Black Bean Burgers

So I'm totally over compensating for last post's lack of photo-punch.  So if you're into reading and not into pictures, you'll have to suck it up for a week. Ha!

Here are three vegetarian recipes that with a little work could even become vegan.  And since we spend our Monday to Friday schedule being vegetarians and part time vegans, we figured we'd see if we could craft a few Mexican dishes in that spirit.  So we grabbed Rick Bayless' Sweet Potato Salad with Caramelized Onions, Watercress and Guajillo Chile Dressing from Mexican Everyday.  And then from The Complete Vegan Kitchen we made Mango Salsa, and a modified version of the Black Bean Burgers.

Soup N' Salad 2: Forget Old Mexico

Because this week we're taking our recipes from New Mexico; Santa Fe to be more specific.  They still have the same feel and vibrancy as our other dishes and nothing came out of an Old El Paso box, so I figure we're still in the clear.

On the agenda we've got Corn Soup with Poblano Chiles, followed by Santa Fe Slaw with Caramelized Pecans.  These recipes come from Seasonal Southwest Cooking by Barbara Pool Fenzl which is an absolutely beautiful cookbook to look through.  It also contains some great contextual information about the recipes which I find really makes or breaks a cookbook.  Be warned: there are pictures missing this week, so you'll have to use your imaginations for some of this.