Cheese Stuffed Butterfly Steaks with Chilli Sauce

My husband and I spent a lot of time travelling up to Newcastle quite a bit last year. We used to stop in the same petrol/services station, it has a small W.H.Smith, which is a book store for those of you that aren’t aware, they sell books, magazines, small gifts, arts and crafts stuff, and such like. I always have a look regardless which W.H.Smith it is I like to go in and have a look because I love a bargain book. On this particular occasion I saw a Mexican cookbook, we love Mexican but it’s not something I have ever really looked into until now – the odd recipe for sure but I wanted to experiment a little more. I’ll be honest I was very tempted to buy it there and then but I had a gift card at home which I wanted to use, so I decided to wait until I got home and order it online instead – I wasn’t disappointed but it wasn’t the same recipe book as I had seen in the store! A month later though we went back and I bought it plus three other cookbooks for a total of £20.00 hundreds of recipes in each, a bargain I couldn’t refuse. Turns out half the reason I didn’t think the one I bought online was the same is because it wasn’t, although both books have many of the same recipes, the one I bought in store has so many more. Including Caribbean recipes all yummy stuff any way this is one of the Mexican ones.

 

Cheese Stuffed Butterfly Steaks with Chilli Sauce

4 fresh serrano steak

115g/4oz/ ½ full fat Philadelphia

30ml/2tbsp tequila

30ml/2tbsp oil

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

5ml/1tsp dried oregano

2.5ml/ ½ tsp salt

2.5ml/ ½ tsp black pepper

175g/6oz/1 ½ cups cheese, cheddar

4 fillet steaks, at least 2.5cm/1” thick

1. Over a moderate heat, dry roast the chillies in griddle pan, turning them often. Until the skins have blistered but not burnt. Put them in a sturdy resealable, freezer bag, and seal so as to keep the steam in and place it to one side for 20 minutes to do its thing.
2. Take the chillies out of the bag, cut in half and scrap out all the seeds, and cut into long narrow strips, then cut them into shorter lengths.
3. Place the Philadelphia into a heavy based pan, and stir it over a low heat until melted, add the chilli and tequila and mix into a smooth sauce.
4. Cook the onion, garlic and oregano in the oil, over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring often until the onion has browned, season with salt and pepper.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated cheese so that it melts into the onion mixture.
6. Cut each steak almost but not quite all the way through, butterfly cut, because once it is opened up it looks like a butterfly, preheat the grill to highest setting, or use a George Foreman type grill if you have one.
7. Spoon ¼ of the cheese and the onion filling into each of the steaks and fold shut, Place the steaks under the grill for a few minutes each side 3-5, or 3-5 minutes on the George Foreman type grill in total, timing totally depends on how you like your steaks cooked. Serve with sides of your choice and the chilli cheese sauce.