By Lara Kimbrall

My favorite restaurant in Houston must be Café Red Onion. I discovered it over 10 years ago when it was just a meek little place in a strip mall off of the North-West Freeway. The dining area was small, but quaint, and you rarely had to wait for a table. Then a Houston Chronicle food critic visited and that all changed. The food was just as excellent, but it was nearly impossible to get a table. There are now multiple locations around the city with fancier and larger dining areas, but the food is still the same: simply fabulous.

He had the Brazilian Chicken.

The Café features Latin Infusion Cuisine. The dishes served are a playground for the palate and feature flavors from Latin America. When they seat you, you’re soon met with a basket of chips and two bowls of salsa. One is the traditional red, tomato salsa while the other is the most delicious blend of pineapple and cilantro that’s ever met a tortilla chip. You can get a jar to go for your own hoarding pleasure.

Here is the Medallions de Beef Colombia.One of my favorite dishes the chef offers is Medallions de Beef Colombia. As stated on the menu, it is a, “4-ounce medallion of filet mignon, coated with fresh roasted ground coffee, seared on a hot skillet, served over a mango BBQ sauce. Comes with grilled veggies, plantains and fried onions.” And each plate is presented as edible art. It is almost too pretty to eat. ALMOST, I say! Because my beloved Café is now a 90 minute drive away from me, I must do what I can to bring the Café to me. So I endeavored to do just that. After my gluttonous indulgence, I have to say that I’ve got it pretty darn close. Here’s what I did.

First, I prepared the mango barbecue sauce. I really tried to maintain the right balance of sweetness, fire, and acidity in the sauce. You can adjust the acidity and fire to suit your tastes. I think the sweetness of the mango is just right.

Mango BBQ Sauce

2 tablespoons butter

1 mango skinned and diced

1/2 red onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups ketchup

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1-2 chipotle peppers in Adobo, diced

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Add diced mango, onion, and garlic. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until the onions are tender. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and cool for 5 minutes. Pour sauce into blender and pulse until smooth.

Be careful when chopping the chipotles. They are full of Adobo sauce, and they will squirt you. Wear an apron or old shirt for this!

Ok, next you’ll need to get your onions ready.

Mash ‘em down in there!

Fried Onions

1 large sweet onion

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon salt

Slice a sweet onion very thinly into rings. Pour buttermilk into a large shallow dish. Add onions and allow to sit for at least 1 hour. Stir midway through if the onions are not totally submerged. (Note: If you do not have buttermilk, you can use 2 cups of regular milk + 2 teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice. Let the milk sit for 5 minutes and you will have a perfectly usable substitute for buttermilk.)

Season the flour. Heat several inches of vegetable oil in a pot or fryer to 375 degrees. Dunk a handful of onions into the flour. Coat them well and shake off any excess flour. Fry until crispy and golden.

Remove to a baking sheet with baking rack. This will allow the oil to drain away, yet keep the onion rings crispy. Hold in a 200 degree oven until ready to plate.

For the salsa, let me show you how I dice avocados. Halve an avocado and remove the seed. Then before scooping it out, run your knife lengthwise 4 or 5 times then across the width to dice. Then you can scoop it out with a spoon. Easy!

Corn-Mango Salsa

1 cup fresh corn, blanched

1/3 cup black beans, cooked and rinsed

2 Tablespoons Cilantro, roughly chopped

1 mango, diced

1 avocado, diced

1 lime

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss to coat ingredients. Chill until ready to plate.

So where’s the beef? Now we’re getting to the good part. At Café Red Onion, they pan sear the beef, but because it was such a totally gorgeous day and I love to grill… I grilled it outside.

I use a charcoal starter with some old newspaper that I’ve saved. I don’t believe in lighter fluid. Yuck!

Let it burn until the top coals are starting to turn white. You want all of the coals to light.

Then dump it into your pit, and put the lid on for a few minutes to get the grill nice and hot. Remember to let air in through the vents or your fire will smother out. Fires need oxygen.

Colombian Filet Mignon

4 medallions of filet mignon

1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh roasted ground coffee

2 zucchini, sliced on the bias ½” thick

2 yellow squash, sliced on the bias ½” thick

1 red bell pepper, quartered

2 ripe plantains

I grilled my veggies first, so that I wouldn’t need to crowd the steaks or hold the steaks in the oven. To my sliced veggies, I simply added a sprinkle of sea salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Toss to coat, then spread them over the hot coals.

Grill for 5 minutes or so and turn them.

Cook them until they are done to your liking. Then place in a pan and cover tightly with foil. Place them in the warm oven to hold. While they hang out, the red bell peppers will steam and loosen from their blistered skin. Remove the skin before serving.

Lightly season the filets with salt and pepper. Rub the freshly ground coffee onto both sides of each steak.

The “naked” steak is for the kiddo. He’s not into coffee yet.

Grill until they are cooked to your liking. We like them cooked medium. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the meat, the temp of your coals, and the desired doneness.

Use a meat thermometer. It’s the only way to know for sure, and they’re cheap and available in your grocery store. You can go all out at the “man store” and get a wireless, digital meat thermometer, but the old round poke in kind has never failed me.

Now it’s presentation time! Woohoo!

Place about ¼ cup of mango bbq sauce on the center of your plate. Place a handful of onion rings on top of the sauce. Place a filet mignon on the onions. Fan some grilled veggies around the side of the mountain. Top it off with some corn and mango salsa over the top. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Look on and smile, then dig in, my friend!

It took some time and effort, but it was totally worth it! Now can someone please clean my kitchen? Please?

Now… what to cook tonight???

Keep lovin’ and keep cookin’.

SNS Contributor Lara Kimbrell is a modern, old-fashioned girl who loves to cook for her family and is known in certain circles as “Physicschick”.  You can read more of her work at her website, http://ifyouloveitfeedit.com/