Steak Fajitas with Habanero Pumpkin Picante

Ingredients
10-14 oz steak
fresh cilantro
fresh sage
butter
kosher salt, fresh ground pepper
2 cans of black beans
1 large yellow onion
1 ear of fresh corn
1 yellow tomato, chopped roughly and seeded.
1 red tomato, diced.
2 habanero peppers
lime juice
large flour tortillas
spanish rice or saffron (yellow) rice
1 small pumpkin
1 clove of elephant garlic or two cloves regular garlic

Directions
This recipe is made in 3 parts - bean dip, steak, and pumpkin picante sauce.

Bean dip
Boil your ear of corn and cut the kernels into a bowl. Heat your beans in a covered pot on very low simmer. Chop up the onion into small pieces and finely dice the garlic.  Saute the garlic and onions in an iron skillet for 2 minutes on high heat, stirring frequently.  Place 3/4s of the mixture into the beans and set the rest aside. Add red tomato and corn.  Stir in chopped cilantro, salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste.  On a separate cutting board (and using gloves), finely chop the habanero peppers, discarding the seeds.  Put 1/2 of the habanero in the bean dip and the other half with the onions and garlic set aside.  You may want to use only 1  habanero if you want the heat to be milder.  Keep the bean dip on a very low simmer.

Steak
Rub the steak with salt and pepper. Place a little butter in your iron skillet (along with just a little onion and garlic) and turn up the heat to medium high. Drop the steak in and sprinkle with leaves of sage. Cook briefly (2 minutes) on each side.  A splash of wine doesn't hurt here. Take the steak out and set aside the sage butter gravy - you can use that with potatoes or something in the future.  Chop the steak into strips.  It should be medium rare to rare, but with a nice cooked exterior. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel and return the strips to the skillet cooking at high heat for just a minute or two.  Set aside.

Pumpkin picante
You will be using about half of your pumpkin - 2-3 cups.  Cut the hard exterior off as best as you can, getting down to the yellow.  Now cut the pumpkin up into square chunks, discarding anything on the inside. Steam the pumpkin for 7-10 minutes until soft. Put in a blender or processer. Add your remaining onions, garlic, and habanero in. Add a little salt and pepper and some lime juice. Add yellow tomato.  Blend up into a fine sauce.

Toast your tortillas a bit and add some rice, beans, and steak.  Top with the pumpkin picante and sour cream, cheese, fresh cilantro, etc, to taste.  Wrap up and serve with edible orange and yellow flowers for garnish.

Switch Witch Notes
The hubby and I love fall.  It's our favorite season, it's when we got married, etc.  This year, we decided to declare the autumnal equinox a holiday, and spent the day decorating the house with pumpkins, gourds, foddershocks, hay bales, etc., and generally celebrating fall.  For dinner, we (by which I mean he, because he's the main chef in our house) decided to make a special seasonal dish, and this is what he came up with on the spur of the moment.  It's unbelievably tasty.  The habaneros may seem a bit intimidating, but the sweetness of the pumpkin and fresh corn in this dish really soften the heat and help bring out the delicious flavor of the pepper.  If you have any questions about the recipe, feel free to drop us an email. :)