Friday’s Recipe

Steak Fajitas

Classic Tex Mex, fajitas are typically made with marinated and then grilled flank or skirt steak with onions and bell peppers, and served sizzling hot on fresh tortillas with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.

You can make fajitas with steak or chicken, or even just veg. Here’s a quick and easy recipe for steak fajitas, in before any grumbling starts. I was tempted to throw down to gitarcarver and his pressure cooker on this one, but he’s humbled me before. Lesson learned.

Steak Fajitas

You’ll need:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil.
1 pound of flank steak, skirt steak or carne asada.
1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced.
2-3 bell peppers of various colors, stemmed, seeded, de-ribbed, sliced lengthwise into strips.
Salt, fresh ground pepper.

You’ll also need for the marinade:
Juice of 1 lime.
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.
1/2 – 2 fresh jalapeño pepper(s), seeded, ribs removed, finely chopped (be careful not to touch your eyes or anywhere else you are fond of after handling a jalapeño).
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, including stems.

You’ll do:
1) Marinate the steak: Mix all marinade ingredients. Coat the steak with the marinade and let it sit at room temperature for an hour, or longer in the fridge.

Before you cook the meat, wipe off most of the marinade and sprinkle the steak with seal salt and pepper.

2) Sear the steak on both sides: Set a large cast iron pan or charcoal grill over high heat and let this heat up for 1-2 minutes. Add the tablespoon of oil to the pan and let this heat up for 1 minute, or wipe the grill using tongs and an oily paper towel.

Grill the steak on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak.

Remove from pan/grill and let rest tented with foil, until ready for slicing.

3) Cook the vegetables while the meat is resting. Add a little more oil to the pan or wipe the grill, if necessary, then add the onions and bell peppers.

Let these sear for 1 minute, then flip/stir every 90 seconds or so as the veggies sear. Cook for 5-6 minutes total.

4) Thinly slice the meat across the grain at about a 45 degree angle. These cuts of steak are flavorful but can be a little tough, so thin slices will really help make it easier to eat.

5) Serve immediately on warm flour tortillas with shredded cheese, salsa, shredded iceberg lettuce, sour cream, and/or guacamole. (Hint for warming tortillas – nuke in microwave over a paper towel for 20 seconds on high heat.)

Serve with refried or black beans and rice, and cerveza fría. Hat tip to Elise Bauer.

Category: Cooking