Steak Fajitas

Description:

Fajitas are one of the most well-known and popular Tex-Mex foods that can be found across the United States. This dish has its origins in the 1930’s from Mexican cowboys working in Texas, who grilled pieces of skirt steak that were eaten with tortillas This recipe is an adaptation from Ninfa’s, one of the original restaurants in Texas to popularize fajitas. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive or vegetable oil (5 ml)

• 1 medium onion, sliced

• 1 red bell pepper, sliced

• Refried Beans (see recipe)

• Flour tortillas (see recipe)

• Mexican rice (see recipe)

• Sour cream

Marinade

• 2 lb. skirt steak (1 kg)

• Juice of one orange

• Juice of 1 lemon

• ¼ cup pineapple juice (60 ml)

• ¼ cup soy sauce (60 ml)

• ¼ cup vegetable or olive oil (60 ml)

• ½ tsp black pepper (3 g)

• ½ tsp salt (3 g)

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 tsp Chili powder (6 g)

 Guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados

• ½ small onion, diced

• 1 small handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

• 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, finely diced

• Juice of 1 lime

• Salt

Pico de Gallo

• 3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

• ½ large white onion (diced fine)

• 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, finely diced

• 1 small handful cilantro leaves, finely chopped

• Juice of 1 lime

• Salt

Preparation:

To make pico de gallo, mix all ingredients together in a bowl and season to taste with salt. If you don’t like it too spicy, remove the seeds and membranes from the jalapeno.

To make guacamole, add all ingredients to a bowl. Using a fork, mash everything together until no lumps remain. Season to taste with salt.

Mix all marinade ingredients together and let steak marinade for at least an hour, up to 8 hours. In a grill, grill pan, or a cast-iron pan with 1 tsp (5 ml) of oil, cook on high heat for around 2 minutes on each side. Rest for 10 minutes, then slice against the grain to make the steak more tender.

In a pan, preferably cast iron, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the peppers and onions and season with salt. Stir frequently and cook until vegetables are softened and slightly caramelized.

To serve, you can bring out all of the different sides for a family-style dinner, which is a very common way to serve fajitas. In many southwest restaurants, it is traditional to bring the vegetables and sliced steak to the table in a sizzling hot cast-iron skillet.

Notes:

• You can also make this recipe with chicken breast instead of steak.