We spent the day with my mom and dad last Saturday. It was a day full of projects and shopping, and by day’s end it was time for some food. There is a general indecisiveness that creeps into situations like these. The conversation goes something the scene in Jungle Book: “What do you want? I dunno. What do you want?” and on and on. So, instead of going out (which seems to be the default on days like today) I went to the grocery store. It was time to make some home made Mexican food. Namely, steak tacos.
I have been working on perfecting steak for fajitas and tacos. I have used different cuts of meat trying to find the right one…asking someone would have been too hard…and have finally landed on skirt steak. I got the idea from Marixa. Marixa’s favorite restaurant steak meal (Carne Asada) is from a wonderful Mexican food place called Mama Rojas in Oklahoma City. After having that meal with her I have been on a skirt steak crusade.
The ingredients: One pound of skirt steak. Fajita seasoning (your choice). A hot grill.
After rubbing the steak down with the seasoning, I let the steaks cook until they were just pink in the center (3-4 minutes per side, depending on how thick the steak is). I took them off the grill and let them rest for a few. As I was cutting the steak into pieces for tacos, I took a bite. Falling down in the kitchen is not recommended, but the steak was that good.
I added sauted onions and peppers with the meal as well as some Spanish rice. It was so very good. The trick to all of it was the cut of meat. The dry rub mixed with those skirt steaks blew me away. It is nice to have pleasant surprises in the kitchen. Sure beats things blowing up! I am sure there are fancier ways of making this meal, but it didn’t need it. I am actually wondering if it is too soon to have them again!
David Willis 