FAJITAS
Barbecued skirt steak marinated in lime: a Tex-Mex favorite
Fajitas originated in Texas as a way to make cheap meat palatable.
Unfortunately, it was too successful. It is still palatable, but
because the word is out that fajitas are so delicious, the meat isn't
cheap any more. Because this is not a traditional Mexican dish but a
recent invention of Mexican immigrants, there is no fixed formula for
it. Many different kinds of marinade are used; this one is adapted from
a recipe given to a friend over the phone by Tortuga's in Austin, Texas.
Ingredients
(serves 8)
- 1.5 kg skirt steak
- 2 large yellow onions
- 30 ml vegetable oil
- 16 whole-wheat tortillas
- 250 g grated cheese
- 600 g guacamole
Marinade
- 250 ml lime juice
- 15 ml ground black pepper
- 20 g garlic,
minced
Pico
de
- 20 g fresh cilantro,
chopped
- 2 scallions,
chopped (green onions)
- 2 large tomatoes,
chopped
- 5 g garlic,
minced
Procedure
-
Combine marinade ingredients in a large glass baking dish.
-
Peel the fatty membrane from both sides of the skirt steak. This requires a
very sharp knife. Add meat to marinade and marinate for at least 4
hours, preferably overnight. Keep it in the refrigerator if you
marinate overnight.
-
Make the pico de gallo: combine all of the ingredients in a small
serving bowl.
-
Slice the yellow onions into
5-mm
slices, and cut each slice into a semicircle.
Grill the meat until it is cooked slightly less than the way you like
it. Meanwhile, sautae the onions in the oil until they are soft.
Use a large frying pan that will have enough room for the meat later.
-
After removing the meat from the grill, slice it into strips that are
cut across the grain. The strips should be
12-15 cm
long and
5 mm
thick. Add the strips to the onions in the pan, and fry for another
minute or two.
-
Place on the table the pan full of meat, the bowl of pico de
gallo, a basket with the tortillas, a bowl with the guacamole, and a
bowl with the grated cheese. You may wish to provide picante
sauce in addition.
-
Each person makes her own fajita by taking a tortilla, spooning some of
the meat onto it, then adding her choice of each of the other
ingredients in whatever combination she wants.
Notes
Skirt steak is somewhat like flank steak: somewhat tough, and with a
very stringy texture. It is covered on both sides with a fatty membrane
that must be removed or the meat will be very tough. The key to good
fajitas is the proper removal of this membrane.
Fresh-squeezed lime juice is best, but bottled will do.
Some people from out of state
choose to put sour cream on their fajitas.
Rating
Difficulty:
easy.
Time:
45 minutes preparation, several hours marinating, 10 minutes cooking.
Precision:
no need to measure.
Contributor
Elaine Rich
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Co., Austin, Texas
HI.Rich@MCC.COM
Recipe last modified: 20 Jul 86
Original header
Path: decwrl!recipes
From: HI.Rich@MCC.COM (Elaine Rich)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Fajitas
Message-ID: <5547@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 26 Sep 86 03:30:38 GMT
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Organization: Microelectronics and Computer Technology Co., Austin, Texas
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