This week, fajitas and margaritas.
The great things about fajitas and margaritas are
- They're easy
- They're delicious
- They rhyme
The really great thing, though, is that they make a great meal for a party. It seems everyone likes fajitas, and it's as easy to make them for a few people as a dozen. Also, fajitas are easily changed to satisfy personal prefernece; if someone doesn't like a particular ingredient, like peppers or onions, they can simply avoid it. A vegetarian can also easily make no-meat fajitas.
Also, while its really easy to make fajitas and margaritas, its nearly just as easy to make excellent fajitas and margaritas.
FAJITA INGREDIENTS
So, when I make fajitas, I like to use three different meats: skirt steak, boneless skinless chicken breats, and chorizo.
Skirt steak, I am convinced, was personally designed by God so that we could have delcious fajitas. Flank steak, being his first try at fajita meat, is an acceptable substitute, but skirt steak has to be twice as good. Because skirt steak can be tough, it is important to marinate it, and to cut it properly. (A marinade recipe and instructions on how to cut skirt steak properly are coming later).
Definitely buy chicken that is boneless and skinless. It will make your life easier. If you can find organic chicken, or chicken that was air-chilled, all the better. Healthier chicken tastes better.
Chorizo is a term for a wide variety of Spanish and Portugese pork sausages. Chorizos can be fresh, which means they need to be cooked (that is the type we will be using), or they can be cured, and then it can be simply sliced and eaten, or put on a sandwich, or whatever you want to do with cured sausage. What all chorizo's have in common is the inclusion of smoked dried red peppers, which gives the sausage a deep red color which survives the cooking process. Spanish chorizo will often also include smoked paprika, further contributing to a great smokey flavor and deep, deep red color.
Of course, if you don't eat beef, or pork, you can leave that out. You want to cook equal amounts, by weight, of whichever meats you choose to use, and you want between 1/2 and 2/3 of a lb of meat total per person you will be feeding. If you are only cooking for 2 or 3, it will be hard to buy small enough quantities. Don't try. Just buy too much and have leftovers.
I leave refried pinto beans out of this recipe because I think the meat gives enough substance to the dish. For vegetarian fajitas, I would definitely include them. Or black beans, or whatever bean suits your vegetarian fancy.
In terms of vegetables, you want to buy 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, and one onion (white, yellow, purprle, or a mix, your choice) for every 3 people. Thats just the base fajita vegetable mix. You will also want to buy a few peppers with more flavor than just bells. I like to include a couple of green hatch chiles, or a few anahiems, and cook them into the fajitas. I also like to add in 1 or 2 jalapenos. This is optional, of course, but recommended.
I also like to buy a wide variety of hotter peppers and cook them seperately, and make a sort of hot pepper relish. For this, I like 2 hatch chiles (not hot, but provide a base), and 2 jalapenos, 1 serrano, and 1/2 a habanero, and 1 can chipotle peppers. This pepper relish is not for the faint of heart. It will make you cry. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, skip out on the pepper relish. And yes, there are those of us out there who enjoy things so spicy it makes us cry. And you all thought "it hurts so good" meant something else entirely, didn't you?
For cooking and for the marinade, make sure you have fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, fresh limes, and plenty of a plain oil (vegetable or canola).
Lastly, on ingredients, you want to make sure you have all the little things that make fajitas so much fun to eat. Buy a few salsas, some guacamole, some sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, whatever you want. Also, dont forget tortillas.
COOKING THE FAJITAS
The first thing you want to do is the day before you plan to cook the fajitas. You will want to marinate the skirt steak overnight. If overnight is not an option, just marinate them for as long as you can before cooking. The marinade is very easy to prepare. I can't give you exact meausements, because I don't know how much you are cooking, but it doesnt really matter.
You only need enough liquid to completely cover the meat. The liquid should be equal parts fresh lime juice and plain oil. To that you will want to add a few fesh cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and some fresh chopped cilantro. If you bought chipotle peppers for the pepper relish, add about a teaspoon or 2 of the adobo sauce that came in the pepper can to the marinade. Take your steak, and coat it in the marinade. Then put the steak in a gallon ziploc bag, and pour in the remainder of the marinade. If there isnt enough to cover the meat, just add a little more oil.
The day you are going to make the fajitas, start by chopping all of the vegetables you are planning on cooking, and set them aside. If you are making the pepper relish, chop those peppers too.
DO NOT TOUCH THE PEPPERS AND THEN TOUCH YOUR EYES. EVER. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO THIS. YOUR EYES WILL BURN. WASH YOUR HANDS FIRST!! Serously, capsaicin (what makes peppers hot) and eyes do not play well together. Be very careful about this.
You also want to cut your chicken into very small pieces. I find this is easier if you put the chicken into the freezer about 20 minutes before cutting it. When it is all cut, let it thaw completely and then put it into a bowl of the same marinade as we used for the steak. Let it sit for about 15 minutes, then we will cook it.
Cook the steak first. Heat a large skillet to medium high heat, and put the steak in. Cook until medium rare, about 3-4 minutes a side, depending on hot hot your range is and your pan. 4 minutes is a recommendation, you may need to do 5, maybe even 6. Once the steak is done, set it aside, and tent it with foil. Leave it plenty of room to breath; you are just keeping it warm, not steam cooking it.
Now the chicken and the chorizo, and the vegetables. You want to cook the as much of the vegetables as possible with either the chicken or chorizo. So, all in one pan, two seperate pans, 4 pans, it doesnt really matter. Just make sure the chicken and chorizo are cooked all the way through. If you have to cook some of the vegetables seperataly, thats fine too.
For the pepper relish, heat a pan to medium high, and oil, and put in all the peppers at once. Also add all that remains of the adobo sauce from thh chipotles. If, when the peppers are cooked, it looks more like a pile of peppers than a relish, and some of your favorite salsa.
Now, cut the skirt steak. You want to cut on a bias, and against the grain of the meat. On a bias means on a diagonal. So, dont bring your knife down perpendicular to the steak. Instead, cut at about a 45-degree angle. In other words (or symbols) a side view of your steak should not look like this: ||||||||||| It should look like this: \\\\\\\\.
Cutting against the grain makes the meat more tender. For skirt and flank steak, cutting against the grain is the way most people would cut it anyway, creating short strips, not long ones.
Now, take a tortilla, warm it up, and fill it with deliciousness. Repeat. Repeat again.
MARGARITAS
These are the best margaritas you will ever have. 2 oz. Tequila, 1 oz. Orange Liquer, 4 oz. Sweet and Sour mix or Margarita mix, 1/2 oz. Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice, 1 squeeze of fresh lime. Salt the glass, and pour in. The better tequila and orange liquer you buy, the better the margarita. I like 1800 Reposado and Patron Citronge, but for a special occasion, Patron Reposado or 1800 Anejo and Gran Marnier. 3G's is also an excellent tequila.
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My favorite presentation? Strips of steak around the edge of a big platter, with chorizo and chicken and veggies in a big pile in the middle. Hot pepper relish and warmed tortillas on the sides, and lots of salsas to choose from. Remnants of margarita produciton also visable.
Ah, fajitas and margaritas. Good times for all. Comments open for questons, suggestions, ideas, critiques, and tips, of course. I am going to get some dinner, but I will be back to talk in the comments soon.
Also, make sure you foodie Kossacks also check out the Saturday series Whats for Dinner? It is an excellent food series.