Grilling: Fajitas
Editor's note: Ladies and gents, make friends with Joshua Bousel. He's a certified grilling geek. And that's a compliment; this guy takes the flame seriously. He'll be dropping by each week with a recipe for you to fire up for yourself. Let the flames begin! --Adam Kuban
In my mind there are two seasons each year: grilling season and the other. Although I wish I had started sooner, Cinco de Mayo on Monday marked the arrival of the former, and I could think of no better way to celebrate the holiday than grilling fajitas.
Alton Brown's fajita recipe has served me well for years now, time and again producing the best fajitas I've had in New York City, where I live and where good Mexican options are notoriously lacking. It's also the perfect recipe for some weekday celebration, with a quick-and-easy marinade and the fast-cooking skirt steak, one of my favorite cuts of beef. It was no surprise to me that these, once again, came out absolutely delicious, bursting with beefy goodness that's topped with a flavor that transports me to ... someplace with better Mexican food.
Although Cinco de Mayo was duly celebrated, what I'm going to remember most from this holiday is the second I placed those steaks over the hot coals, got one whiff, then excitedly ran back into the house and belted out to all who would listen, "I really love to grill!" Yes, it's that time of year again.
Fajitas
Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 scallions, washed and cut in half
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons dark-brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar
2 pounds inside skirt steak, cut into 3 equal pieces
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
2 green bell peppers, cut into strips
1 large white onion, cut into strips
Olive oil
Salt
Sour cream
Fajita-size flour tortillas
Procedure
1. Place all marinade ingredients in a blender and puree. Put pieces of skirt steak in a large ziplock bag and pour marinade all over. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible and allow the steak to marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
2. Heat 1 chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and start grilling the steak immediately, while the fire is at its hottest. Grill on each side 3-5 minutes. Remove the steak from the grill and wrap in tin foil and allow to rest 10-15 mins.
3. While the steak is resting, toss the peppers and onion with some olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place a cast iron skillet directly on the hot coals in the grill, and when heated, add in the peppers and onions. Continue to cook until they are soft and nicely browned.
4. Heat the tortillas on the grill or in the oven until soft. Assemble fajitas with the vegetables, steak, and a bit of sour cream.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
11 Comments:
Nice, Joshua! Look forward to more.
Can we talk charcoal? Kingsford briquets, my longtime standby, got "new and improved" a few years ago. It now burns too hot and imparts a nasty chemical taste to the food. (This is the regular, not the Match Light, which has always been nasty.)
Until/unless I find a replacement, I'm sticking with lump hardwood charcoal. Any briquet suggestions from fellow grilling geeks?
Cathy at 11:22AM on 05/07/08
we don't grill with anything but lump hardwood, it just can't be beat.
skirt steak fajitas as the best. for those lazy days, the 3-chili marinated skirt steak from fresh direct makes most excellent fajitas.
thursdaynightsmackdown at 11:36AM on 05/07/08
I always find myself turning to Alton Brown, sometimes accidentally. Like, I accidentally did an Alton Brown Super Bowl this year.
Good to read you on Serious Eats, Josh. Let the Meatwave begin.
Phlipper at 12:01PM on 05/07/08
@Cathy: I used to exclusively use lump charcoal, but when I started doing more smoking than grilling, I switched to Kingsford because they burnt so much longer and at a more consistent temperature. To this day, I cannot find a briquette as good as Kingsford.
They do give off that nasty chemical smell, I think this is part of the "Improved" formula for faster lighting. I avoid any chemical smell or taste it may impart on food by letting them burn until they're covered with ash, which kind of negates any faster lighting claim, since it takes about 20-30 min for them to really be ready.
Lump charcoal lights much faster, leaves little ash, and doesn't have any chemical smell/taste concerns. So if you're strictly grilling, I would almost always recommend going with lump (I use Kingsford exclusively just so I don't have to drag two different types of charcoal home from the store and then find a place to store them in my small apartment).
Joshua Bousel at 12:55PM on 05/07/08
@Phlipper: I always find myself to turning Alton (or Cook's Illustrated) too. It's hard not to when almost all of their recipes turn out delicious on the first try.
Joshua Bousel at 1:47PM on 05/07/08
@Joshua: Too funny! I've always used lump charcoal for smoking (long, slow burn, no residue). I think I'll stick with it for grilling too; it's nice to be able to start cooking before all the coals are lit, which isn't the case with briquets.
I've found that even letting all the "improved" Kingsford briquets ash over doesn't quite eliminate the chemical smell.
I store lump in a tightly covered Rubbermaid trash can that I keep in the yard.
Cathy at 4:49PM on 05/07/08
What kind of a grilling geek waits until May to fire up the flames? Year round brother! Snow makes for great slow cooking conditions!
SmokedMeat at 11:58AM on 05/08/08
I wonder if anyone has worked up the nerve to do it the way Alton does - by placing the steak directly on the coals...?? I certainly haven't yet...
jkiller5150 at 3:16PM on 05/08/08
@SmokedMeat: You're totally right, I hang my head in shame for not doing more winter grilling. What can I say, winter just breeds laziness in me, and I end up doing most of my grilling indoors. I have 2 cast iron grills so I can convert my entire stove top into a big grill and get things done that way.
Joshua Bousel at 4:02PM on 05/08/08
@Cathy - here's an interesting review of the Old and New Kingsford:
Old Kingsford vs. New Kingsford
Personally, I've been using Royal Oak Briquettes - also sold at Ace Hardware as their house brand "Ace Briquettes".
@Joshua - Looking forward to seeing more of your posts! Skirt steak, yum. We like it with Chimmichurri sauce.
hotsaucedaily at 12:26PM on 05/15/08
Josh, You are a grilling god! See ya at Meatwave.
chicken thighs at 2:47PM on 05/18/08