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From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I’m travelling this week, so this will be quick. Grilled steak wrapped in a warm tortilla is a surefire winner for dinner at my house. Adding an herb paste takes it up a notch and makes a lesser cut of beef perfect for a taco or burrito meal.
Some additional ideas for other tacos/ burritos/fajitas:
Fresh from JeffreyW’s patio garden, Smoked Pork Tacos (pictured above and recipe here)
I made Homemade Fajita Seasoning to season either chicken or steak fajitas (recipe here)
And if you’re looking for something a little lighter, how about Naked Burritos? (click here) And the first person who goes for the easy joke has to do the dishes.
Also, in case you missed it, I have once again started posting a weekly dinner menu, complete with recipes and shopping lists on Mondays. First one is here.
With that I leave you to the comments. Tacos, burritos or fajitas, what’s your favorite? And what’s on your weekend menu?
Also, I would love to know what you like to grill on, as we move full speed into grilling season, I could use some recommendations for the perfect grill.
Now for the featured recipe:
Grilled Herbed Steak for Tacos or Burritos
Notes: Serve with either corn or flour tortillas and stuff with fresh garden items, such as tomatoes, lettuce, diced zucchini, grilled corn, and top with Fresh Garden Salsa (recipe here). And if you don’t like cilantro, there are alternatives offered at the bottom of the recipe.
Herb Paste
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves*
3 tsp crushed garlic
3 green onions
1 medium jalapeno, quartered – remove veins and seeds for milder, otherwise, use it all
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp fresh limejuicePulse in a food processor or blender, cilantro, garlic, scallions, jalapeño, and cumin until finely chopped. Add oil and process until mixture is smooth and resembles pesto. Transfer 2 tbsps of the herb paste to medium bowl; whisk in lime juice and set aside.
Steak
2 lbs flank steak – cut lengthwise (with grain) into 4 equal pieces (cooks quicker this way)
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oilUsing dinner fork or tenderizer, poke each piece of steak 10 to 12 times on each side. Place in large baking dish; rub all sides of steak pieces with salt and then coat with remaining herb paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator 5-10 minutes before cooking.
Using dinner fork or tenderizer, poke each piece of steak 10 to 12 times on each side. Place in large baking dish; rub all sides of steak pieces with salt and then coat with remaining herb paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator 5-10 minutes before cooking.
To cook: Scrape excess herb paste off steak and sprinkle all sides of pieces evenly with sugar and pepper. Sear steak pieces on the grill for 3 minutes, then turn and grill the other side for 3 minutes. Continue to cook (don’t turn more than one more time) until internal temperature registers 125 to 130 degrees, usually an additional 2 to 7 minutes. Transfer steak to cutting board and let rest 5 minutes.
To Serve: Using a carving knife, slice steak pieces across grain into 1/8-inch-thick pieces. Transfer sliced steak to bowl with herb paste-limejuice mixture and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve with tortillas and choice of vegetables, shredded cheese and salsa, etc. Garnish with additional limejuice if desired.
*If you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute celery leaves or fresh basil, or try a mixture of both.
That’s if for this week. Have fun!
Just Some Fuckhead
Bring
raven
Since I don’t eat the beef or pork I use the big pieces of fish I have in the freezer to make smoked fish tacos. I brine the fish for a couple of hours in salt water and put them on the water smoker. Soften corn torts and make a slaw out of shredded cabbage, mayo and Tabsasco Chipolte sauce. Use 2 torts.
Josie
@raven: That sounds really good. I love fish tacos. Do you use any seasoning when you brine the fish or just the salt? And do you use any salsa on the tacos?
Mike E
The Alton Brown skirt steak recipe is also quite good, where you marinate the beef overnight and place directly on a bed of de-ashed coals (1 min per side). Yum.
NotMax
Too much bother to fire up an outdoor grill (and drag all the ingredients and accoutrements outside) when cooking for just one, so have an electric indoor BBQ ceramic vessel that I drag out when grilling is demanded.
Works just as well as a gas or charcoal grill, and adding a little Liquid Smoke to the water reservoir it holds to catch drippings and keep them from flaming up provides the same grilled flavor layer.
Violet
@raven: Do you add lime when serving? I always think lime makes the fish taco.
Yatsuno
Your herb paste has another name: chimichurri. Just because it uses cilantro doesn’t mean it doesn’t count. There are thousands of variations of it, and each one is the only way to make it of course.
MomSense
I really want to try the herbed steak tacos–yum.
Planning to make barbecued shrimp tomorrow night. I’m not sure what I’ll serve with it–depends on the farmers’ market tomorrow morning.
1 bunch fresh cilantro
6-7 garlic cloves
juice and zest of 3 limes
salt and pepper
Food process the ingredients and place in a bowl or large ziploc bag with the shrimp and let them marinate several hours or more. Then put on skewers and grill.
You can substitute lemon for lime and sometimes I mix parsley and cilantro depending on what I have available.
Yatsuno
@MomSense: You just made Argentina’s heart smile. I love the chimichurri variations, they’re so adaptable. And tasty!
Svensker
I make something like your herb paste, only add an ancho chili and some lime/lemon juice, hold the butter. It should be a thick sauce, like a loose mayo. Rub lots over chicken parts and grill — even better if you let the chicken pieces sit in the paste for a few hours ahead of time. If you want it hotter, use more jalapeno. Serve with crema or sour cream if desired.
raven
@Josie: Sometimes I use 1/2 cup of sugar to 1 cup salt in a gallon of water. The slaw with chipotle dressing is more traditional for fish tacos even though traditional fish tacos are made with fried fish.
A Ghost To Most
@Mike E:
This. We make this almost every week.
raven
@Violet: I put them out, yea.
raven
Tabasco Chipotle.
MomSense
@Yatsuno:
And they smell like summer!
rikyrah
damn that looks good
Josie
@raven: Thanks. My son smokes brisket all the time, so I am going to ask him to smoke some fish for me. Yum.
NotMax
@Josie
Those wacky kids.
How does he keep it lit?
The Reverend Lowdown
It’s been so hot up here in Northern WI that I just don’t want to use my stove and heat up the whole place, so I have been grilling non-stop. My favorite, so far this summer, is taking a pork loin, seasoning with olive oil, s&p, and a spice mixture called tandoori masala. I grill that bad boy perfectly and then top with a shrimp etouffee. The etoufee is pretty simple, basically a Cajun shrimp gravy with some veggies. Serve with rice. The smokey taste of the grill, that wonderful texture of a grilled pork loin, a little bit spicy and shrimp! So incredible. I’ve been making this once a week
Josie
@NotMax: Lol. Good lung power.
mclaren
Who the hell can afford steak in this economy?
What’s your next recipe, white alba truffles covered with Belgian chocolate and garnished with macadamia nuts and matsutake mushrooms and served on a nice pair of sliced yubari melons?
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
A 5 yr old of any age. Xmas ruined. I think that is the entire point isn’t it?
mclaren
How about some recipes that don’t require $15 worth of ingredients?
Cheese enchiladas: $1 bargain chili powder, $1 bargain garlic powder, $3 worth of cheese (makes 6 enchilads), a 48 cent can of tomato sauce, $1 for 10 corn tortillas. $7 total for 2 meals.
Christ on a minibike, we’re in a fucking major depression. Posting these insanely extravagant steak taco recipes just shows us how completely out of touch all the Balloon Juice front pages are with the average person. No wonder the goddamn Republicans keep winning elections. It’s nothing but fucking brie and chablis with you entitled privileged motherfuckers, isn’t it? “Democrat” is starting to mean “I’ve got mine, fuck you.”
Joseph Nobles
@mclaren: Maybe if you cancelled your Internet, you could afford steak.
Mnemosyne
@mclaren:
I paid $15 for flank steak at Trader Joe’s and got four meals out of it. I win.
Now, pork — that shit’s expensive.
I am not a kook
@mclaren: Fuck you you fucking elitist with your elitist cheese.
I’m in a major clinical depression and all I can get up the energy to eat is bananas and oatmeal. If you had any decency at all, you wouldn’t come here to flout your fucking enchiladas like a Republican.
How dare you insult me so?
keestadoll
One of the greatest things about growing up south of San Clemente CA (ie: Oceanside, San Diego, etc) is the existence of the (Baja-style) Carne Asada burrito. Anyone growing up in the area knows EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Likewise, the greatest tragedy is moving from that region and finding no taco shop that makes them that way–no one. One of my quests, since moving to Humboldt County was to find a recipe that could nail that particular burrito nirvana. I finally found one. To those who’ve had a La Posta/Roberto’s carne asada burrito and had to tragically leave them behind, this recipe is for you. NOTE: it’s a sin to add rice and beans to this. It’s perfection as-is.
http://onestopcook.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/carne-asada-burrito-with-guacamole-and-pico-de-gallo/
keestadoll
WHOOPS! He’s updated his chef blog site! Here’s the carne asada burrito link:
http://davidsfreerecipes.com/carne-asada-burrito#comment-12859
Reformed Panty Sniffer
TaMara;
Thanks for all your recipe postings. They keep me interested in cooking on the weekends. Love these recipes, especially. The steak taco one reminds me of my favourite Mexican food cart in NYC (see https://twitter.com/ETRAVAGANZA).
Flank steak makes for really good taco/burrito fare.
Cheers