It's FAJITA NIGHT!!

Ah yes, fajita night, the evening that's almost as good as taco night. Or at least that's the way I used to think of it--that is until I discovered what one amazing marinade can do to steak, fish, chicken, you name it! A few simple ingredients can turn an ordinary meal into a great foodie adventure!!


Okay, so maybe that sounds a little cheesy but, let's be honest, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to try Mexican, Italian, Japanese, and so on (you get the picture) cuisine at home then it is to travel halfway across the globe. Sometimes it's fun to be a little adventurous with your cooking. So instead of splurging on that week-long cruise to through the Gulf coast, why not splurge on a few exotic spices!


So, let's get on with this recipe!


It's FAJITA NIGHT:

Ingredients:

1 medium white or yellow onion

1 bell pepper

1-2 cloves of garlic

olive oil

1 lime

salt and pepper

two servings sirloin (or whichever cut of beef you prefer)

1 tsp. of cumin

1/2 tsp. of dried oregano

cayenne pepper to your taste

tortillas

a handful of fresh cilantro

(salsa, guacamole, chimichurri...all yummy things you can top your fajita with!)

Directions:

The night before serving you want to begin marinating your protein. The marinade is pretty simply composed of the juice of one lime, about a quarter cup of olive oil (or 3 times as much as the lime juice) and a heavy pinch of salt and pepper. Combine ingredients together and store in the fridge over night in a heavy ziploc bag. I like to keep mine in a bowl as well, just in case any meat decides to make a run for it.

You want to take your meat out of the fridge when you start preparing everything else for dinner just to take the chill off of it. That way it will sear up really yummily!

Now, below I have what I like to call the "dream team" of this recipe: garlic, lime, onion, and bell pepper as well as oregano, cumin, and cayenne pepper. I love the way smokey spices, like cumin, really add a great flavor to Mexican dishes. And these lovely veggies (or fruits) and spices really kick up the flavor of these fajitas!

First you want to begin by slicing up your onion and your bell pepper pretty thinly and shoot for about the same size for both. I usually just halve the onion and make thin slices, running from the top to the bottom of the onion, and julienne the bell pepper.

Now when it comes to the garlic, well, that I'll leave up to you. I personally love the flavor of garlic so I chop mine up pretty finely and saute it in with the peppers and onions. However, if you prefer a little less garlic flavor (don't worry, I won't judge you) then just crush the cloves, throw them in whole and remove them after peppers and onions saute.

First you want to saute the bell peppers in about a tbs. of olive oil for about 5 minutes or so, until they're starting to become tender but still maintain their lovely greenliness. 

Once the peppers are, welll, "al dente" go ahead and add the onions and the garlic. The reason I add these later mainly has to do with the cooking time of the onion and the tendency that garlic has to burn if added straight away. You want to let the onions and the peppers cook together for another five minutes or so before adding the salt, pepper and spices.

And yes, I know that looks like a ton of onions but I promise they'll begin to settle down shortly!

You can see below that after those five minutes of cooking the onions are starting to cook down and turn translucent. At this point you want to go ahead and add the spices! Yum yum!

To the onions and the peppers I added 1 tsp. of cumin, 1/2 tsp. of dried oregano, and I like 1/4 tsp. of cayenne pepper. But just be aware that cayenne pepper can get really spicy, really fast! So consider this your warning. Do it to your tastes, but be careful. That is seriously hot!

In the mean time, heat up your grill and prepare your toppings. For me, that's chopped fresh cilantro, lime zest and some lime juice! Yum! But be creative, this is really up to you. I mean, that's half the fun!

Go ahead and grill your steak to your liking, I like mine about medium to medium-rare. Yum...

Top your protein with your onions and peppers mixture and whatever other toppings you're adding. Roll it up and enjoy!!

Mmm...steak fajitas!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Sorry it's taken me so long to update this blog but you'll be rewarded for your patience with lots of yummy recipes to come (and maybe some dorky YouTube videos as well...prepare yourself).

Until next time and, as always, buon appetito!