Carne Asada Steak Tacos

photo 3Taco Tuesday is a long-standing tradition in our house. As we start to get the pockets of good weather in Seattle I get more and more excited about one of my favorite things, roof top grilling. Now, we are not just your casual  everyday grill people. We’re Californian, which means we’re dedicated grillers;  we grill in all-weather! Neither rain, nor sleet nor wind or snow shall keep us from the grill! True story, my dad’s been known to put on his boots and grill in the SNOW! Luckily Taco Tuesday was somewhat sunny so the grilling experience was more leisurely than it is when you’re all out fighting wind or snow.

As you may have seen from this weeks Mango Salsa post, I had some Carne Asada tacos at our local Farmers Market and that started the obsession fever. They were amazing tacos and I had to try my hand at replicating that amazing experience. I’m happy to report, this little recipe made it in the top 5 BEST MEALS EVER list from the mister! Even I was speechless after my first bite…and realized that my biggest problem in life at the moment was that I didn’t have a bigger stomach!

Carne Asada Steak Tacos with Pico De Gallo, Grilled Cabbage Slaw
(Various parts of recipe adapted from Food Network)

Flank Steak: 

2 pounds flank or skirt steak, trimmed of excess fat
1 large baking dish, to prepare
1 large ziplock bag, to marinate
1 recipe Mojo, recipe follows
Olive oil, for coating the grill
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mojo:
5 garlic cloves, minced*
1/2 jalapeno, minced
2 large handfuls fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 limes, juiced
1 orange, juiced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

For Serving:
Tortillas (We ” Home-Style” flour tortillas)
Cilantro
Lime wedges
Cheese
Pico de Gallo, recipe here
Grilled Cabbage Slaw, recipe here
Mango Salsa, recipe here

*Conversions for garlic if you don’t have the fresh stuff: 1 clove = 1 teaspoon chopped garlic = 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic = 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder = 1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes = 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic = 1/2 teaspoon garlic juice

Directions
If you are using the Pico de Gallo, Cabbage Slaw, or Mango Salsa prepare all of the herbs and veggies at the same time before you prepare the meat. Getting all the chopping done at once makes the job easier and all of these dishes and side dishes are better when they’re left to marinate for a while!

To make the mojo, wash and chop all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Lay steak out in a large baking dish and lightly coat with black pepper then pour the mojo over the steak making sure to spread out the clumps of cilantro and garlic. Fold the top of your plastic bag over itself twice, to keep any juices from interfering with the zip lock seal. Fold the meat over itself in quarters, with the mojo on the inside, and place in the plastic bag. Pour remaining mojo juices over the meat. Seal the bag and refrigerate for 1- 8 hours. I prefer a longer marinate time so the juices really soak into the meat, but don’t marinate longer than 8 hours as the citrus in the mojo will break down the delicate cut of meat and render it mushy.

Once you’re ready to cook the meat, pre-heat the grill and start a pan on the stove to cook the cabbage slaw. (You can also broil the meat, but we prefer to grill if that option is available). Brush the grill with olive oil to keep the meat from sticking. Grill (or broil) the steak for 7 to 10 minutes per side, turning once, until medium-rare. (At once you do the first turn, you can get out the toppings and have them ready.) Remove the steak to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes to allow the juices to settle. Thinly slice meat, heat up tortillas over open flame on the stove and assemble a masterpiece!

 

Shake & Bake…Homestyle

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We don’t do freezer dinners. Actually, we don’t really use our freezer. If you were to take an inventory you’d find a LOT of homemade Limoncello, Jägermeister, a box of frozen waffles and ice. Hungry man dinners were created for a reason… luckily the man of the house has his own short order chef to replace a TV dinner and microwave love child.

Being little miss do it yourself, I couldn’t bring myself to give up a chance to “make it from scratch”. If it gives you any indication about my infatuation with DIY food, a few of my other make from scratch adventures yet to come: wheat thins, graham crackers, english muffins and beet chips. So, when presented with the request for Shake & Bake, I flew to the bloggosphere and found a recipe to tweak!

Homestyle Shake & Bake
Yield: 1 cup  = one chicken breast 

IMG_06001 cups dry bread crumbs (can be gluten-free too!!)
1 tsp paprika
few grins of fresh black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic
small pinch of: dried basil, dried parsley. oregano
1 egg, beat with a dash of olive oil
(the recipe also said to include 1 part celery salt to half part garlic salt to 1/4 part minced onion. I had none of these so I simply omitted)

 

 

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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large resealable plastic bag combine the crumbs, oil, salt, paprika, celery salt, pepper, garlic salt, minced garlic, minced onion, basil, parsley and oregano.

Dip the chicken breast in the egg it in egg.

Place no more than two chicken breasts in bag, seal and shake all ingredients together.

Bake the breasts for 20 minutes if the chicken is boneless, or 45 minutes if it does have bone, or until the internal temperature reaches 165-170.

Roasted Fennel Pasta with Tomato Dressing

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, because if I did then my number one AND two would have been broken for the past few YEARS: cook through my recipes and cook with more diverse foods! Thanks to Presidents Day, a little holiday afforded me the time and the inspiration to try TWO new recipes! Something possessed me to pick up fennel at the market this week and while I can’t remember actually consciously eating fennel up to now something in me decided that we needed to cook it!

Keeping with the homemade and new recipes theme, I found a delicious tomato dressing/compote recipe  Martha Stewart.com (link below) and what was it drizzled over? That’s right…fennel. It was a sign from the cooking gods! Below I’ve worked in both recipes into the overall preparation of the meal but will have links to the specific recipes below.  The recipe below served 3 people healthy portions but there was only leftover pasta. If you want leftovers to enjoy I suggest doubling the fennel and sauce portion of the meal.

This meal is Meat-free, dairy-free (if you omit the Parmesan like I do) AND Vegan; if you use gluten-free bread & pasta it’s also a gluten-free option as well! Look at the endless possibilities!

 

 

Ingredients

Pasta

  • 1/2 package pasta of your choice ( I used Angel Hair)

Garlic Bread

  • Whatever rustic loaf you like
  • Optional- Parmesan or Dairy Free Cheese for the garlic bread.We love the grated blend  Parmesan from DeLaurenti that we pick up fresh from Pike Place

Roasted Fennel

  • 3 fennel bulbs (choose with thick base), stalks cut off, bulbs sliced
  • EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Tomato Dressing:

  • EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
  • 10 ounces (1-pint container) grape or cherry tomatoes
  • minced garlic (to taste in all recipes, I don’t measure much!)
  • 2/3 cup dry red wine
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
  2. Chop top of fennel stock off, wash bulb and cut as shown below. (Note, the lovely photography is from the Simply Recipes site, I didn’t remember to take a photo of this step). You can wash your tomatoes at this time also if you’d like.
  3. Lay out baking sheet with aluminum foil over it. Toss the fennel in olive oil. This time I used a bowl to coat, which resulted in a bit too much olive oil on the fennel, next time I suggest laying out on a baking sheet and brushing with an OXO Basting Brush.
  4. Crack fresh pepper over fennel and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
  5. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until fennel is caramelized.
  6. Prep the garlic bread on aluminum foil so it’s ready to put in the oven! I use my handy dandy Misto Sprayer and spray some EVOO over the bread, drizzle with minced garlic, fresh cracked pepper, and dried parsley. If you’re doing cheese (Being lactose intolerant I don’t use the cheese but it’s still quite delicious!)  add the cheese on the top.
  7. When fennel has about 25 minutes left start the water to  boil the water for the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti when the water boils and cook to your desired tenderness.
  8. In a medium pan, drizzle olive oil for the tomato dressing over medium heat. Add the tomatoes when the pan is hot. Make sure you keep swirling the pan around so that all the skins have a chance to cook.
  9. Add the garlic, red wine, and balsamic vinegar to the dressing pan, mixing well. Simmer until the liquid reduces and tomatoes start to get soft (about 5 minutes). At this step I cut the tomatoes in half with my spatula to allow the juices to mix.
  10. Stir in sugar, salt, and red-wine vinegar, and cook for 1 minute.
  11. When there is 10 minutes left on the fennel timer, stick the bread in the oven to toast and the cheese has melted.
  12. Serve and enjoy a culinary masterpiece!!

My overall review:  I think this is one of the best meals I’ve ever made!! The savory grilled and caramelized flavor complimented the liquorice taste of the fennel blended, which perfectly with the tomato balsamic sauce and the texture of the pasta. Add some grilled potato garlic bread and it was simple divine!!!

Recipes this meal was inspired from:
Roasted Fennel Recipe

Warm Tomato Dressing