let's talk about steak fajitas
Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, was the first blogger that I actually followed. I mean, my first love was Apartment Therapy, but I’m not even sure that I knew it was a blog. This was before I knew anything about feed readers or bloggers or, frankly, cooking. I loved Ree’s voice. I loved how she told stories about her food and talked about ingredients. I loved her photos. I loved that she made cooking look easy.
It is safe to say that when I need a recipe for something specific, typically something involving meat, The Pioneer Woman is one place that I always check. One of the best fish recipes that I’ve ever made – and made again – is from this website. Also excellent potatoes au gratin (although I like to use Gruyere instead of cheddar for this recipe). And Cowboy Nachos. I could go on. And I don't think I need to point out that this is not a diet blog. Just saying.
Today, I want to talk about steak fajitas.
As you and your freaky little Lego fans know, Tuesday is for tacos. I was fortunate to have a refrigerator full of left-over peppers of all colors last Tuesday. I also may have had an over-abundance of onions. It was, therefore, a natural decision to have fajitas. (Note: I really have been trying to get back into actually planning meals on a weekly basis. It’s not working out all that perfectly yet. There is a similar phenomenon going on with my desk. It is currently covered with a stack of un-flipped magazines, three calendars, and last Wednesday’s unread paper. You should see my purse. Baby steps.)
Flank steak is a tricky thing. It needs a good long marinade in order to taste like something other than rubber or cardboard. As someone who apparently abhors planning my meals in advance despite all of my best efforts (and the original subject matter of this blog), this means that I do not often serve flank steak. Ree’s recipe for steak fajitas calls for marinating the meat and the vegetables for at least two hours prior to cooking. Fortunately, Taco Tuesday is also ballet day, so I was able to marinate my flank steak before ballet and sit down to some tasty fajitas after ballet.
The marinade is simple and flavorful. Really, there is no reason to by those little packets at the grocery store. I have no clue what is in Worcestershire sauce, but it can’t be worse than those dehydrated packets of pseudo-flavor. I split the marinade as instructed, and let my steak bathe in it for about three hours. I did not soak my veggies in the marinade for that long. Maybe an hour? I was worried that they would get soggy or something. Also I may have run out of time.
We grilled our flank steak until it was a good shade of pink, then sliced it up and added it to the veggies, which we cooked in a skillet on the grill. This worked out great in terms of kitchen clean up and outdoor weather enjoyment. I would totally go with this method again. I would totally go with this recipe again. Like maybe next Tuesday.
(P.S. I'm sure you would like a photo of the finished fajitas. I could make excuses, but the truth is, I was hungry. Make your own and send me a pic, will you? Thanks.)