Carne Asada Street Tacos: Sous Vide or Grilled

Carne Asada Street Tacos

I had a gorgeous hunk of flank steak in our freezer from our quarter cow we bought last year, and carne asada street tacos were calling my name! Typically skirt steak is used for these tacos, but I figured the leaner flank steak would work just as well provided it was marinated in a citrusy sauce for a spell.  I decided to cook this via the sous-vide method, but grilling the steak would work just as great.

Total thumbs up all the way around for the tacos! We had plenty of leftovers for another dinner even with my daughter eating three of them in one sitting. I made some fresh pico de gallo to serve these with along with the avocado, but you can use any condiments of choice for these tasty tacos.

Many of the delicious Carne Asada ingredients

Carne Asada Street Tacos: Sous Vide or Grilled
Adapted from Serious Eats

3 whole dried ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
3 whole dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 whole chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce
3/4 cup fresh juice from 2 to 3 oranges (I used Cara Cara)
2 tablespoons fresh juice from 2 to 3 limes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
6 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1 small bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems only
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Sea salt, to taste
1.5 to 2 pounds flank or skirt steak
Warm corn or flour tortillas, lime wedges, diced onion, additional fresh cilantro (or Pico de Gallo), and avocado, for serving

Place dried ancho and guajillo chilies in a glass bowl and cover with boiling water. Let steep for 20 minutes until soft and pliable. Drain water, then transfer chiles to a food processor or blender.

Toasting the Cumin and Coriander

Toast the ground cumin and coriander in a hot dry skillet until fragrant and add to the chiles. (You could toast the seeds and grind yourself, but I’m not that fancy.)

Ready to Process the Marinade

Add the rest of the ingredients except steak and condiments. Blend until a smooth sauce has formed. Transfer half of the sauce to a gallon-sized zip-top bag and refrigerate or freeze the other half in a sealed container for future use.

BONUS! Here’s my quick recipe for homemade Pico de Gallo. Double or triple as needed:

Pico de Gallo

1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 jalapeño or serrano chile, finely diced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon lime juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, and let marinate for an hour or so. That’s it!

For cooking via sous-vide method:

Add steak to the marinade in the bag, squishing around to coat.

Steak in Marinade

Vacuum-seal the bag using the water immersion method. Set temperature on the sous vide to 131 F, then place the bag in the pot and cover with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation. Cook for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, preheat a cast-iron pan on high. Remove the bag from the sous-vide pot, then remove the steak from the marinade and wipe off excess. Discard marinade. Char the steak in the hot pan for a minute or two on each side until well-browned. Transfer to a cutting board and slice thinly against the grain.

Serve immediately with warmed tortillas and garnishes.

Sliced Carne Asada Flank Steak

For cooking on a grill:

Add steak to the marinade in the bag, squishing around to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat your grill on one side to the highest temperature. Clean and oil the grilling grate.

Remove steak from marinade and wipe off excess. Place directly over the hot side of the grill. If using a gas grill, cover; if using a charcoal grill, leave open. Cook, turning occasionally, until steak is well charred on outside and center registers 110°F on an instant-read thermometer, 5 to 10 minutes total. Transfer to a cutting board and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain.

Serve immediately warmed tortillas and garnishes.

 

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

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Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken

Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken

This was hands down my best new baked chicken dish — EVER! I was so absolutely nervous to feed this to my family but we all were shocked by how good this was. I was chagrined I took the time to reduce the sauce after it came out of the oven as I thought it came out too soupy, but then we were all clambering to add more sauce to our plates to sop up with the thick, crusty bread. Reducing the sauce is not necessary, so I skipped that step in the instructions. You won’t be disappointed.

Now, how to shock and amaze your taste buds:

Pico de Gallo Baked Chicken
Adapted from pico de gallo oven chicken @allyskitchen.com

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
Ground pepper and sea salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup homemade or low sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup pico de gallo mild salsa (I used Trader Joe’s)
1/4 teaspoon dried red chile flakes
3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 large lemon, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add the chicken breasts to a large bowl and sprinkle with the pepper, salt or Mrs. Dash, and flour. Toss to coat.

Browned Chicken Pieces

In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and brown the chicken on each side. Transfer the chicken to an oven-proof lidded casserole dish.

Deglaze the skillet with the wine then pour over the chicken. Add the chicken broth, pico de gallo, chile flakes, garlic, and top with the lemon slices and capers.

Pico de Gallo Chicken Ready to Bake

Cover with foil then top with the lid. Bake for 50 minutes, then remove to the stove top and let sit for about 15 minutes without taking off the lid. When ready, remove lid and serve with thick, hot crusty bread for sopping up the juices.

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Fajita Bar Party!

Grilled Chicken Fajitas

Hooey! What a busy week I’ve had so I’m just now getting around to writing about the Father’s Day Fajita Bar Party I threw last weekend. I cooked and marinated a few pounds of chicken for this feast, so technically these weren’t fajitas since a fajita refers to a cut of beef. However, since so many restaurants now serve chicken fajitas, I think this term is now widely accepted. I remembered to snap a few shots off while preparing this feast, however when it came to actual chow time, I never did end up with a picture of the table laid out with all the fixin’s. I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

Grilled Peppers and Onion

The day before the party, I sliced the chicken breasts in half lengthwise since they were so thick. This worked perfectly because I could cook a batch in only 10 minutes. I wasn’t sure how many no-shows I would have (there were two) so I just elected not to cook all of the chicken at once. When every deemed themselves full and happy, I bagged up the remaining uncooked chicken and threw it in the freezer for a quick and easy meal later.

Chicken Fajita Marinade

4-5 squeezed limes (enough to make about 1/2 cup lime juice)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
8 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 dried ancho chiles, stems removed
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb blend (optional)
Black pepper, to taste
3-4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise if really thick

Chicken Fajita Marinade

Put all the ingredients in a blender except the chicken, and blend until smooth. Place the chicken in a non-metal container or gallon-sized baggie. I used a large Tupperware container. Maybe it’s Rubbermaid. But you know what I mean. Pour the marinade over the chicken, and marinate at least several hours or overnight. I did mine overnight and flipped it over in the morning. When ready to cook, fire up the grill to medium-hot heat, and grill each side about 5 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink. Serve on flour tortillas with condiments of choice. Ours included a homemade pico de gallo, recipe here: Pico de Gallo. Update: I wanted to note that I quadrupled the recipe for the Pico de Gallo I linked to.

Pico de Gallo

We also had guacamole, grilled red and yellow peppers, grilled onions, cheese, cilantro, black beans, and sour cream. I grilled the peppers and onion first, then sliced the peppers up thinner and kept them warm in a foil pan on the upper rack while I grilled the chicken. Great time, great food, and easy clean-up!

Note: The marinade was adapted from Lisa Fain’s recipe on her website http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/

Pollo Asado Tacos with Pico de Gallo

Pollo Asado Taco

It’s getting to be a busy time of year, and I thought I’d better post another blog before you think I’ve abandoned this! We’ll be heading out this weekend to our coastal river property and it has no cell or internet service, so this is my last chance to post a new recipe before over a week goes by between posts.

I did kind of cheat on this recipe, though. I love to rummage through the “Reduced for Immediate Sell” bins for meats about to expire, then put them in the freezer for later use. I had come across a pre-seasoned package of Pollo Asado, which is thinly sliced chicken breast marinated Cuban-style. The marinade has a citrus base to it, typically lime or some other citrus, even orange! Cuban and Mexican food are similar, so my immediate thought for this dish was make it into tacos! Pollo Asado is usually grilled, but seeing as we had three or four inches of snow covering the grill, I opted for throwing it in the crock pot for a few hours.

My husband made a homemade Pico de Gallo for one of the condiments, which is so easy and so incredibly tasty! Pico de Gallo is basically an uncooked salsa. After the chicken was done, we filled soft corn tortillas with the meat, some refried beans, rice, Pico de Gallo, and avocado. Simple and delicious!

Pico de Gallo

1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeño or serrano chile, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon lime juice

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl, and let marinate for an hour or so. That’s it!