I’m a pretty big fan of Mexican food and a Tyler Florence show caught my eye the other day. He made steak fajitas, and after watching him grill those steaks and put together those fajitas I just knew I could do one even better.
Cause let's face it... those guys on Food Network are great chefs, but they don't know much about REAL grilling and REAL BBQ.
To start with, I found some really good CAB sirloins on sale at my local grocery, so I thought last weekend was the perfect time to give this recipe a try.
The two sirloins I bought weighed about a pound each and I bought a couple ripe avocados, some fresh cilantro, limes, and a green bell pepper. Everything else I needed was on hand so this shopping trip wasn’t expensive at all. My wife loves cooking, so she was eager to jump in and help me with the prep. Here’s how we did it:
Marinade:
First off when grilling steak fajitas I always marinate the steak for at least a couple of hours to give the flavors time to penetrate the meat. For fajitas I make up a mojo like marinade consisting of:
- Juice of 2 limes and 1 orange
- A handful of fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- 4-5 Garlic cloves smashed on the cutting board
- ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Chipotle Peppers (I use the canned chipotle in adobo sauce)
- 1 teaspoon of Ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon of Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon of Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
Combine all of the above ingredients in a blender and puree for a minute or two until everything comes together.
Place the sirloin steaks in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over it. Shake the bag gently to make sure the marinade covers the steaks. Place the bag in a bowl and then into the refrigerator it goes for 1-2 hours.
While the meat is marinating, I made the guacamole.
Guacamole:
- 3 Ripe Avocados
- 1 small red onion or half a large size red onion
- 2 Whole Garlic Cloves smashed
- Juice of 1 fresh squeezed lime
- A handful of Fresh Cilantro leaves finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons of Salsa
- 1 Tablespoon of Mayo
- ½ teaspoon of Ground Cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Remove the seeds from the avocados and scoop out the flesh into a small mixing bowl. Pour the Lime juice over the avocado to prevent it from turning dark. Add the finely chopped red onion, garlic, cilantro, salsa, and Mayo. Combine everything and then add the cumin, cayenne, and a little salt and black pepper. Place plastic wrap over the bowl and refrigerate.
The flavors will come together as it sits in the frige. You can also press the plastic wrap down gently until it touches the guacamole. This will also keep it from turning colors. Brown guacamole is not appetizing.
Grilling the Meat:
After the meat has been in the refrigerator for a couple of hours remove it from the marinade and let any excess marinade drip off. Prepare a charcoal grill for direct heat.
You want a medium hot fire to sear the steaks fast.
You can use whatever cut of beef that you like; I choose sirloins because I got a great price on them, but skirt steak or flank steak makes great fajitas as well.
Once the grill is ready place the sirloins directly over the hottest part of the grill and cook them on each side for 2 minutes.
Don’t flip the steaks after two minutes rotate them ¼ turn and you’ll get some great grill marks just like fancy steak houses serve. Cook for another two minutes and then flip to the other side.
Grill for another two minutes, rotate ¼ turn and cook for a final 2 minutes. The total cook time is 8 minutes. (4 minutes each side). After the 8 minute mark pull the steaks off the grill and take them inside for a rest.
They will be a perfect Medium Rare.
After grilling the steaks, throw some flour tortilla shells directly on the cooking grate. This only takes a few seconds on each side. You can warm them in the microwave, but the grill adds a nice touch to the finished product; just be careful not to leave them for too long or they will get crunchy.
Stack them on a plate with a damp paper towel over the top and they’ll stay nice and warm for a while.
While I was outside in the heat grilling the steaks for the fajitas, my wife was inside sauteing onions and peppers. She julienned 1 sweet yellow onion and 1 green bell pepper, heated 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and added them once it was hot.
Don’t forget to season the onions and pepper with a little salt and pepper just to wake the flavors up a little. Also, don’t cook them to long. They should still have a slight crunch when you bite them; we’re not talking caramelized here. You can also use a grill pan and do them outside but it was 100 + degrees when I was cooking and I passed that job along so I finish off a cold beer.
We made a side dish of Mexican Rice to go along with the fajitas.
To serve the fajitas I sliced the sirloins across the grain on a slight biased. You can see in the pics that the meat was a perfect Medium Rare and Tender.
Place a few strips of the steak on a flour tortilla, top with peppers and onions, squeeze a lime wedge over the top, a spoon of the guacamole, and a dap of sour cream and you’re ready to eat.
It sounds like a lot of work to make these fajitas but it’s really easy. After the marinade it only takes a few minutes.
Enjoy with a Margarita or ice cold Dos Equis and you’re in business.
I also made a few videos and took a few pictures of this procedure, and you can see them all at www.howtobbqright.com/steakfajitas.html
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