Friday Night Fajitas

I was suddenly struck by the realization that not only had I never made fajitas, but I had never even eaten them before. Well, there is no time like the present to rectify such a glaring oversight.

For my first foray into fajita fixings, I opted to go with the traditional beef filling. However, chicken, pork and shrimp are also equally at home in fajitas.

After searching online for a suitable recipe, I decided to start with Paula Deen's recipe for Gold Medal Sizzling Fajitas. However, as lime was my choice as the citrus for the marinade, I substituted the lime for the lemon that the recipe called for.

For the marinade I mixed together the juice of half a lime, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, a dash hot sauce, 2 tablespoons canola oil, 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt and one clove garlic, minced. I could not find skirt steak in the grocery store, so I purchased a flat iron steak for this meal.

After mincing the garlic, add a bit of salt and use the side of the knife to scrape the garlic across the board. The salt works as an abrasive to help break down the garlic as you scrape and smash the garlic with the knife.

Add the garlic to the marinade and put the meat in one hour before cooking. This thin of a cut of meat does not need to marinate very long.

And now we move on to the vegetable portion of the dish. Here we have 2 green onions, a Vidalia onion, half a red bell pepper, and an orange bell pepper.

I cut 1/4 of the Vidalia onion into slivers. I used half of the orange bell pepper and the half of the red bell pepper that was left over from an earlier dish. I sliced the green onion in half lengthwise and cut them into 4 inch pieces.

I wrapped a few tortilla rounds in aluminum foil and placed them in a warm oven while I cooked the fixings.

Quickly sear the meat over medium-high to high heat. Set aside and allow to rest a couple of minutes.

Add the vegetables to the hot pan and heat through. As I am not a fan of mushy vegetables, I did not leave the vegetables in the hot pan for very long at all.

Remove to a serving dish as you turn your attention back to the beef.

I sliced the beef across the grain. In deference to my husband's tastes, I returned the meat to the still hot pan for a mere 30 seconds to further brown the meat.

You may recall from my last post that I had made fresh tomato salsa. At this point it's a simple matter of laying out some meat and vegetables on the warm tortilla and topping with sour cream, shredded cheese and homemade salsa.

What can I tell you? The veggies were done to perfection, the meat was tender and flavorful, with just the hint of lime and garlic in the background. Even the house smelled wonderful afterwards.

Oh wait! I had also made some Jasmati rice for a side dish. It was very nice with some veggies over the top.

Now, why in the world did I wait so long to make such an easy and tasty meal? Oh, now I remember: I think it had something to do with the objections that my dear husband raised when I told him what I was making.

His response afterwards? He liked it. I must be doing something right.

Folia and Flora

As a gardener, it is always a joy harvesting homegrown produce. And today I proudly present to you the first bell pepper of the season. Drum roll please...

Well okay, it is a bit wonky-shaped.

All right, and it's a bit small.

Hee hee, it looks funky no matter how you look at it. But I grew it myself, so I'm proud of it. So there!

And how is this for an odd orchid? According to the tag (as I do not believe that this particular orchid has ever bloomed for me before) it is an Epidendrum cochleatum X self orchid. A quick Google search shows that the new name for this orchid is Encyclia cochleatum. This orchid is the national flower of Belize and is called the Black Orchid as well as the Octopus Orchid.

What I can tell you is that this is a difficult orchid to photograph as the flower proper is about the size of a dime. Gotta love those orchids.

An Asian Inspired Lunch

I have been missing my Chinese foods lately, but as most of the dishes prepared in restaurants are either chicken or cooked in the same oil as chicken, I have been going without. Enter my Asian and Chinese cook books. Today I decided to make some pepper beef for myself.

I have some dry white wine, canola oil, low-sodium soy sauce, red pepper flakes, a beef sirloin steak from Schwan's, onion, a garlic clove, red bell pepper and green bell pepper. Green bell peppers are immature bell peppers, so the they are not as sweet as red bell peppers.

Mix 1 tablespoon soy sauce, the grated garlic clove and 1/4 teaspoon of the red pepper flakes. Thinly slice the beef across the grain and cut into bite size pieces. Toss the meat in the soy sauce mixture and set aside.

Chop the bell peppers and the white onion into bite size pieces (about the same size as the meat pieces).

When working with red bell peppers, it is very important to carefully remove the white membrane and seeds as they are very hot, according to Sandra Lee. Um, except not. Silly Sandra Lee.

Now here is a trick I have learned: to store a cut bell pepper for future use, place a folded paper towel in against the cut side of the pepper and seal in a plastic bag. The paper towel will absorb the moisture from the bell pepper and will keep the pepper from turning to mush so quickly.

Add 1 tablespoon of canola oil to a pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the meat, in batches, and cook till just barely pink in the center. Remove from the heat and set aside.

If needed, add more oil and add the peppers and the onion. Turn the heat down to medium and saute until crisp-tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons white wine and 1/4 cup stir-fry sauce (I had none, so I added soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and a slurry of corn starch in water). Add the beef in and cook until the liquid reduces to a thin gravy.

And lunch is served.

Recommendations? I would only cook the meat on one side so that it doesn't overcook and get too tough and I will buy stir-fry sauce for the next time.

I also would recommend letting the finished dish sit for a few minutes in order to allow the flavors to fully meld.