Spiced Beef Fajitas with Salsa and Guacamole

I love guacamole, and I love mexican food.  Or faux-mexican food.  Or anything that involves cheese.  So, on Friday when I was searching my brain for something fun to cook, I came across a recipe in boyfriend's Barbecue cookbook (Barbecue by Eric Treuille & Birgit Erath).  This doesn't seem to be available in the US (going by the fact that it's only on amazon.co.uk, and not on amazon.com), but it's a great cookbook since there is a wide range of recipes for the grill and sides to go with it.  Most recipes also include instructions for indoor grilling too, which is nice.

So here's their recipe with my own modifications.

Spiced Beef Fajitas with Salsa and Guacamole
Marinade
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 t crushed chili (recipe called for flakes, but I used hot chili powder)
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t dried thyme (recipe called for oregano, but I didn't have any)
1/4 t ground allspice (I used garam masala instead. I'd recommend allspice)
2 T Mexican beer, or lager (I used XXXX Summer Bright Ale)
1 T olive oil

Meat
2 thick (2.5 cm/1" thick) steaks (recipe calls for rump steak, I used porterhouse)

Guacamole
1 ripe avocado
2-3 t chili paste (fresh chilies would probably be better)
2 t dried coriander (fresh would be better)
fresh lemon or lime juice ( ~2T)
1-2 T fresh chili paste
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
salt & black pepper

Salsa
2 fresh (field) tomatoes, chopped
1/2 large red onion
1-2 T lemon or lime juice
white balsamic vinegar (a splash or two)
olive oil

Fajita
Flour tortillas
Sour Cream
Grated Cheese
(Shredded lettuce)

Marinating the Steaks

1. Combine all ingredients for marinade in a shallow bowl.
2. Add steaks, turn to coat.
3. Cover (with saran wrap) and refrigerate for ~1 hour.

Guacamole

1. Place roughly chopped garlic and green onion into a bowl, add a glug of olive oil and stir to combine.  Microwave on HIGH for 15-30 seconds.
2. Add all other ingredients and mash to desired texture (recommend adding lemon/lime juice last).
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cover in saran wrap, pressing directly onto mixture to avoid contact with air (oxidized avocado looks unpleasant).
5. Refrigerate for 30+ minutes (can be made well in advance and left in fridge).

Salsa

1. Combine tomato, onion, vinegar, oil and lemon/lime juice in a small bowl, stir well to combine. 
2. Cover in saran wrap and refrigerate.

Preparing the Fajitas

1. Grill steaks to desired 'doneness' (I prefer medium-rare), then slice on the diagonal into stips (~1cm thick or as preferred).
2. Warm tortillas on grill , ~30 second per side.  Alternately, place tortillas on a microwave safe plate and cover with a damp paper towel (cheesecloth works too), microwave on high 10-15 seconds.
3. Put steak, guacamole, sour cream, cheese and salsa on tortillas  and season with S&P if desired.  Roll and serve hot.

Recommended additional ingredients - some people like lettuce on their fajitas (I don't).  Sauteed onions and peppers (capsicum) are also a favourite of mine on fajitas.

This is actually the first time I have ever made tacos or fajitas without using the Old El Paso spice packets. I was hugely impressed. I love the Taco seasonings, but I often find they are too salty. This had very little salt - only as much as I wanted to add, which was maybe 1/4 t in the marinade and another 1/2 t in the guacamole.  A much healthier alternative.

We made this recipe for two people, but there is actually probably enough marinade for four steaks.  We had two fajitas each from this and had a little meat leftover. Lots of leftover guacamole and a little leftover salsa too. I had the leftover salsa on toast with scrambled eggs for breakfast the next morning. It had a hugely strong flavour after sitting all night. I highly recommend.  

The guacamole and salsa recipes were mostly my own idea, somewhat inspired by the book.  I have difficulty following instructions, I like to go my own way :).  The green onions added a really nice extra bit of texture to the guacamole, and the salsa was a first for me - I really liked it and I think I'll try it again.  If made in a larger batch, I think a food processor would be the way to go. I hate cutting tomatoes.

I also think something like Corona or Sol would be good beers to use in the marinade but a) they're expensive and b) I don't like them and I knew I would be making the great sacrifice of drinking the leftover beer (how horrible) so I picked one that had a similar flavour that I actually enjoyed.   I think a spicy lager would have been good too.

Enjoy :D

Scotch Fillet with Salsa Verde Surprise and Fresh Spring Mashed Potatoes

Hi Folks,
I've been meaning all week to cook something worth putting up on the blog, but it's been a lazy cooking week.  Chicken salad and sweet potato fries are not exactly the most exciting of recipes to create or share (even if they are quite delicious).  So, today being Friday I decided it was time to create something fun and new.

To provide a setting for this meal I'll tell you that in Australia winter begins in June, and no, it's not quite as harsh as Canadian winters, but it's still cold, and instead of snow we get rain and hail and wind, and it calls for comfort foods.  Now, at the end of August, the weather is turning beautiful and it's feeling very much like spring time is just around the corner.  Or well, it feels like a Canadian summer :)  So I wanted to make something fresh and light that made me feel like springtime, and here you have it.

Scotch Fillet with Salsa Verde Surprise and Fresh Spring Mashed Potatoes
Salsa Verde Surprise
3-5 Fresh Strawberries
1 Avocado
1 Red Onion
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
a pinch white sugar
a pinch salt


Fresh Spring Mashed Potatoes
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped in large chunks
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 green onions, washed and roughly chopped
2 T butter
Lemon Juice - 1/4 lemon or maybe 1-2 T lemon juice
Salt


Steak

1. Place 2 steaks on a plate and splash liberally with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with brown sugar, both sides.
2. Allow steaks to sit at room temperature 10-15 minutes to absorb flavours.
3. Barbecue steaks to desired level of 'done'ness.

Salsa Verde Surprise

1. Heat frying pan to med-high with a splash of olive oil.
2. Finely chop red onion and add to pan.
3. Wash, hull and chop strawberries and place in a small bowl with 1-2T balsamic vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon white sugar, stir to combine.
4. When onion is softened and beginning t change colour, add strawberry mixture to frying pan.
5. Chop avocado into pieces similar in size to onion and strawberry.
6. Remove strawberry and onion mixture from heat after ~5 minutes, combine in bowl with avocado, stir and add salt to taste.

Fresh Spring Mashed Potatoes

1. Add peeled chopped potato to a large pot of cold water, add salt and bring to the boil.
2. Boil potatoes for 15-20 or until soft.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and green onion, cook until soft.
4. Drain potatoes and put into a bowl, add butter in small chunks.
5. Mash potatoes, add garlic, green onion, lemon juice and salt to taste.

Serve the avocado, strawberry and onion mixture on top of the steak.

Strawberries and avocadoes are both on sale here, which is awesome, because I love them and am always looking for excuses to buy them when they are in season.  The other day at the grocery store I saw scotch fillet steak on sale and I had a serious aha moment. While getting things ready for dinner I had some potatoes that needed eating and I was trying to figure out a way to make mashed potatoes that would suit the more fruity flavour of the steak and I remembered a clip from Masterchef a few years ago where they put spring onions into mashed potatoes and figured "Hey, I can maybe make something like that.... only less awesome."  So this is a completely original idea, that has been inspired by a whole bunch of other things.. so maybe not so original. I also found that we had a lot of leftover salsa verde... so these proportions could easily be used for 4 people. Or you could just eat the extra with a spoon :)  Also, I'm not entirely sure what salsa verde is, but it seemed the closest and easiest way to describe the 'mix of awesome' that I created.

The additional kick to this meal was two zucchini that I had chopped diagonally into ~1/4" thick slices and coated in olive oil and sprinkles with fresh sea salt and ground pepper and thrown on the barbecue. 

Turns out the whole meal was pretty awesome. The only complaint I have is that I tried to take pictures but the damn flash on my camera is broken so they look really unappealing.