Carne Asada street tacos

[Sanders]

This was my dinner tonight. Wife is out of town, and I'm bach'n it.

Started with a flap steak, marinated just before I went to work.

Marinate consisted of the following (no measurements - just kind of equal portions of dry and liquids. For guessing purposes, figure 2 tablespoons of each dry ingredient and 1/2 cup of the wet ingredients)

Green chile powder (my jar was labeled HOT. I bought it at a farm store in Deming, NM a couple years ago)

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Coarse kosher salt

ground sage (should have used ground cumin also)

red wine vinegar

Key lime juice

orange juice

olive oil

Peruvian Aji Amarillo - a hotsauce I got in the bargain bin at the grocery store, for a little added kick.

mix all ingredients thoroughly. Put steak in a gallon zip-lock freezer bag. Dump marinade in bag, seal and work it around the meat. Open bag, then squeeze all the air out before resealing. Place in refrigerator for 1-4 hrs (or 8 hrs in my case - but the meat didn't pickle or cook from the acidics, so it's all good)

On a hot grill, sear the steak to medium rare (or however you like your meat). A little char gives it some good flavor. I also added some mesquite chips to my little grill smoker that sits above the burners.

Take the meat off and let rest 5-15 minutes. Then cut it into small cubes or strips.

I used small corn tortillas, heated up on a griddle to warm, but not crisp. Doubled up they don't break apart as easily as if you just use one. A lot of folks prefer flour tortillas. You go with what you like.

I put the cheese on top of the meat. The cheese is Queso Fresco - a mild-tasting crumbly white mexican cheese. Comparable to mozzarella, except for it being crumbly. You use whatever you like - shredded cheddar or even American cheese slices. There are no rules - only flavor.

I garnished with shredded broccoli slaw from the store - because they were out of coleslaw mix. You can use lettuce, tomatoes, onions, or whatever tickles your palate. My first experience with street tacos was in Mexico, on the West coast. They served them with shredded cabbage. Instead of buying a whole cabbage for a few tacos, I find the coleslaw mix works just fine for me.

Salsa is Herdez Guacamole Salsa.

The plate could have benefited from some lime quarters to squeeze on the tacos. They would have tasted good, but I don't mind going without on the beef tacos. If they were fish, though...

A little chopped cilantro would really have set the dish off for flavor. I didn't have any fresh, but had some in a tube. What I did with that was spread it on the meat when I put it on the grill. I should have probably put a couple tablespoons in the marinade, because I couldn't taste it after the meat was cooked.


Carne asada street tacos by B Sanders, on Flickr