Steak Fajitas

As I write this it’s 4°F outside, so you know this is going to be a stove-top recipe.

I pretty much just plain stole this from Chris at Nibble Me This. It’s not an exact copy, but close enough. I really like how he uses the marinade as the base for a finishing sauce. It helps to bring all of the flavors together.

Steak Fajitas
1/4 cup oil
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup Mezcal (I keep a bottle of the cheap stuff with the worm in it right at the front of the liquor cabinet just to make our guests worry about my tastes)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 1/2 pound sirloin steak

3 bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 yellow onion, sliced into rings

Put the salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the oil, lime juice, Mezcal, soy sauce, and remaining spices and give them a whirl to combine. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade for the finishing sauce. Put the steak in a large zip-top bag and cover with half of the marinade. Squeezed the air out of the bag, seal it, and toss it in the fridge to marinate.

Put the peppers and onion in another large zip-top bag and cover with the remaining marinade. Squeezed the air out of the bag, seal it, and toss it in the fridge next to the steak. Let everything marinate for about 2 hours.

Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add a couple swirls of oil oil and heat until the oil just starts to smoke. Put the steak in the pan and sear one side for 4 minutes. Flip and sear the other side for another 4 minutes. You want a nice char on the outside but the meat should still be pretty rare.

Remove the steak to a cutting board and let it rest while you cook the veggies.

Reduce the heat the medium and add the peppers, onion, and their remaining marinade to the pan. Cook until they start to soften (about 10 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat.

Slice the steak against the grain into thin strips.

Add the steak the the veggies and return to the stove. Cook until the meat done to your liking (I went another 5 minutes for medium rare).

Nibble Me This Fajita Finishing Sauce
2-3 Tbsp NMT Steak Fajita Marinade
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the marinade into the sour cream. Serve fajitas on warm corn tortillas with a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of the finishing sauce.

The Verdict: ★★★★☆
Excellent recipe! The marinade added some great spice to the dish and the finishing sauce did a nice job pulling everything together. My only issue is that I didn’t get the pan quite hot enough and didn’t get as nice of a sear on the meat and veggies. This is a dish that’s decidedly better on the grill.

Maybe if I won that Craycort Cast Iron Grate that Chris is giving away, or got one from Santa (hint, hint), I’d be willing to risk freezing my tukus off to make these on the Big Green Egg ;).

3 thoughts on “Steak Fajitas”

  1. LMAO over the ending, nice! The drawing is in two days, I can’t believe it. I’m excited to see who wins. Thanks for the link!

    If I have to do steak inside, I put my cast iron in a 350 oven for 15 minutes to get it extra preheated and loaded up with heat energy. Seems to get a better sear on the stove top that way.

    1. Thanks – I’ll have to give that a try. I was all set to grill outside until the wind whipped up a VW Bug-sized drift right in front of the Egg.

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