Food Friday - Fajitas!

Fajitas
adapted from Pioneer Woman

I love Fajitas.  Who am I kidding, I love good (American Style) Mexican Food.  Right now I am craving my favorite resturtant that serves awesomse Mexican but alas, Darryl can't eat spicy food right now so I will hold off (I might have to go to town to do shopping and eat there on my own though!! ) I saw an episode of the Pioneer Woman recently where she made Fajitas so I've been waiting to try them.  The marinade is very mild (well I didn't put red pepper flakes in mine) so it makes it great to serve to the whole family.  I will say that I would not use a skirt steak again - it was so tough and chewy :-(  Next time I would use a good sirloin.  Also, being winter here, we did not grill it, I just pan cooked it - it would be so much better on the grill - this will be an awesome recipe in the summer.  The recipe is huge - I only did steak, not chicken and I used store bought salsa this time around. 

Ingredients
Marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 3 limes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Meat:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 pounds skirt steak

Pico de Gallo:

5 plum (Roma) tomatoes
3 jalapeno peppers
1/2 large (or 1 small) onion
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1/2 lime
Salt

Fajita Vegetables:

2 medium onions, halved and sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fixins:

30 to 40 flour tortillas
Fiesta Beans
1 pound grated Cheddar cheese
One 8-ounce container sour cream
5 limes, sliced into wedges

Directions

For the marinade: In a blender, combine the olive oil, chili powder, Worcestershire, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic and lime juice. Next add the sugar, salt and pepper and blend the marinade until it's totally combined and smooth.

For the meat: Place the chicken and beef in separate 2-quart baking dishes or large resealable plastic storage bags. Pour the marinade over the chicken and beef and rub the marinade all over the meat. Give your hands a good wash, and then cover the dishes with plastic wrap and let them marinate in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours.

For the pico de gallo: Chop the tomatoes, jalapenos and onion into a very small dice. (Leave the seeds in your jalapenos for a hotter pico. Adjust the amount of jalapenos to your preferred temperature.) Next, chop up a nice-sized bunch of cilantro. Just remove and discard the long leafless stems before chopping. No need to remove the leaves from the stems completely. Place all of these ingredients together in a bowl and give it a good stir. Squeeze the juice of half a lime into the bowl. Add salt to taste and stir again.

For the fajita vegetables: Throw the onions and bell peppers into a bowl and toss with the olive oil and some salt and pepper.

When ready to cook, preheat the grill to high heat.

Cook the chicken on both sides until completely cooked through (or to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F), about 4 minutes per side. Remove it to a platter to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Grill the beef on both sides until completely cooked through, about 5 minutes in total. Remove it to a platter to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Tip the fajita vegetables into a grill basket and grill until cooked, tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes.

To put it all together: Pile the veggies on a platter. Slice the chicken and beef.

For the fixins: Wrap the tortillas in foil and warm through on the grill. Serve the chicken, beef and veggies with the warm tortillas, Fiesta Beans, grated cheese, sour cream, lime wedges and pico de gallo.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/chicken-and-beef-fajitas-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback