avatar_PZ

Flat iron steak street tacos

Started by PZ, August 11, 2013, 08:16:43 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

PZ

My wife and I love the dollar tacos you can purchase from the Mexican taco trucks - we'll always stop at one of those if we see on at mealtime.

Today we were shopping in the local Fred Meyer, and my sweetie came up to me with a fantastic looking flat iron steak.  Perfect - we haven't had breakfast or lunch, and this would make a perfect "linner".  My wife wanted a fajita style experience so I cut red and green peppers plus onion to sautee on the griddle.  Me- I'm just after the steak  ;D


Nothing cooks like cast iron.  Here I've blended red and green peppers, plus onion with salt and a little olive oil


Once the sizzling started, I covered it with a pot lid to capture the steam so the vegetables softened.


The vegetable medley is cooking nicely


To ensure the development of the desired brown crust on the steak, I place it on a paper plate and then pat the top dry - paper on both sides ensures dry surfaces, which are essential to develop the brown crust that my wife loves


Sprinkled liberally with kosher salt, I look for the salt melting as the key to turn the meat.  I do not add pepper because I usually sear at a high temperature which tends to burn the pepper, or at least causes the desired pungent volatiles in the pepper to burn off.  Once the steak is turned, it is liberally seasoned with salt and pepper


The griddle is on two burners, and the one closest to the front is turned off so the vegetables can be keept warm while the steak is searing


After letting the meat rest, slicing it thin gives the steak that perfect bite


The finished product: a little raw cabbage on the corn tortilla for crisp texture, topped with the warm, juicy steak, and a liberal helping of crumbled queso fresco.  Tabasco chipotle (my favorite general use hot sauce) completes the taco.  ... oh yes, can't forget the beer  ;)

mandru

I had unembellished ramen for dinner.  ???
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

PZ

mandru, mandru, mandru... where have I gone wrong...

... a little fish sauce or a dab of miso paste takes ramen to a new level :-()

Seriously, I love ramen noodles - instead of making a soup as indicated in the package, I'll often boil the noodles, then dump the water and add a little butter or olive oil to the noodles.  Saute for a short while and add the seasoning packet, and any scraps of meat and/or vegetable I have left in the fridge.  Of course, fish sauce always adds that something special for me.  I knew dozens of ways to cook ramen when I was in college  :-()

mandru

Actually I'd prepared the ramen mostly drained with a splash of milk for expediency.  A mere speed meal and not as bad as I made out.  ;)

Usually after draining and it's in the bowl I will add a favorite cheese in slices to the noodles and milk giving it all a good stir to melt the cheese and if there's a piece of left over steak or roast it gets chunked up and tossed in too along with some spices or key veggie bits (chopped scallions a favorite) to liven things up.

I got hungry late last night and was happy to settle for quick and simple.

It wasn't a punishment meal.  I was contrasting my quick toss together against your fine culinary assemblage.  ^-^
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

PZ

 :laugh:

That's a much better response; I'd hate to think that an OWG-er was being deprived!

fragger

Nice PZ :-X

I swear that if I put my nose close enough to the monitor I can smell the steak in that second-last picture 8)

PZ


Art Blade

Nice. All of that stuff you create :) Although I ate dishes that tasted delicious yet looked quite a bit like a savage road rage accident I much rather prefer tasty dishes the way you present them -- in an appetizing manner. "You eat with your eyes first"  :) :-X
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

Thanks for the comment, AB, and I feel like you do - the eyes eat first!  ^-^

fragger

You do present your dishes extremely well, PZ :) :-X

Btw, I like the funny avatar :-() Whose sniper dog is that? Is he keeping the deer out, or has he found a way to bag cats from a distance? :-()

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

Quote from: fragger on August 15, 2013, 02:48:13 AM
You do present your dishes extremely well, PZ :) :-X

Thanks fragger!

Quote from: fragger on August 15, 2013, 02:48:13 AM
Btw, I like the funny avatar :-() Whose sniper dog is that? Is he keeping the deer out, or has he found a way to bag cats from a distance? :-()

lol, that's my son's sniper dog; that Yorkie thinks he is a Navy SEAL  :-()

Your new avatar is a good one!

fragger

 :-D

Thanks mate - I wanted to make something a bit different from my usual bullets and/or game characters :-()

durian

Looks nice PZ. I love burritos and tacos with hot sauce and pickled jalapeno.
He who understands others is intelligent
He who understands himself is wise (Tao Te Ching)

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Being on the opposite side of the planet from many of you as this country is, there isn't a lot of access to Mexican-style foods here (unless you include Taco Bell, which you shouldn't. You really, really shouldn't. Tried it once, and that was once too often - eww).

Many Aussies probably wouldn't even know what a burrito is, despite having heard of them in countless American TV shows and movies. I do know what they are, but I've never actually had one.

There are Mexican restaurants, mainly in the big cities, but as I understand it they're rather like lame parodies of real Mexican restaurants, in terms of both environment and food. One of my very best friends is Bolivian by birth but grew up in Los Angeles before moving to Australia with his parents about 37 years ago. He was around 18-19 when the family left L.A. and so has vivid memories of the Mexican food available there. Recently I spoke with him and he'd just been to a "Mexican" restaurant in Sydney, and predictably was disappointed. That's not surprising.

It's funny how one can get food of just about any kind of ethnic variety in Australia, and more often than not it's excellent, but really good Mexican seems very hard to come by. Maybe it's because not many Mexicans emigrated here :-()

Art Blade

about the same here, fragger :-D What I find sad in my country is that more often than not, "foreign" restaurants adopt to "our" taste and tone down their dishes regarding spicy heat and too different taste. What the hell, if I don't like for instance Mexican food, why would I go there in the first place? Apparently the restaurants want to survive and if their dishes keep away customers, well.. Hard to get the real deal. Plus, it's not exactly totally uncommon to find for example a Chinese restaurant with say, a Persian chef and a Turkish manager. How on earth would I believe in their menu?
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

Same goes for cheese. For example, Camembert in France is a delight. However, "they", in their infinite wisdom think that Americans can't stand the stink, which I count as the hallmark of good Camembert. Consequently, all we normally get is tasteless, unripened crap.

Art Blade

take the stink out of cheese? ??? incredible :D Yeah, "they" are infinite in their wisdom  ::)
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

🡱 🡳

Similar topics (3)

1879

Started by PZ


Replies: 2
Views: 480

3251

Started by PZ


Replies: 61
Views: 3986

2600

Started by Art Blade


Replies: 8
Views: 792