Steak Fajitas

 

At the end of last year, for the first time in my life, I tried Fajitas. I liked them, probably a little too much, because I had them twice a week that entire month and into the New Year. Recently, I decided to mix things up a bit by substituting steak for the chicken. I also decided to replace the fajita seasoning that I had been using on the chicken for a spicy marinade. Wonderful!

Steak Fajitas

 1 lb. sirloin steak

3 T. fresh lime juice

3 T. olive oil

2 t. Mike’s Hot Honey

2 t. Melissa’s minced garlic

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. chili powder

1 t. ground cumin

1 t. smoked paprika

1 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1 red, yellow, or green pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 t. vegetable oil

Flour tortillas

Slice steaks into thin strips; set aside.

 In a medium mixing bowl whisk together lime juice, oil, honey, garlic, Worcestershire, chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and black pepper. Add sliced steak to marinade, toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least four hours and up to overnight.

 When ready to prepare, heat vegetable oil in a 10” cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is just smoking, using tongs, shake off excess marinade and transfer steak strips, spreading out in a single layer. Let cook for one minute and then quickly flip and sear for another 1-2 minutes until done. Transfer to a warm plate and tent with foil. Add onion and peppers to the hot skillet and cook until both sides are charred.

 Serve in warm tortillas, garnish as you see fit.

 NOTE: I cooked my steak, onions, peppers, and warmed my tortillas, all at the same time using this WONDERFUL Swedish made carbon steel griddle. I am totally in love with this item and cannot recommend it enough.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Sirloin Burgers with Pimiento Cheese

 You know how I love my pimiento cheese, and for the most part, I’m a purist. I don’t want anything other than a few ingredients in mine because that’s what I consider to be authentic. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and in this case, I have to give a nod to Sean Brock and his tremendously good version with loads of extra ingredients. I make his solely to serve on burgers, and you won’t find a better tasting cheeseburger than this one.

Here I used ground sirloin (From Aldi, as you read on Monday this is Aldi Week), that I seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning, dried minced onion, Worcestershire powder, and infiltrated with two large button mushrooms, minced. The mushrooms add moisture to the meat without making it greasy. This is a wonderful burger. I was generous with the cheese, and because I’m always looking for a way to add vegetables or fruits to every meal, added sliced tomato and lettuce to this one. I served it on top of a toasted brioche bun (The buns are also from Aldi, and they are delicious!), and it was absolute heaven!

Sirloin Burgers with

Sean Brock’s Pimiento Cheese

Slightly adapted from Heritage by Sean Brock

1 large Melissa’s Roasted Red Bell Pepper, diced

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

½ c. mayonnaise, preferably Duke's

½ tsp. Crystal Hot Sauce

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. freshly ground white pepper

1/8 tsp. smoked paprika

¼ cup finely chopped bread-and-butter pickles, plus ½ c. brine

1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater

Put the cream cheese in a medium bowl and beat it with a wooden spoon until softened. Add the mayonnaise and mix well. Add the hot sauce, salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and smoked paprika and stir to blend. Add the pickles, brine, and cheddar cheese and stir again. Fold in the diced pimentos.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Tightly covered, the pimento cheese will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

PRINT RECIPE

Pimiento Cheese purists, like me, will enjoy this easy, classic version.

This post contains affiliate links.

Pepper Steak

This past week I was emailed a recipe for Pepper Steak from the Lady and Sons, so last night I gave it a try. I have no idea what pepper steak is supposed to taste like, but we both enjoyed this very much. I did use strips of old (I'll save myself the mortification of telling you just how old) Filet Mignon that I found in an iceberg in the back of the freezer, and to avoid being too salty, used 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of regular soy sauce and 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of low sodium soy sauce. Because the beef broth that came home from the grocery store appeared to have been opened (No foil seal when there was supposed to be one, yes, this is going back!) I used 10 ounces of water and a hefty teaspoon of Jameson Beef Soup Base.

I put the rice on when I started the beef, let it cook, and then turned off the fire underneath, and just let it hang out while the pepper steak simmered. It took about 45 minutes all together. I'll make it again for sure, but most likely with strips of sirloin (all of the filets seem to have been excavated) as I'm not a round steak fan, which is what the original recipe suggested.

 Pepper Steak
Adapted from The Lady & Sons

One 1 1/2 lb. sirloin steak
Sprinkle of paprika
2 T. butter
Garlic salt, to taste
One 10.5 oz. can beef broth
1 large yellow onion
1 large green bell pepper
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 T. soy sauce

2 T. low sodium soy sauce

Slice sirloin into 1/4 inch strips and sprinkle with paprika. (It helps, I think, to have the steak partially frozen for easy slicing.) Brown meat in butter; sprinkle with garlic salt and slowly pour in beef broth. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Slice onion and pepper into thin strips. Add to meat and simmer for 5 minutes. Mix cornstarch, water, and soy sauces, and add to meat mixture. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, 1-2 minutes. Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

Print Recipe

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday

The Homemaking Party

It's a Party

Sirloin and Mushrooms in Dijon Cream

What. A. Week. As you all know from the yummy potato dish that I served as a part of a delightful "welcome home" meal, Mr. O-P is recovering from hip surgery.  I am recovering from his recovery of hip surgery. I'd forgotten what it is like to have a newborn in the house, but my guess is that the care, the hours, the laundry, the crankiness (don't get me started), and feeding schedule are shockingly similar. Then, as I was just about ready to collapse from the exhaustion there was a water main break and we were put under a boil order. I really do wish that I'd have found out about the boil order as soon as it was put into place, but no.  It wasn't until about 6 hours later after I had happily hydrated myself with six glasses of water that I learned that drinking the water would be bad. Ten hours later, and for the next three days, my stomach reminded me of this again and again. Did I mention that, in the midst of all of this (the very day of his surgery, actually) that we got a contract on our century home on the St. Louis side of the river after being on the market for three-and-a-half years?  Can you comprehend the timing?  But I digress.

The sun is starting to peek through the clouds; the dishes that had been stacked in the sink have been run through the dishwasher. Tainted ice cubes have been dumped and replenished, I found an app of sleep noises that has allowed me to get five hours of sleep running, and cooking has commenced. Life is slowly returning to normal.

I'm refraining from starting any dish that involves a great deal of time and trouble because I have little of the former and more than my share of the latter, so simplicity is the order of the day.  This dish is easy, goes together in about thirty minutes if you do your chopping ahead, and is satisfying and delicious. I served it over toast points, but for a heartier meal, it is heaven when served on a bed of Jasmine rice. It can also be made with a variety of mushrooms in place of the steak for a vegetarian main dish. Versatile!

Sirloin and Mushrooms in Dijon Cream

5 tablespoons butter

1pound sirloin steak, trimmed, diagonally cut into thin strips*

6 ounces crimini mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely diced**

2 tablespoons Dry Sherry

1 cup heavy cream

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 pieces of toast, cut into triangles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet and sear the meat on both sides until nicely browned, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer the steak to an ovenproof dish and keep warm.

Add sliced mushrooms to the skillet and sauté in juices for about 3 minutes.  Add the mustard, ginger, salt and pepper.  Stir well and cook for 2 additional minutes.  Add sherry (bourbon in a pinch) and cream.  Cook at medium heat until cream reduces slightly and thickens.

Add steak to cream mixture, stir to coat, and pour back into the ovenproof dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly.

Serves four.

*Freezing the meat for a while (or, if already frozen, don't allow to thaw completely) makes slicing a breeze.

**I store fresh ginger in the freezer.  It keeps for a long time, and makes slicing, chopping, dicing, and grating very easy.

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Friday Flash Blog Party

Mongolian Beef

I don’t mind grocery shopping, in fact, I rather like it.  I doubt that many people who have not been out of the country realize just how amazing our options are here in the United States when it comes to the mundane task of buying groceries. After spending an extended amount of time in England one year when my husband had a Fellowship to the British Library, the first place I visited upon our return was the supermarket.  I stood at one end and looked all of the way down to the other and said, “Wow.”  Wow, indeed.  The space, the options, the produce, the meats, dairy, bakery (!), salad bar, food bars, all conveniently located in one place.  But despite the fact that I do enjoy it, my husband seems to enjoy it more, and does nearly all of our shopping.  What’s that you say?  I’m a very lucky woman.  Well, yes…and no.  He buys the food; I’m the one who has to figure out what to do with it.  Sometimes that is not easy, particularly when he stumbles upon a sirloin steak sale and comes home with a half dozen of them.  In mid-winter, outdoor grilling is not all that attractive, so I’m constantly on the lookout for quick, easy, and tasty ways to use sirloin.

Here is one recipe that deliciously fills the bill.  Reminiscent of the dish offered at P.F. Chang this can pretty much go from fridge to table in 40-45 minutes.

Mongolian Beef

1 lb. sirloin, patted dry, thinly sliced across the grain

1 small onion, sliced

¼ cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Sauce:

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

½ cup water

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)

3 scallions, sliced diagonally into 2” pieces

In medium-sized bowl, toss steak slices with corn starch until well coated.  Place coated meat into a sieve and shake off excess cornstarch.  Set aside.

To make sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  Heat large skillet or wok to medium-high heart, pour in sauce and heat for 2-3 minutes.  Pour sauce back into bowl; set aside.

Increase heat in skillet or wok to high, add oil, and allow oil to heat.  Add the beef and onion all at once and cook, stirring until the beef is browned and onion translucent.  Pour the sauce into the skillet and simmer until all is heated through, reducing to desired thickness.  Add the green onions and cook an additional minute, or use them to garnish the top.  Serve with rice.  Makes two ample servings.

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party

Cast Party Wednesday

Show Me What Ya Got