Here is a pic from the taco cart that James got for my 30th b-day party. Awesome!
A little side schpeal on why some of the recipes are honestly that much better when you marinate for long periods of time: a lot of people turn their noses up at flank steak, saying that it can be tough. This is true, if you don't know what you are doing.
- 1) You should always cut flank steak, or any other typically tougher piece of meat, into thin strips, and most importantly, cutting/slicing against the grain. For example: when you look at a piece of flank steak, you see lines running lengthwise in the meat. You should be slicing then, width-wise, perpendicular to the natural lines you see (this is what "against the grain" means).
- 2) There are certain ingredients that act as natural enzymes with tough meat, that when given time, break down the meat muscles holding it all tight together, loosening the meat up. If you have a tougher piece of meat, such as flank steak or sirloin, etc., marinating it for long periods of time in certain ingredients actually tenderize the meat. Use vinegars, creams, milks, acids (fruit juices: lime, lemon, orange, pineapple, etc.), soy, 7-up, Sprite, beer, wine....that's all I can think of for now. But you get the idea. Use any one of these, or combination of them in your marinade (even if for short time), can help tenderize your meat.
I don't know if any of you care to know this random food education, but I am a nerd and think it's interesting. Like science. Food science. Nerdy science.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): cheese is optional in this one
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): long marinate time, after that, a 2 at the most
"Taco Cart" Style Tacos
Flank Steak (1.5-2 lbs for 4 people)
1/3 cup white distilled vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
5 large cloves garlic, minced
2 limes, juiced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 package white corn tortillas
1-2 cups fresh grated manchego cheese (optional)
Hot Sauce (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)
1-2 Tbl Vegetable oil
In mixing bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and paprika. Whisk and then pour over flank steak in a shallow glass baking dish. Turn once to coat, cover with plastic wrap, put in refrigerator, and marinate for 8 hour or overnight. In small bowl, combine onion, cilantro, and lime juice as relish for tacos. Remove meat from marinade, discard remaining marinade, and thin slice or chop the flank steak. In large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1-2 Tbl of Vegetable oil. Add meat to skillet, and cook over medium-high heat until meat has cooked through (5 minutes or so). Heat separate small fry pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp of liquid from large meat skillet pan to it, and add tortilla, turning once to get some of liquid on both sides, and cook tortillas, briefly one by one to heat through (it should be about 15-30 second per tortilla to warm). Drain meat from mixture, serve meat in tortillas, topped with cheese, salsa, sour cream, onion relish, and hot sauce.
Optional Rice Addition:
1 cup long grain white rice, cook as directed
2 limes, juiced
1 tsp salt
2 Tbl chopped fresh cilantro
Cook white rice as directed. Just prior to serving rice, mix lime juice, salt, and fresh cilantro into rice and stir well. Serve rice in tacos with meat and toppings.
So, the rice I made was not quite what I was expecting. I was trying to make the rice that they have at Chipotle or Qdoba, but I make the rookie-ball mistake of 1) using our Asian white sticky rice and 2) adding the cilantro in, then shutting the rice cooker and letting it sit for an hour, which basically burned the cilantro. Oops. So use your normal white rice, and don't add the cilantro until just before serving.
