Fajitas

I don’t care who you are or what diet you follow, you like fajitas. I’m a Pavlovian victim to the sound of the sizzle. Seeing that cackling cast iron skillet of smoke emerge before me and getting hit with palpable waves of acid, spice, and onion is quintessentially fajita. Oh, the drama. Oh, the fun of putting each one together exactly the way you want it. They’re universally loved for the aforementioned, but who knew it was easy to make them at home, too?

I made these for us a few weeks ago, and we LOVED them; I’ve made them twice since. Not surprising, but they’re better than a restaurant. I’m not sure why I never dabbled in real fajita making before this, ie the marinade, the vegetables, the fixings, but I’m not going back to not making them. The dazzling spectacle is missing, but I don’t mind; the taste makes up for it.

fajita

As always I’m offering more of a template here; a marinade for meat that is interchangeable with steak (skirt or flank), chicken (breast or thigh), pork (tenderloin), even fish or shrimp if you’re in the mood. Serve with whatever you like, but my mandatories are the fajita veggies (duh), guac or avocado (always), pico de gallo or salsa, hot sauce, cilantro, cheese & sour cream if you do dairy, all piled on top of greens (or flour tortillas if that’s your thing). All piled on with more hot sauce. I love the extra spice, even if I sound like a dog with a hairball for twenty minutes after I eat it. Hope that makes you want to enjoy this, too.

Fajitas
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Ingredients
  1. For the marinade
  2. 1/4 cup lime juice (2-3 limes)
  3. 1/2 cup olive oil
  4. 1 bunch cilantro leaves, plus more for serving
  5. 6 cloves garlic
  6. 1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed unless you want it really spicy
  7. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  8. 1 teaspoon cumin
  9. 1 teaspoon chili powder
  10. 2 pounds meat of your choosing (see above, but use flank or skirt steak, chicken, pork tenderloin, fish, or shrimp)
  11. 2 tablespoons cooking fat
  12. 2 onions, thinly sliced
  13. 4 peppers of various colors, sliced
  14. Avocado, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, tortillas, greens, hot sauce, cilantro, whatever else you would like to serve with.
Instructions
  1. In a food processor or blender, blend all of the marinade ingredients together. Place in a large bowl. Add your meat and marinate for 1-8 hours. If using fish, only marinate for 30 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons cooking fat over medium low heat. Saute the onions and peppers until well caramelized, about 30-40 minutes.
  3. A quick note on the meat: make sure your meat is about 1/2-inch thick. If you have really thick chicken breasts or steaks, butterfly them so they're easier to grill or sear.
  4. Once your meat has marinated, either grill or sear it to your liking. You can do this on a gas or charcoal grill, grill pan, or saute pan on high heat. It will be done cooking after about 5-6 minutes per side. Let it rest for a bit, then slice and serve! I find this method of cooking the meat whole and then slicing it yields a juicier meat as opposed to sauteing slices.
  5. Serve with all of your fixings, assemble the fajitas how you like, but definitely include the fajita veggies! Enjoy.
Ashley Pardo https://ashleypardo.com/

Leave a Reply

  1. Santiago Pardo says:

    Hey sweetheart I love fajitas.
    It has been a long time since I had them.
    Your recipe sounds great !!!.
    As usual just reading your blog makes me very hungry, and I had lunch a couple of hours ago.

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