Tacos de Carne Asada (Tacos with steak)

A typical mexican taqueria-style classic dish that reunites tacos with steak. As the name implies this taco is all about the "carne" or steak; so naturally how you prepare the meat will be crucial when making this type of taco; and this taco is meant to be hot! There was a discussion with the wife as for type of meat to use, well, more about which cut of beef will give the most tender result... While there are cheaper cubed meat cuts available at the supermaket, making this taco recipe I chose instead to go for a more expensive cut, a sirloin steak. This may seem like overkill for a taco recipe, but let me tell you, after trying this I strongly recommend this cut or the tender cuts of beef for this type of taco...





Tacos de carne asada

Tacos de Carne Asada plate

Tacos de Carne Asada recipe (for 4 using these quantities)


Ingredients

- 16 corn tortillas.
- 2 pounds of red meat (beef, lamb or pork), a cut good for steak; excess fat removed
- 1 cup of jalapeños encurtidos (pickled jalapeño chiles, keeping the carrots and onions that come with it.)
- Extra-virgin olive oil to pour on the skillet
- 1 white medium, cut onion
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lemons cut in 4, to serve
- 1/4 cup of árbol sauce (recipe below)
- 1/2 cup of fresh, finely chopped cilantro.

árbol red salsa ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 2 árbol chiles, discard the stem and seeds; more for hotness, as desired.
- 1 15 ounce tomato can, diced to small cubes; here I used 3 fresh diced tomatoes.
- 1/2 white regular sized onion, chopped to small bits.
- 1 finely chopped garlic clove.
- 1 teaspoon dry oregano.
- 1 teaspoon salt.



Preparation

To make the árbol red salsa, soak the chiles in one cup lukewarm water for 30 minutes, discard stems and seeds, blend all the salsa related ingredients, including the water used to soak the chiles in a food processor to liquefy.

Place the red meat in a glass pan, marinate it with the jalapeño encurtidos mixture and then cover it well using cellophane or plastic wrap and marinate from one up to eight hours so that the aromas of the jalapeño mixture can penetrate well in the meat.

Preheat your stove to medium setting. Using a small brush, spread a little bit of oil to the surface of the skillet to avoid sticking.
Take out the meat from the jalapeño marinade. Season your meat with salt and pepper on both sides. Turning your meat only once, cook in a skillet a few minutes on each side until it is cooked medium.
Take away from the stove and place on a cutting board, allowing your meat to rest for about five minutes so that the meat's juices settle.
Then using a very sharp knife cut in the fiber direction in slices of about 1/4 inches of size.
Warm a large frying pan to medium-high heat setting.

Flash-fry the tortillas 20 seconds for every side until they are flexible (so you can fold them).
To make the tacos, combine together two warm tortillas, put approximately four ounces of meat in the center and mix with a little onion and freshly cut cilantro. Sprinkle with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of árbol sauce in every taco and garnish with small chunks of lime.

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