Local Inspiration: Steak Fajitas

Last weekend, I picked up some great ingredients at the Boston Local Food Festival.  When Bret and I were trying to decide what to cook this weekend, we knew that we wanted to utilize two of these products.

Maria and Ricardo's Tortilla Factory, which is located in Canton, MA



Hedgie's Hot Stuff salsa, which is a family business from Greenfield, MA


Salsa? Tortillas? What could be better than steak fajitas?

To start, I de-thawed a piece of flank steak on Thursday night to use for Friday evening.  On Friday evening, I got home from the gym and whipped together a quick marinade for the steak.  I used a lot of different ingredients from our fridge, pantry and spice rack.

I've been trying to make a point about using actual measurements as I cook, so I actually measured these ingredients out:

• 1/3 cup of spicy pickling liquid
• 1/4 cup of roasted chili oil
• 1 tsp of spicy chipotle rub
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/8 tsp cumin

I whisked the marinade together and put it in a sealed plastic bag with the steak.  I pricked the steak with a fork to make sure that it would really soak up all of the juices.  I wanted the steak to be spicy and also hoped that the pickling liquid would help soften the steak up a bit.

I let the steak marinate at room temperature while I worked on some carrot cake cupcakes (blog post to come) for a friend's birthday later that weekend.  When the cupcakes were in the oven, Bret came home with the rest of the ingredients for our dinner.

We were using a lot of bright vegetables, which always makes me happy.

Bret sliced and de-seeded the peppers.  He left some of the seeds in the hot peppers since we both like some heat.

I got to work slicing up the two onions.

When the cupcakes were out of the oven and cooling, Bret turned the oven down to 200 degrees and put in four of the small tortillas in the oven wrapped and sealed in aluminum foil.  I got the cast iron skillet warmed up with a few tablespoons of olive oil.  When the skillet was ready, Bret added the steak to the pan.  Since the steak was so thin, he seared it for only four minutes on one side.  After the steak was ready, he flipped it over and we added the sliced vegetables so that the meat, peppers and onions would soak up all of the different flavors.

When the steak was done cooking, I put it on a cutting board to let it rest before slicing into it.  The vegetables need a little extra time so I continued sauteeing the peppers and onions while the steak sat.

Finally, we were ready!  Bret sliced the steak and we put together our steak fajitas!  I started out with a warm tortilla that was straight from the oven.  I put down a layer of the vegetables and sliced steak.

I topped the entire fajita with guacamole, sour cream, the Hedgie's Hot Stuff salsa and shredded cheese.

And we washed it all down with Maine Root's Pumpkin Pie soda.  I first tried it at the Boston Local Food Festival and Bret picked some up at our local Whole Foods.

The steak fajitas were a perfect Friday night meal.  Each bite was spicy and full of so many different flavors.  And let's be honest, isn't it more fun to eat dinner with your hands?

Tell me, what great things did you cook or eat this weekend?