Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: VGR
Cost: $20 and under
Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 3-48 hours
Cook time: 10-15 min.
Difficulty: 1

Everyone who has had these fajitas has told us they are amazing. Yet they are as simple as squeezing fresh juice over skirt steak, letting it sit in the refrigerator for a while and then tossing it all on a hot grill. The flavor I think that really pulls it all together and sets it off, is the white grapefruit juice. We added it about a year ago to see what it would taste like and we added it ever since. It's become the center ingredient of all our fajita recipes. We've even started using it in a pepper vodka shrimp fajita marinade. The citrus is not only for flavor it also tenderizes the meat, making it soft as well as giving you a fresh zesty bang of summer in every bite! (Updated ingredients and instructions June 17, 2010)

Ingredients:
Meat
3-4 lbs skirt steaks (we have also used flank steak)
1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice
1/2 of fresh limes juice
1/2 cup white grape fruit juice
1/4 cup Gold Tequila or Mezcal
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 large sweet onion (sliced into rounds)
1 jalapeno (optional)
fresh crack pepper (to taste)
kosher salt (to taste)

Vegetables
1/2 sweet onion (Juliane)
1/2 green bell (Juliane)
1/2 orange bell (Juliane)
1/2 yellow bell (Juliane)
1/2 red bell (all Juliane)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pinches cumin
2 pinches chili powder
2 pinches Cayenne
2 pinches garlic salt
2 pinches onion powder
fresh crack pepper (to taste)
kosher salt (to taste)

Misc
8-12 corn or flour tortillas (warmed)
Sour cream
Easy guacamole
Cheddar cheese (shredded)
Mexican rice
1 handful mesquite chips

Mesquite Chips
Soak chips in water for 15-30 min. Remove chips from water and allow to dry for a couple of minutes but make sure to keep moist. You can add chips directly to lava rocks or coals or wrap them in aluminum foil with holes poked into the top.

Fajitas
Place skirt steak in a large sealable container and freshly squeeze juices from fruit over meat. Add Mezcal (or tequila,) sprinkle fresh cilantro, add 1/2 onion rounds, add jalapeno, seal and marinate for 3 to 36 hours. (If you are marinating for 3 hours add vegetables to mixture right away, if marinating for more time follow instructions below.)

3 hours before cooking meat remove onion from sealable container. Add Juliane vegetables and let marinate until ready to cook.

Preheat grill to medium high.

Remove meat from container, rub kosher salt and fresh crack pepper into both sides and place on medium grill. Cook steaks for 4-5 minutes, then flip steaks and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes or until meat is cooked through. Remove steak from grill and Let sit for 5 minutes. Carefully cut meat into 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices.

While the steaks are cooking, strain vegetables and cook either by:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is heated add vegetables and seasonings, cooking for 5-7 minutes or until onions are translucent.
2. Toss vegetables in olive oil, sprinkle with seasonings, wrap in aluminium foil and grill on the top rack for 7-10 minutes or until onions are translucent.

Serve with warm flour or corn tortillas, sour cream, Mexican rice, cheese and our easy guacamole.