Another week of college football is in the books and it was a weekend where Kansas State didn’t play. They are getting ready for Auburn this Thursday. So to make up for it, I decided to go with something a little more colorful for food. And boy did it ever come through. It’s fajita time.
I basically took this recipe from Apple and Sparkle. What I did different, however, is what knocked it out of the proverbial food park. I added some liquid smoke and cinnamon for the marinade on the sirloin (not skirt) steak. I also added some pineapple and hatch peppers to the grill list. It was absolutely fantastic.
Marinade
- 1/3 c. soy sauce
- 1/3 c. fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1/3 c. canola oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 T. brown sugar
- 1 t. cumin
- 1 t. chile powder
- 1 t. liquid smoke
- 1/3 t. cinnamon
Fixins
- about 2 lb. sirloin steak
- 2-3 bell peppers, ends trimmed, cored and seeded, cut into a couple large pieces
- 1 large white onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-3/4-inch slices (keep the slices intact)
- 4 slices of pineapple
- 2 hatch peppers
- 6 6-inch flour tortillas
- lime wedges
- toppings of your choice such as, cilantro, salsa, cheese, sour cream & avocados or guacamole
1. Get the marinade prepared: Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Reserve about 1/3 cup of marinade for the vegetables. Place the steak in a gallon-sized ziplock bag. Add the remaining marinade. Seal the bag, pressing out any excess air, massage the marinade into the meat a bit. Refrigerate anywhere from 3-10 hours.
2. After meat has finished marinating, remove steak from marinade. Brush the vegetables with reserved marinade. Heat your grill to high. Add the steak to the super hot grill and grill, covered about 2 1/2 minutes per side, or however pink you want it. Remove steak to a clean plate and cover with foil & let rest for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the peppers, pineapple, onions to the grill and grill, turning occasionally until cooked, peppers should take about 5 minutes and onions will take about 10. Remove from grill. Briefly add the tortillas to the grill, a couple at a time and grill until warmed and lightly charred around the edges. Wrap the tortillas in foil to keep warm.
4. Thinly slice the steak, against the grain. Slice the onions in half and separate the rings. Slice the peppers. Serve with the tortillas, lime wedges and toppings of your choice.
It rocked my world. I had it with Aloha Pina from 5 Stone Craft Brewing Company. The pineapple and jalapeno flavor in the beer worked perfectly with the fruits and vegetables in the the fajita. The steak was cooked just to perfection. My only complaint with the whole setup is that I wised that the tortillas were bigger so I could fit more on to them.
Now on to football, where the day was just big enough for the Big 12. I predicted in the Pick It and Stick It that the Big 12 would go 5-4. Welp that did one better and went 6-3. It could’ve been better as Texas almost upset UCLA, but they fubbed a coin toss and set the tone for that game. The big surprise came out of West Virginia for me. They beat Maryland on a last second field goal.
So the Big 12 did not crap the bed. In fact, they held their own. Just look at the Pac 12 where USC choked and lost to Boston College. Or the SEC where Georgia choked against South Carolina. It seems that, barring anything super crazy, the Big 12 will have a representative in the college football playoff. And if Kansas State can upset Auburn this Thursday, it may just be them.