I get by with a little help from my friends. Fajitas with Guacamole.

This one's for you Lisa, James and 'Tasha. 

 I know some terrific people.
In the picture to the left everything you see except the skirt steak and ground cumin was grown by myself, friends and neighbors. I scored some avocado, peppers of all sorts, onions, garlic and limes. Put that together with some sliced steak and you get that tex-mex favorite, fajitas. Right on guys.

 Easy to assemble. Trust me.







 First we'll gather together and start the marinade for the steak. Then we'll get the guac' going.
Here's a list of what you'll need.

Mise en place:
Fajitas
2 lbs of skirt steak or chuck steak
Red bell pepper thin slices
Green bell pepper ditto
Yellow or white onions ditto ditto
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 jalapeno, minced (if desired)
Zest of one lime
Juice of the same
Splash of oil
S&P (this means salt and black pepper, fresh ground)
1 tsp ground Cumin
1 TB dried Oregeno

Take your peppers and onions, lime zest, juice and garlic and put it in one bowl.
Hey I got a great tip for slicing onions. Ya wanna know? Yes you do.
Slice off the top and then cut right through the root end leaving the skins for now. Got it?

Now just peel back the skin, leaving the root end intact. This creates a good grip for you to make long thin slices and that's what we're going for here. PLUS the remainder is a neat little package for the stock pot. Thank you Chef Barkley, ya big Cajun jerk for showing me this trick. 

See? just pop it right in the stock pot, no mess. 

You got everything in the bowl right? Lime juice, lime zest, oil, onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, peppers all sorts? Good, let's move on to the steak.

 I used a skirt steak, sliced long and thin (thank you Kevin, god of butchers) but you can also use chuck if you got it. Now all you have to do is slice into sticks. Looks like this.

knife skills, word

If you need to, remove any fat that feels like hard wax, leave the rest.

Add your sliced steak to the bowl and toss, don't forget to add salt and fresh ground pepper. 

This really needs to marinate overnight or at least 6 hours. If you can, toss it around a few more times.

Cover and 'fridge

By my command of time and space we will skip ahead to tomorrow in 3-2-1-.....

So NOW we're ready for the quacamole. Here's what we'll need. 

Guacamole
2 ripe avocado
1 minced small onion
Juice of one lime
1 clove garlic, pureed
pinch of ground cumin
pinch chili powder
dash of Worcestershire sauce
S&P
some chopped tomato* see note below

Avocados are funny. If you are really reading this, ask me what "avocado" means in Aztek.

Slice your Avocado in half long ways, remove pith and with a sharp spoon, remove flesh into a medium bowl. Add all other ing's.

 *except tomato, add that later.

 Smoosh around with fork. Smoosh is a funny word. Don't make this smooth, leave some chunks. Adds character. Scrape into a small bowl, stir your tomato chunks in gently and cover with plastic wrap.      The problem is that since avocado(snicker) is oxygen sensitive it will start to brown right away. Place the plastic right onto the surface. Like this.

keep that air out

Back to the main feature.

Now that your steak has marinated you are ready to go. Heat up a grill pan (I got one for Christmas, what'd YOU git) or a large saute pan. HOT HOT HOT. 

With some tongs grab a hunk of everything and start cooking. 

As a friend of mine just pointed out, fajitas always smell better when cooking. Yeah I agree. All that lime juice, cumin and oregano does tend to make it's presence known. Toss this around until you get some good brown. Remove to a plate.

 Serve with a grip of warm tortillas, a heap of your good quacamole.

 I made some re-fried beans (need a recipe? see me) Eat up. Thanks again James, Lisa and 'Tasha. I am truly blessed. 

Go get your grub on. Ciao.