~Carne Asada~ What's Grilling for Memorial Day Weekend

In my opinion, carne asada is the most wonderful dish to serve on a bbq weekend with friends and family. It is teeming with garlic and cilantro, marinated for hours in spices and lime juice and is fabulous wrapped up in a tortilla with sour cream, avocado and pico de gallo. I'm sharing this recipe because I've never found a better one and because the store-bought spice blends always include MSG, to which we are allergic. This marinade is adapted from simplyrecipies.com.


Carne asada is the thinly sliced, grilled beef served so often in tacos and burritos. Although almost any cut of beef can be butterflied into thin sheets for the carne asada, typically it is made from flank steak or skirt steak. I've found the most reliable store to find the thinly sliced beef to be Winco.





Carne Asada Recipe
2 pounds flank or skirt steak
Olive oil (to coat the grill to prevent sticking)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to season on the grill if desired)

Marinade:
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and minced (or 1 Tbl. chili sauce like Tapatio)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large handful fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup olive oil

Method
1. Lay the flank steak in a large non-reactive bowl or baking dish. Combine marinade ingredients and pour the marinade over the steak. Make sure each piece is well coated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-24 hours.


2. Preheat your grill over medium-high flame. Brush the grates with a little oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Remove the steak from the marinade.  Grill the pieces for a few minutes only, on each side, depending on how thin they are, until medium rare to well done, to your preference. You may need to work in batches. Remove the steak pieces and let rest for 5 minutes.


(Optional) Serve with warm tortillas (flour or corn). Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side in a dry skillet or on the grill, until toasty and pliable. Alternatively, you can warm tortillas in a microwave: heating just one or two at a time, place tortillas on a paper towel and microwave them for 15 to 20 seconds each on high.

(Optional) Serve with pico de gallo (fresh tomato salsa), sour cream, freshly chopped cilantro, and chopped avocados.


Serves 4-6 very happy people.