Description: This is a quick and simple recipe to bring together both common types of tacos in a way not normally seen. Fajitas are almost always served on fresh corn or flour (soft) tortillas, and American tacos are normally ground beef in a crunchy yellow corn shell. This recipe swaps both of those trends, includes a Western Mexican fried beef twist and brings a smokey flavor to your plate in less than 30 minutes, without even firing up the grill. The smoked Paprika is inspired by Food Network's Aaron McCargo (Big Daddy). I've been making this for about 7-8 years and some friends have called it the "Mexican stroganoff crunchy tacos". I've never made it with Smoked Paprika before and that gives the recipe a new and unique twist that I was really surprised about and quite happy with.
Other:
Ingredients:
Time:
30 minutes or less (less marinade time)
Difficulty:
Easy
Serving Size:
2 People
Canola Oil for light frying
Worcestershire Sauce based Fajita Marinade (I prefer Jardine's -7J- Ranch Fajata Marinade made in Buda Texas, available at speciality food stores).
8 Crunchy Corn Taco Shells (if you can locate Organic Blue Corn they work excellent) but normal store bought yellow or white corn shells are fine
(2) 6-8 oz Chuck Eye Steaks (Closest you can get to Rib-Eye and it can cost half as much!)
Sour Cream
Your favorite taco sauce, or salsa (I prefer La Victoria red taco sauce as it is the only one that is made from California red peppers and is quite different than most taco sauces)
1/2 TABLEspoon Smoked Paprika
1 TEAspoon granulated garlic
1 TEAspoon granulated onion
2 TEAspoons fresh ground black pepper
Pinch of Cayenne
Preparation:
Large skillet (Iron works great), zip lock bag, cookie sheet, a few small mixing bowls and a good sharp meat knife.
Instructions:
Marinade the steaks in Worcestershire Sauce based Fajita Marinade in the zip lock bag in the fridge (I prefer Jardine's -7J- Ranch Fajata Marinade made in Buda Texas, available at speciality food stores). Even if you can't find this brand, the main marinade ingredient should be Worcestershire Sauce, most certainly not High Fructose Corn Syrup as the marinade makes all the difference in this recipe. Chuck Eye steaks are perfect for this recipe as they cost much less than Rib-Eye, and are the closest cut to the rib-eye, almost exactly the same most of the time. Marinade for just an hour or two, overnight is not needed, as that can overpower the meat.
Remove meat from marinade, (set marinade aside) and dice meat into 1/4" (or smaller) cubes. Season with the Smoked Paprika, black pepper, granulated onion and granulated garlic by tossing in a bowl. Pat the meat down into the bottom of the bowl and pour remaining marinade into the bowl, cover and return to fridge for at least 15 minutes. up to an hour.
Lay your taco shells out on some foil on your cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 350.
Drain your meat cubes and toss in skillet at high and sear for 2-3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and allow to brown for 3-4 minutes.
When meat is nearly finished, turn heat back up to high for 1 minute, add 2 tablespoons of canola oil and fry beef while stirring constantly for a few minutes or until blackening.
While you are doing this you can put the shells in the oven, only heating for 2-3 minutes and that's it.
Drain beef on paper towels.
For each taco, combine 3 tablespoons beef and 1 tablespoon sour cream in a small bowl and stir together.
Quickly spoon hot beef/sour cream mixture into the shells, add your favorite taco sauce or salsa, a pinch of seasalt or grind of fresh rocksalt (Salish Smoked works great!) and a squeeze of lime (optional) and serve right away.
(Be sure to try one 'plain' with no taco sauce as well, to see the original flavor!)
By mixing the piping hot beef with the sour cream, you will serve a taco that is both piping hot and chilled at the same time, while hot and sour at the same time. Plus this method of mixture provides a beef/sour cream type paste that has the consistency to stay together when you bite into the crunchy taco.
In our experience the Worcestershire Sauce marinade flavor tied in perfectly with the smoked paprika and the end result was a quite unique smokey taco, unlike what you normally see served. These are perfect for hot summer months as they are served somewhat cool due to the mixture of meat and room temp sour cream.
* Optional - Fresh diced Cilantro.
* Optional - Fresh diced tomato in place of taco sauce
* Tips - The most time consuming process is dicing the beef steaks into small enough pieces. You want them smaller than half a dime. This allows them to mix well with the sour cream where the tacos can be eaten without falling apart. Also, leave your sour cream out on the counter for the duration of prep so it will become closer to room temp.
Linear Mode
