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Classic Fajitas

  • Prep Time -
  • Cook Time -
  • Serves 8
Cook's Illustrated

Recipe Provided By: Cook's Illustrated

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Cook's Illustrated on Yahoo! Food


Average (183 Ratings): 3.5 out of 5 stars

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1. Ingredients

  1. 3 medium avocados (preferably Hass)
  2. 2 tablespoons minced onion
  3. 1 medium clove garlic, minced
  4. 1 small jalapeno chile, minced
  5. 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
  6. 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  7. 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
  8. 2 tablespoons lime juice
  9. 2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, diced small
  10. 1/2 cup tomato juice
  11. 1 small chipotle chile, minced
  12. 1 medium red onion, diced small
  13. 1 medium clove garlic, minced
  14. 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
  15. 1/2 cup lime juice
  16. Table salt
  17. 1 (2.5 pound) flank steak
  18. 1/4 cup lime juice
  19. Table salt and ground black pepper
  20. 1 very large onion, peeled and cut into half-inch slices
  21. 2 very large red bell peppers or green bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into large wedges
  22. 16 (10 inch) plain flour tortillas

Nutrition Info

Per Serving

  • Calories: 907 kcal
  • Carbohydrates: 100 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 11 g
  • Fat: 37 g
  • Protein: 44 g
  • Sugars: 10 g

About: Nutrition Info

Powered by: ESHA Nutrient Database

2. Cooking Directions

  1. Chunky Guacamole: Halve one avocado, remove pit, and scoop flesh into medium bowl. Mash flesh lightly with onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, salt, and cumin (if using) with tines of a fork until just combined.
  2. Halve and pit remaining two avocados, and prepare. Gently scoop out avocado into bowl with mashed avocado mixture.
  3. Sprinkle lime juice over diced avocado and mix entire contents of bowl lightly with fork until combined but still chunky. Adjust seasoning with salt, if necessary, and serve. (Can be covered with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto surface of mixture, and refrigerated up to one day. Return guacamole to room temperature, removing plastic wrap at the last moment, before serving).
  4. Classic Red Table Salsa: Mix all ingredients, including salt to taste, in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate to blend flavors, at least 1 hour or up to 5 days.
  5. For Charcoal Grill: Ignite about 7 quarts charcoal and burn until coals are completely covered with thin coating of light-gray ash, 20 to 30 minutes. Pile coals on one-half of grill bottom, position grill rack and heat until very hot (you can hold your hand 5 inches above grill surface for 2 seconds). For Gas Grill: Turn all burners on gas grill to high, close lid, and heat grill until hot, 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Fajitas: Generously sprinkle both sides of steak with lime juice, salt and pepper; place directly over coals or on gas grill grate and grill until well-seared and dark brown on first side, 5 to 7 minutes (4 to 6 minutes, covered, on gas grill). Flip steak using tongs; continue grilling on second side until interior of meat is slightly less done than you want it to be when you eat it, 2 to 5 minutes (3 to 5 minutes on gas grill) more for medium-rare (depending on heat of fire and thickness of steak). Transfer meat to cutting board; cover loosely with foil, and let rest 5 to 10 minutes. Slice very thin, on bias against the grain; adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper.
  7. When charcoal fire has died down to medium or gas grill burners are adjusted to medium (you can hold your hand 5 inches above grill surface for 4 seconds), grill onions and peppers, turning occasionally, until onions are lightly charred, about 6 minutes, and peppers are streaked with dark grill marks, about 10 minutes. Remove onions and peppers from grill and cut peppers into long, thin strips; set aside. Arrange tortillas around edge of grill; heat until just warmed, about 20 seconds per side. (Do not dry out tortillas or they get brittle; wrap tortillas in towel to keep warm.) Remove to platter; set aside.
  8. Serving Fajitas: Arrange sliced meat and vegetables on large platter; serve immediately, with tortillas, salsa, and guacamole passed separately.

Yield: 8 servings

3. Still Hungry?

For tender meat, it is crucial that you slice this steak very thin, against the grain and on the bias.

Notes:

Note

Although it was originally made with skirt steak, this combination of steak and vegetables grilled and then wrapped in warm tortillas is the dish that put flank steak on the culinary map in the United States. The ingredients go on the grill in order as the fire dies down: steak over a hot fire, vegetables over a medium fire, and tortillas around the edge of the medium to low fire just to warm them.

Rate This Recipe

Average (183 Ratings): 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Reviews

View all 37 Reviews | Write a Review

  • Worth the Effort

    Tracey F - May 3, 2007 03:07:25 PM PST
    I grew up cooking and baking, so giving something a low rating based on items you have to chop seems absurd. If you want easy, they make TV dinners you should try. The more ingredients the more flavor! If you think it looks too complicated, save it for making on a day you have the time, make it a fun family activity. Socializing and cooking in the kitchen can be fun family time.

    6 of 7 found this review helpful.

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  • Do not waste time reading (and commenting) on these recipes

    mark a - September 17, 2007 03:15:07 PM PST
    This recipe was VERY, VERY, VERY Easy!!!!! If you like to cook, I am not sure how to make this any easier. There are three components 1)Guacomole 2) Salsa 3)Steak. The first 2 are quick dice and do not need to be cooked. They require 8 very easy to find ingredients each, and are easily combined. I agree with some readers that they should have categorized the recipe this way (although because the ingredients are in order, it was still very easy to follow).

    If you want to make it easier, buy already made guacomole and salsa. That would be quicker and easier, but then that takes away half of the point of cooking, and all the freshness and flavors of doing it from your own ingredients (prepared guac is usually pretty bad, salsas can be very good!). Also doing this yourself allows you to adjust seasonings, etc... to your and your families tastes (ie spicier/milder, salt substitute if on a low sodium diet, lower fat meats with less oil for lower cal, etc...)

    Seriously guys, most of you that complained about this recipe could have saved your time reading it, and writing about it, used the time to drive down to Taco Bell, and your family could have been eating by the time you were done complaining about this simple recipe.

    4 of 5 found this review helpful.

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  • Good Food

    emh1231%40sbcglobal.net - January 23, 2007 09:48:22 AM PST
    I haven\'t tried this recipe, but it sounds like the way I would fix Fajitas. There is nothing ever easy about them, if you want easy fo out to eat ! And futhermore all the ingrediants can be found at your local grocery store. Geez Wheez people!

    7 of 12 found this review helpful.

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  • You all are lazy

    smrick925 - May 3, 2007 06:29:30 PM PST
    For those of you complaining that this is not quick and easy, I did not see Yahoo say this is quick an easy. And as far as the calories, and fat and carbs. That is assuming that people eat 4. Which is way more than what the average person should eat. I actually took the time and calculated the ingredients on a online recipe calculator and for 2, which is what you get at a restaurant, it is only 672 calories, 28 fat, and 65 carbs. Assuming that this is your meal, that is not bad. Consider that if you put on the avocados those are good fats. There are no oils and/or frying, and you can always change the meat for chicken. People are so obsessed with numbers they fail to recognize good carbs and bad carbs, good fats and bad fats. They see a high number and don\'t care whether or not it is good for them, they choose the lower calorie option even if it is unhealthy. That is way so many diets fail. This is a balanced meal, carbs, fats and protein with veggies. You can always change flour tortillas for wheat. I for one will try this recipe, it sounds good and good for you.

    6 of 11 found this review helpful.

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  • Over simple and not so quick afterall

    FaeryDame - May 3, 2007 02:18:15 PM PST
    Easy, but probably not quick if you want to make everything. Luckily, fajitas usually serve more than one person, so have the other eater lend a hand in the prep! However, I do think this receipe is way too simple. I mean, who doesn\'t know how to make guac or grill up some veggies and meat for fajitas? I do like the chunky guac idea, as most people make theirs very smooth. If I try a new receipe, I do like it to have something novel in it. Maybe not something complex, but something beyond common sense and the basic foods everyone knows how to make. Or am I wrong here? Do Americans not know how to grill meat and smash avocadoes? :) If you are concerned about the calories & such, then get low fat, low0carb fajitas, don\'t use cheese, don\'t eat tons of guac, don\'t use sour cream, don\'t cook these in tons of oil, go tortilla-less or use smaller tortillas & have smaller portions. There are common sense ways of cutting back the heaftiness of this common sense meal.

    5 of 9 found this review helpful.

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