fajitas

[bama bbq]

¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 Tbsp sugar
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
2 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
1 tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cumin

Puree in blend and place in a sealable bag with skirt or flank steak.  Marinade 4 or 5 hours.

Grill along with onions and peppers.  Serve with tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, salsa, and shreded cheese on tortillas.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Hey kids, while searching "fajitas" I found this thread and it makes sense to continue it!

I took bama bbq's recipe above and modified it to meet my limitations.

I substituted McCormick Grill Mates Chipotle & Roasted Garlic and garlic powder for "chipotle pepper in adobo" and garlic cloves. Oh, and all we have is brown sugar these days.

I forgot all about onions but intended to include them. Also, I should have included a few mushrooms for one person ... next time!

I have what looks like that same Lodge griddle now, and it was used to warm tortillas in the kitchen, as was a 10.5" cast iron skillet.

Out on the grill I cooked on 2 Lodge fajita skillets and on a Lodge 8" skillet. Steak and chicken had been marinating for about 7 hours and OMG it was tender. Steak was bought already cut into very thin but long slices, which I further cut into short pieces. Chicken was boneless breast, cut by me into smallish pieces. Red, orange, yellow, jalapeño pepper sliced up, too.

I piled into a cone about 3/4" worth of chimney and lit it. Meats went on first, stirring a little and then grill lid went on. About 5 mins later I added the peppers. Lid was on for a little while but much of the cook was lid off, with me stirring.

Takeaways:
- It was delicious but too sweet. Less sugar next time.

- Torillias need to go on griddle or "spare kettle" and then into container to keep warm. We have one of those plastic containers like at Mexican restaurants for this, and used it.

- Fajita skillets need to be removed and plated last, just like at the restaurant for max sizzle effect. Actually, they never really got hot enough to sizzle on the grill. Hmm ... I may relegate the Smokey Joe to this task next time and blast them with higher heat, rather than use a bunch of coals in the Performer for just two small skillets. Or maybe an 18.5" is in my future as a "utility player"... Even though I had a helper tend to the tortillas and shred some cheese, timing all this was beyond me.

- It's funny, but my biggest concern going in was that I'd lose all the food off the sides of the skillets. But that never happened. That said, I included too much meat for each skillet.

Right after meats put on. (I know it's blurry, but this just shows how the 3 pieces fit.)


A minute or so before taking the fajita skillets to the table:

[OoPEZoO]

Nice......we were just discussing fajitas last night.  I was planning on doing them tonight or tomorrow, but I think the monsoon we are expecting tonight and all day tomorrow might delay that until the weekend.

[pbe gummi bear]

Wow, back from the dead! Those fajitas look great. Can you move your pan directly onto your charcoal basket to get the super hot to sizzle?

[addicted-to-smoke]

... Can you move your pan directly onto your charcoal basket to get the super hot to sizzle?

Since it never really did the "restaurant sizzle" thing I figure the grill wasn't setup with enough heat, but maybe it was ... with your suggestion of moving the skillets right onto the coals (at the end, presumably, not during the entire cook?)

So, I don't know. Could I have set the hot skillets straight onto the SS table without hurting it, in order to I remove the grate and hang it somewhere? I don't have trivets.

None of it had as much "char" as what you see in restaurants, so hitting the skillets with high heat for a minute or two at the end is probably the way to go. An additional challenge would be to do it all without the CI getting too "cold" as they get removed and then instantly hot. Maybe I'm overthinking this. But it's these details and needing 5 hands at once that trip me up about outdoor grilling.

The paper that came with the skillets included (oven) directions for that:

Preheating your Lodge Sizzleware will give your fajitas that wonderful sizzle. Adjust top oven rack to 4" below broiler and lower rack to lowest position.

Set oven to 425 degrees and place sizleware on lower rack. Let heat for about 30 minutes. Sizzleware remains in oven while fajitas are being broiled or grilled.

My understanding of that description is that the skillets aren't used for cooking, and even if something else is used for cooking, how does transferring food from something else make for sizzle?? Are they implying the skillets @ 425 would be hotter than however the food was cooked?

Be that as it may, an additional challenge for "instant presentations" is that my Performer only fits on my lower-level deck. I have to walk back through the basement and upstairs to the kitchen table when I grill --- any sizzling sorta stops pretty quickly from the journey. I also have a covered back porch/deck right off the kitchen that would be an ideal grilling location except for the fact that it's ... covered and I wouldn't trust the screened walls to be enough to vent the carbon monoxide.

[Tim in PA]

You guys motivated me but I did a much easier/lazier recipe (store bought spices). I didn't even get to eat them yet because while I was grilling we were invited up to the InLaws for burgers. I'll never turn down a free burger!

Wife made some cilantro lime rice to go along with this.

[Johnpv]

Great looking Fajitas!