[Incredible] Crispy Beef Fajita Wraps.

First of all, this is going to be kind of a downer post, as there are zero pictures. I have reasons for this, though, which are the following: 1) I didn't expect the utter deliciousness that this dish ended up being, and 2) I was entirely too busy. I'm posting the recipe anyway, mostly to have for my own records since all my cookbooks are still in a box somewhere and I have resorted to carrying around recipes on a piece of notebook paper folded inside a book in my purse. Not kidding.

You could make these wraps at 9:30 in the morning or at 9:30 at night and not be sorry. It's that good.

(This is a spin off of this recipe, mentioned here the other day, as featured on this blog. How indirect and six-degrees-of-separation is that? It's a spin off because I used beef instead of chicken (we didn't have any poultry on hand) and it's much more Mexican-y. Yum yum delicioso.)

(Also, can I give a quick second to the greatness that is Pinterest? Please. It's like the Picasa collage things I've been into recently. The organization is just...making...me...so...happy! My meager beginnings can be found here.)

Here you go! Get thee to a kitchen.

Crispy Beef Fajita Wraps

INGREDIENTS:


THE MEAT SEASONING

- 1 to 1.5 lb. flank or strip steak, cut into 1-to-2-inch strips

- 1.5 tsp. garlic powder

- 4 T. minced onions (I used the dry kind)

- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

- 1 T. coarse salt

- 2 tsp. ground cumin

- 3 T. lime juice (two whole limes)

- a good, generous sprinkling of liquid smoke (~1-2 tsp.?)

- a good, generous sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce (~2 T.)

- drizzle of olive oil

THE RICE MIXTURE (straight from original recipe)

- 1 C rice (I used long grain, brown), already made.

- 1 can drained and rinsed black beans

- 1 to 2 green onions, green + white parts, chopped well.

- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped up pretty well.

- 1/2 bunch cilantro (I use the top half of the bunch, stems and all, just chopped well.)

- juice of 1 lime

- 1/2 T. chili powder

- 1 tsp. cumin

- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt (which I didn't have, so I used half garlic powder, half regular salt. It worked.)


OTHER


- sour cream


- freshly grated cheese (I used colby jack)

- 8-10 medium tortillas

- 1 stick REAL butter (my addition)

DIRECTIONS:

Dump everything in the meat seasoning list on top of the already cut meat on a plate. Mix and rub into meat with your hands.

Melt half a stick of butter (1/4 C) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Throw the meat in and let it sizzle on one side for a good bit, until the red is almost out of the top. Believe me, it tastes good if it gets a little blackened on the underside. The second batch I forgot about got a tad charred, but it was the best. And I don't generally like charred meat. I was also worried about the meat being tough because I didn't have time to marinate it, but it wasn't! It was just right.

Cut up the green onions, bell pepper, cilantro, and mix them and the black beans and the spices (chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt) all in with the rice.

When the meat is finished cooking (make sure the pieces aren't too big!), mix it into the rice too. Now you have one big goulash mixture of everything, which tastes unbelievable by itself.

Heat 1-2 T of butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Take the tortillas and one by one, add sour cream and shredded cheese down the middle, then spoon the rice + meat mixture down over that. Roll tightly and place seam-side-down in the skillet. Repeat for as many will fit comfortably in the pan. The goal here it to crisp them up (or I guess essentially fry the outsides in butter...there's a big clue to their yumminess). When the undersides are nice and crispy golden brown, flip them and do it to the other side. Remove and place on a plate. Slap some more butter in that pan and do another batch and another batch until you use up all your tortillas and rice + meat mixture.

The crispyness combined with the creaminess combined with the caliente-ness is just so delicious. We ate these tonight with a salad and some chips and homemade salsa, which I must have made literally hundreds of times. My recipe mostly follows this recipe, previously praised and featured here, and is something Tony and I crave weekly, if not daily.

Sorry for this extremely loquacious (I love that word!) recipe, but I like recipes that explain things thoroughly. I feel it's better to err on the wordy side, at least for recipes anyway.

Happy Wednesday, and happy eating.