What's on the Grill #178: Flat Iron Fajitas
Hooray, Bean is here once again to grace us with his presence, wit, and periodic attitude. We couldn't be more excited. Bean, not being one to waste time, or a meal, decided to immediately hit the grill with me. He is already working up a way to top last summer's grill video, but for now just wanted dinner. Who could blame him? I function the same way.
After raiding the fridge and local farmer's market, we decided upon the ultimate weekend meal: fajitas. I probably have some sort of meal wrapped in a fajita once a week. There are easy, quick, and relatively healthy (not that the healthy part really directs my decision making).
For protein, I usually go beef or shrimp. There is always frozen shrimp in the freezer and more often than not, I usually have a vacuumed packed flat iron steak too. Of course in case of a tie, you know which direction I swing: beef.
To hone Bean's eye hand coordination skills on something other than the PS3, I had him prep, cut, and skewer the red onions and green peppers. Instead of sautéing up the vegetables in the skillet, we opted to go with more of a grilled approach by placing them on skewers.
With rather good precision, Bean worked the onions and peppers on to the skewers with care and proper spacing. It brought a tear to my eye, and not because of the cut onions.
We prepped a two zone fire. Direct medium to one side and indirect to the other. While Bean was hard at work getting things ready, I enjoyed a pint of our Bean Buzzy Bear we brewed back in April. For a batch I wasn't too sure of, I have really enjoyed this malty scottish ale.
We grilled the vegetables for about 10 minutes over direct heat, turning once. We then moved to the indirect side while we grilled our flat iron steak. The steak was cooked for 10 minutes, turning once.
I like my meat medium rare, so once done, it was removed from the grate, placed on a cutting board and allowed to rest.
While the meat took a sabbatical, we removed the vegetables from the skewers and diced them further. The meat was next sliced thin and placed in the middle of some tortillas we had warmed on the grates.
We topped them with the onions, peppers, bibb lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and of course sour cream (real sour cream, not the low-fat, non-fat, less-fat, varieties!)
Bean ranked the fajitas 5 stars on his 3 star scale. If based on 5th grade math, I believe it means he liked them. Good, I know I did.
After raiding the fridge and local farmer's market, we decided upon the ultimate weekend meal: fajitas. I probably have some sort of meal wrapped in a fajita once a week. There are easy, quick, and relatively healthy (not that the healthy part really directs my decision making).
For protein, I usually go beef or shrimp. There is always frozen shrimp in the freezer and more often than not, I usually have a vacuumed packed flat iron steak too. Of course in case of a tie, you know which direction I swing: beef.
To hone Bean's eye hand coordination skills on something other than the PS3, I had him prep, cut, and skewer the red onions and green peppers. Instead of sautéing up the vegetables in the skillet, we opted to go with more of a grilled approach by placing them on skewers.
With rather good precision, Bean worked the onions and peppers on to the skewers with care and proper spacing. It brought a tear to my eye, and not because of the cut onions.
We prepped a two zone fire. Direct medium to one side and indirect to the other. While Bean was hard at work getting things ready, I enjoyed a pint of our Bean Buzzy Bear we brewed back in April. For a batch I wasn't too sure of, I have really enjoyed this malty scottish ale.
We grilled the vegetables for about 10 minutes over direct heat, turning once. We then moved to the indirect side while we grilled our flat iron steak. The steak was cooked for 10 minutes, turning once.
I like my meat medium rare, so once done, it was removed from the grate, placed on a cutting board and allowed to rest.
While the meat took a sabbatical, we removed the vegetables from the skewers and diced them further. The meat was next sliced thin and placed in the middle of some tortillas we had warmed on the grates.
We topped them with the onions, peppers, bibb lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and of course sour cream (real sour cream, not the low-fat, non-fat, less-fat, varieties!)
Bean ranked the fajitas 5 stars on his 3 star scale. If based on 5th grade math, I believe it means he liked them. Good, I know I did.
Mike Lang