Food You Can Eat: The Ravenous Hound’s Carne Asada

This is, perhaps, our Loyal Beast’s favorite “human food” dinner. Why shouldn’t he get a chance to weigh in on FYCE, with me as the interpreter.

I was struck by something when I last made this. I remembered the good old days of having people over and I’d make this and once someone said, “You really make this yourself? I see it all the time when I’m out but I never knew you could do it yourself.” It was in the presence of one of my dearest friends, who had brought along her latest boyfriend, and he asked this. I kind of snapped. “You know, when you see something showing up over and over again at a restaurant or a food truck or a Chipotle’s or something, did it ever dawn on you that it’s because it’s kind of easy and cheap to make? And very versatile?” I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of dinner parties with +1 invitees, unless I’m trying (and always failing) to matchmake, and this friend always brings along a new boyfriend who probably couldn’t open a jar of peanut butter, so they are my test kitchen.

This recipe is scaled down and feeds two men plus the Carnivorous Canine.

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1 lb. at least of skirt steak or flank steak. I would go for 2 lbs. but that might be too much for the rational among you. I don’t know this for a fact, we never have leftovers of this, but the day after I’m 99% sure you could put the steak cold in a salad and be very happy indeed.

Ingredients for a marinade. You can really go to town on this and I never make the same one twice. My only advice is mince garlic, use a liquid seasoning, like soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, use a solid seasoning, like onion powder, garlic powder, Adobo, whatever, and squeeze in lime juice. At minimum. Mix this all up in a bowl.

Pour your marinade into a leak-proof large Zip-Loc bag and then add the steak. Be careful so you don’t leak Marinade Madness. Seal, and then shake and toss and turn the steak so that you think the steak gets entirely covered. Put this in the fridge for a while, 2 hours minimum. You can leave it overnight but I think that’s excessive. I once did this and served the carne asada at a breakfast but that was—never mind.

If you’re so inclined, whip up a batch of margaritas to get you in the mood, or down a tequila shot or three.

Decide what you’re going to do with the carne asada. I normally do one of two things. I make tacos out of it, so I make sure I have soft tortilla shells, shred some lettuce, spoon in garlicky salsa or salsa verde, have guacamole, and shred some cheese (cheddar works really well). Or, because it’s unpleasant to watch others eat tacos, except for your very closest nearest and dearest, with friends (like the BFF’s boyfriend du jour) I serve the steak with a side of guacamole or sliced avocados (there’s that controversial word again) and some rice and slice up a bunch of limes for the guests to squeeze over the steak.

When you are in the “Cielito Lindo” mood, dreaming about lazing about on a hammock under a beachside palapa on a Mexican beach, pull out the steak. Remove from the bag and put it on a plate. Discard the marinade; I wouldn’t use it as a sauce or repurpose it in any way.

Pour a little olive oil in a big skillet. Get the oil hot and sear the steak for 5 to 7 minutes per side depending on thickness (tongs, remember the tongs) for medium rare or up to 10 minutes (or more?) for something more well-done. This will create a LOT of smoke, believe you me, so turn on the oven hood fan if you have one and open any windows that might circulate fresh air. You don’t want to set off the smoke alarm and send the Ravenous Hound hiding into his crate like he’s in some atomic monster zombie sci-fi flick. When you’re done, slice the steak into small strips for tacos, or slice like you would any roast if it’s not taco night.