Easily Amused

When I buy a package of tortillas, I always wonder if I'll have to end up freezing half of them - we never seem to finish them off. It's possible to freeze them, of course, but they aren't as good afterwards - soggy in some spots and dry in others. Still, waste not, want not, right?


This time, after making soft tacos one night, I had the idea to make fajitas on a subsequent evening - no need to freeze in between! My Beloved often orders fajitas when we go out  but I had never tried making them at home. One of the reasons is that I like sweet peppers but they don't like me - they come back to haunt me for hours after I eat them.  The other reason is that fajitas require split-second timing if you want to end up with rare steak, as we like it.


So, to get the combo of rare steak and comfortably softened veggies, I first seared the steak strips quickly in a very hot pan to caramelize the outsides, removing them to a plate to hold. I sautéed the onions and peppers (I used red and yellow ones for color) in the same pan over a slightly lower heat to give them some of the beefy flavor, adding the beef back in to heat quickly before serving. I heated the tortillas gently to warm pliability in another (lidded) pan.


We had placed hot pads, so the pan with the tortillas and the one with the filling went right on the table. We each chose a tortilla, filled it with a selection from the pan (mine was light on the peppers), wrapped them up and took a bite. Quite good for a first try, the meat nicely pink inside and the peppers and onions sweetly singing, but maybe a tad bland. So, we got out the Cholula (the gateway drug for hot pepper lovers) and added a little spice to the filling. Big improvement.


Still, I think there's some tweaking needed to this dish, but I'm not sure what?  We had green beans on the side but I'm wondering what green veggies might be fun to cook along with the peppers and onions.  I might also try them with leftover roasted chicken next time, rather than the beef. 


In any case, we got a little kick out of eating finger food at the table, dribbling steak juices onto our plates and down our hands. We're pretty easy to amuse.