Carne Asada

Carne asada is great on its own, with some rice, avocado and a simple salad. But it is also perfect for steak tacos.

Here is how it can be frugal:

You have to be careful with skirt steak, because it can often be quite overpriced. When we lived in the city, the best place we found to get it was a little market down the street where it was so popular that the price was always reasonable. Now, I pick it up whenever I see it at $4/lb or less for choice. This is a little less than 2 lbs from a slightly under 4 lb package I picked up at Tony’s for $15 and change. I froze half for next time. Besides the meat, we have some bits of produce and spices, oil and vinegar, all amounting to about $9 or so.

Here’s the home made part:

Skirt steak is a very rich and flavorful cut of beef, but it is not usually very tender on its own. But when prepared the right way, it has a great texture. One of those right ways is to marinate it and cook it on a hot grill.

To assemble your marinade, you’ll need to:

Chop 1/2 bunch cilantro.
Mince 4 cloves garlic.
Chop 1/2 onion.
Juice 2 limes.
Juice 1 orange.
Mince a jalapeno.

Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 1 teaspoon ground cumin to a mortar bowl. Grind it into a paste.

Mix the paste with the juices, two tablespoons of white vinegar, and 1/4 cup olive oil. I was trying to spare my husband dishes, so I inelegantly poured everything into the bowl of the juicer. Mix it up well.

Trim your steak of any huge pieces of fat, but don’t worry too much about it since a lot will melt away on the grill. Pour the marinade over 2 lbs of skirt steak. Cover and refrigerate 2-6 hours.

Let the steak stand about 30 minutes. Remove the steak from the marinade. Grill it on a medium high for about 7 minutes per side, which will get you to medium-rare.

Let the steak rest about 5-10 minutes.

If using this for tacos or the like, slice against the grain.

We had ours on flour tortillas with guacamole, a bit of sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, and queso fresco. This is pretty rich, so it is balanced well with a squeeze of lime. We ate about half of the meat, so counting that and adding the fixings, we were probably up to $7 for this meal for two. That is a little more than we usually run, but for steak, it is great.