This past weekend felt like spring had arrived. We spent most of our time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday we had four lacrosse games to watch because our daughters play double games on the weekend. Sunday brought even more lacrosse when we went to UC Davis to watch the women’s team play. I knew I wouldn’t want to cook for our Sunday dinner. I needed to have a family meal that was low key, yummy, and practically cook itself. Hellooooo grilled carne asada.
I started on Friday night by marinating two flank steaks (about 1 1/2 pounds each) from Costco. Using marinades is a great way to tenderize the meat. This particular marinade contains a lot of orange and limes juice. The acids in those juices help cook the meat. I wasn’t joking about this meal cooking itself!
Once we were ready to cook, we simply started up the coals. When the coals were ready, Jeff placed the carne asada down on the grill.
There was extra marinade left over, so we drizzled a bit over the meat to help caramelize the outside of the meat.
After about seven minutes, using grill tongs, we flipped the carne asada.
The exterior of the meat turned out to perfection.
After about seven more minutes, we covered the grill to let the heat cook the middle of the meat cooking about five minutes more. I like my carne asada to be medium-well, that is, cooked and charred on the outside, but have a little bit of pink (not red) in the middle. You can adjust the timing if you’d like but about five minutes covered is my preference.
Then, we removed the carne asada. We let it sit for about 10 minutes to rest. This allows the meat to cook a little more and cool a bit, making it easier to slice thinly against the grain.
It turned out perfectly. Nicely charred and smokey on the outside, but tender and beefy on the inside with a hint of lime.
When meat is good quality, and well prepared, you don’t want to cover it up the taste. You want to pair it with fresh, complimentary flavors. For my street tacos, I veered away from my typical salsa and sour cream, and only used a bit of avocado, cilantro, grilled cactus (nopales), Mexican cotija cheese, with a squirt of lime juice.
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Ingredients
- MARINADE
- 3 lbs flank steak
- 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 3-4 oranges
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 5 limes
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup beer
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- TO SERVE
- Corn tortillas
- Lime wedges
- Salsa
- Sliced avocado
- Diced grilled nopales
- Freshly chopped cilantro
- Cotija Mexican cheese
- Sour cream or crema optional
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients for the marinade, including the steak, in a gallon-sized plastic freezer bag, squeezing out the extra air. Marinade overnight--two nights is even better.
- When ready to cook, prepare the charcoal grill, using a chimney to start the coals. Light them and when the charcoal begins to be covered in grey ash (about 20 minutes later), pour the charcoals out. Arrange in the middle, making sure to leave the sides clear so you have hot areas and cooler areas.
- Set the cooking grate in place and cover for five minutes. Remove, and using a grill brush, clean the grate.
- Now you are ready to grill the meat. Place in the middle and cook for about five minutes.
- Flip over and cook for about five minutes more.
- Check. The meat should have grill marks and look seared. Move some of the more cooked pieces to the sides (cooler parts). Cover again for about five minutes.
- When meat charred/grilled to preference (or, using an instant-read thermometer, reaches 110 degrees), remove and let sit for about 10 minutes.
- Using a very sharp knife, slice against the grain and serve immediately with cheese, avocado, nopales, salsa, cilantro, or whatever else you want to top off your tacos with.
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