It was Santana's birthday, yesterday (7/20) - What better way to celebrate the mystical one's birthday than doing some carne asada. Carne asada can mean just about anything with meat, but traditionally its done with flank steak which is what we chose to do. (You can click on the images to increase their size.)
When I think carne asada, I envision meat - I think of a big hunking slab of flesh. However, as it turned out, it seemed like I spent most of my time chopping up vegetables!
Here's the fixin's for the flank steak marinade. Cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, green onion, shallots, ground Guajillo & Ancho pepper, black pepper, salt, lime juice and grape seed oil.
while the meat was marinating, I started in on the salsa. Cored romas, jalapenos, garlic, Anaheim's, corn and red onion to start. I pulsed the toms, garlic and half the onion in the Cuisinart, then added the corn, the remaining onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and cumin - This turned out very good.
Time to throw this bad boy on. I had some leftover garlic, cilantro and jalapenos, so I made some flavored butter.
These guys don't take too long - about 10-15 minutes total - I like to butter them to help with the crust, and it really adds to the sheen too.
A little closer up - Mumm... meat!
After taking off the meat, we let it rest for a couple of minutes - just enough time to do a batch of panko covered avocado wedges on the gasser. Many people believe panko originated in Japan, but actually the earliest known recorded use of panko was by the Huichol Indians of western Mexico - well, not really, but these things are too good to pass on!
Your plate! Served with beans (canned sorry!) Jasmine rice -
