Nogales Steak Tacos

riffraff's Note:

This is a GREAT recipe that I adopted. The onions are fantastic.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 ½ lbs steak (rib steak,New york 1 - 1 1/4 inches thick)

Marinade

• 6 garlic cloves , mashed with
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt , in a mortar and pestle (or a cutting board)
• ¾ cup fresh sour orange juice (from Seville oranges, OR 1/4 c. fresh orange juice plus 1/2 c lime juice.)
• 2 tablespoons tequila (I would say it is not optional) (optional)
• 2 tablespoons ground red chili pepper (Ancho or New Mexico)
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil or ¼ cup vegetable oil

Additional ingredients

• 24 corn tortillas (handmade or the freshest you can find)
• 1 lb queso asadero cheese (mild white cheese) or 1 lb ca monterey jack cheese (mild white cheese) or 1 lb wisconsin muenster cheese , cut into strips 1/4 x 1 x 3 to 4 inches (mild white cheese)
• 6 fire roasted peeled and seeded poblano chiles, sliced or 6 canned Ortega green chilies

Garnishes

• guacamole
• salsa , of your choice

Lime Pickled Red Onions

• 1 large red onion , thinly sliced
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or ½ teaspoon dried oregano

Directions:

1. Mix all marinade ingredients.
2. Pierce the steaks all over, on both sides.
3. Pour over marinade, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
4. Lime pickled red onions: Mix all the ingredients and let marinate for at least 3 hours at room temperature.
5. Will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge.
6. About an hour before grilling the meat remove the steaks from the refrigerator.
7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
8. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
9. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
10. Cook over hot coals with mesquite until done to your liking.
11. Set the meat aside and cover loosely with foil to keep warm.
12. Briefly heat each tortilla, either over the direct heat of the grill or in a heavy skillet.
13. Only enough to make them pliable.
14. Place 2 pieces of cheese on each tortilla, fold in half.
15. Wrap these (about 6 each) in foil and place in the preheated oven just long enough to barely melt the cheese, approximately 20 minutes.
16. To serve, cut the steaks against the grain into strips 3 to 4 inches long and about 1/4" thick.
17. Set out the fire roasted chiles, pickled onions, tortilla/cheese setups, guacamole and salsa.
18. Fill the tortillas and enjoy.

Reviews

[MarraMamba]

Absolutely fantastic steak tacos, loved them.

[jrusk]

This IS really great. I loved the onions and I can't wait to try them as a side to something else. Even the non-onion-eater ate MY onions. I used fresh cilantro and oregano, mexican chili pods and queso fresco. I used flank steak and marinated for 6 hours. The flavor was awesome...so much so that I felt the other ingredients sort of over powered the delicious meat. I ate some of the meat by itself so I could really enjoy the flavor. Delicious recipe! This can be a taco recipe, onion recipe or steak marinade...lots of options.

[JOY1998]

So good and healthy!! My BF loved these tacos. I reduced the marinade into a sauce (I simmered and boiled the sauce until the sauce thickened with a 1-2 tbl of cornstarch) and served a little sauce on top of the tacos. Thank you for this recipe.