Courters' Kitchen: Ready for Cinco de Mayo with skirt steak tacos [video]

With Cinco de Mayo this weekend, we decided to make tacos featuring adobo-marinated skirt steak and a couple of sauces, including pico de gallo, salsa verde and a combination of avocado and salsa verde. We grilled the steak and the spring green onions and served with chopped onion, cilantro and sliced radishes, as well as black beans.
With Cinco de Mayo this weekend, we decided to make tacos featuring adobo-marinated skirt steak and a couple of sauces, including pico de gallo, salsa verde and a combination of avocado and salsa verde. We grilled the steak and the spring green onions and served with chopped onion, cilantro and sliced radishes, as well as black beans.

KELLEY SAYS: Like the rest of the city this weekend, I was ready to get outside to enjoy a beautiful weekend. That usually means it's time to cook something on the grill. I decided on tacos featuring skirt steak. I also decided to make it a little easier on myself by buying some ready-made salsas from one of the local Mexican markets. I tweaked one of them by blending in an avocado.

BARRY SAYS: Makes sense to me. They make some delicious salsas.

KELLEY: Plus Cinco de Mayo is this weekend, so I was thinking along those lines as well.

I made the adobo early in the morning and let the steak marinate for several hours.

We also marinated some shrimp and grilled those for the non-red-meat eater in the family. We also grilled some spring green onions. To complete the meal, we heated up some black beans and had chopped cilantro, sliced radishes and onions as a garnish.

BARRY: This meal had a lot of flavor, and I couldn't help notice that we pretty much kept grazing until it was all gone.

Chile-Marinated Skirt Steak on the Grill

photo With Cinco de Mayo this weekend, we decided to make tacos featuring adobo-marinated skirt steak and a couple of sauces, including pico de gallo, salsa verde and a combination of avocado and salsa verde. We grilled the steak and the spring green onions and served with chopped onion, cilantro and sliced radishes, as well as black beans.

Adobo recipe

3 cascabel chilies, cleaned, stemmed, seeded and toasted

2 guajillo chilies, wiped clean, stemmed, seeded and toasted

2 pasilla chilies, wiped clean, stemmed, seeded and toasted

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 cloves

5 allspice berries

1 (1-inch) piece Mexican cinnamon stick

8 black peppercorns

1/2 cup water

5 garlic cloves

1/4 cup orange juice

1 1/2 pounds skirt steak

Place all chilies in a bowl of water until softened.

In a skillet, lightly toast cumin seeds, cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon stick and peppercorns. Place in spice grinder, and pulse 4-5 times. Blend in 1/2 cup water, softened chilies, garlic and orange juice. Rub the adobo over the steak, and let sit for at least an hour.

Grill until desired preference. Slice into small bite-size pieces.

Tomatillo and Chile de Arbol Salsa

3 chilies de arbol (with seeds), cleaned, stemmed and well toasted

1 large garlic clove

3 medium tomatillos

Salt

1 tablespoon Frontera brand ancho pepper adobo

Soak the chilies in a bowl of water until softened. Grind the chilies. Add the garlic and ancho pepper adobo, and grind into a paste. Add the tomatillos, and continue grinding until they are liquefied and the chile-garlic paste is incorporated. Season to taste with salt.

Avocado Salsa

Blend 1 whole avocado with 3/4 cup of salsa verde (I purchased ours from the local Mexican market).

Contact Barry and Kelley Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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