Beef Fajitas

It’s Friday… and I’m starting my weekend nice and easy! From the dinner party I held a few nights ago, I had some leftover sweet bell pepper slices. I didn’t want them to go to waste so I made a simple beef fajita filling to serve with cilantro lime rice.
A fajita is a generic term used in Tex-Mex cuisine, referring to grilled meat served on a flour or corn tortilla. Beef (skirt steak) is commonly used as well as chicken, pork and even shrimp. In restaurants, the meat is often cooked with onions and bell peppers and is served with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, cheese and tomatoes.

Although skirt steak is the most popular beef cut used in making fajitas, many purists insist that the use of other meats, such as chicken should not be considered “fajitas.” Regardless, use of the word fajita has evolved from the term for a cut of beef to include the cooking method (thus chicken fajita) and also to define the grilled strips of peppers and onions that usually accompany the meat. Well tonight we are not purists when it comes to fajitas. I used my grill pan to prepare the beef which was sauteed with bell pepper strips and red onion.

Here is my recipe for beef fajitas over cilantro rice:

1 lb beef skirt steak or round, cut in thin strips
colorful bell pepper slices of your choice
1/4 large red onion, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
pinch of kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking