Fajita Night

Four best friends from high school playing cards together many years later 

I am pretty sure the first thing I ever knew how to make was fajitas. My love for Tex-Mex food has been long standing but was solidified sometime during the summer of 1998, also known as the magic summer to my best friends from high school. Looking back on it our lives were pretty awesome then, we had no responsibilities. Our biggest worry was trying to wake up in time for peak sun hours and making sure we had all of our favorite things packed for the beach.

Our daily ritual usually involved packing sandwiches individually in sandwich bags labeled with each name in Sharpie marker and topped with your own favorite sandwich toppings. Our cooler held the essentials - Diet Coke, Cheez-Its and maybe some Michigan cherries. The days task, playing cards and relaxing at the beach. After a long day in the sun we'd head back to the cottage and make dinner. At sixteen our culinary skills were just developing but one thing we had down was fajitas. Over the years the recipe evolved, becoming more sophisticated as we became adults. The location may have changed and the beverage of choice evolved from ice cold Diet Coke to Oberon Beer or a fresh squeezed Margarita. What remained the same? The people around the table and the love that went into making dinner together.

I recently returned from two trips where fajita night happened, the first to Northern Michigan with my family and a second a weekend in the Poconos with my husband's family. Both times fajita night did exactly what it was supposed to do - bring people together in the kitchen and around the table.

I absolutely love this book and blog by the same name because it captures so much of what I love about cooking. Of course I love to eat but what really drives me to spend my valuable free time dicing onions and chopping herbs is what food does for a group of people. Food brings us together. When we share a meal we come together to share our lives.

Now on to the recipes...

Fajitas for 6 people

3 lbs steak or chicken breasts about 1/2 pound per person
3-4 bell peppers any color
1- large onion
2 cups shredded cheese
1 cup salsa
2 cups guacamole (recipe to follow)
1 cup sour cream
12 Tortillas (burrito size)
1 bag of your favorite Tortilla Chips
1 cup chopped lettuce
2- tomatoes diced
4 tablespoons Cooking oil (I usually use olive oil)

You will need two large saute pans. Slice up the meat into strips about 1/4 thick the goal is to have similar size pieces for even cooking. Slice up the peppers and onion into strips. Heat the pans over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, I usually use olive oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper and cumin to your taste. Add to the pan and cook through. Alternatively, I recently used NY strip steak, seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin and rubbed with melted butter, see this post about how to grill the perfect steak. I had my husband throw them on a grill and then sliced them prior to serving.  To your second pan add the peppers and onions and cook until soft and tender. While the meat and veggies are cooking prep the other toppings, chop lettuce and tomatoes and set out salsa, sour cream and cheese into bowls. Someone can also make the guacamole during this time or it can be made ahead of time. Once the meat, peppers and onions are cooked gather everyone around the table. Heat up the tortillas either in a warm oven, the microwave or in a saute pan.  Load up your toppings and enjoy.

Guacamole
3 ripe avocados
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c chopped onion
1 bunch cilantro washed and patted dry
2 limes juiced
1 tomato diced
1 jalapeno seeded and diced
salt added slowly to taste

I usually start by dicing up the garlic, onion, cilantro, tomato and jalapeno. I then squeeze the juice of two limes over the top. I slice open my avocados, remove the pits and then squeeze them into the bowl. I usually use a potato masher or two forks or my hands (washed first of course) to mix everything together to so that the guacamole is combined but still has chunks of avocado. I add salt as I go tasting every so often until I cannot stop eating it.