Who doesn't love fajitas? They're such a fun experience when you order them out - the veggies and meats come out sizzling and smoking on a cast iron pan, you get a bunch of plates with all your fillings, and you get to build your own! Well, they're just as good when you do them at home, and despite the fact that they're always the more expensive option at the restaurant, they're actually exceedingly easy and inexpensive when you do them at home.
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| Are there fajitas in here?? Can I have them please?? |
We planned our week out to start with the Arroz con Pollo so that we'd have leftover rice to compliment our enchiladas and finally our fajitas as well. We really got a lot of use out of that dish! We also served our fajitas with refried beans. The beans we used straight out of the can and into the microwave, which was fine for an after work preparation, but there's definitely a lot of room for improvisation there. But, with only having to reheat the rice and beans in the microwave to make the side dishes, the whole preparation came together very quickly!
Making the Dish
The fajitas are basically just 2 parts - the meat, and the veggies. To make them really sing, you'll want to have your meat nicely seasoned, and your veggies cooked to perfection. You can start by seasoning the meat, and use a simple rub to give it a nice, earthy, spicy flavor. Combine 2 parts sea salt with 1 part black pepper, 1 part cumin, and half parts cayenne, garlic powder, chili powder, and a dash of paprika. Blend these all together and you'll have your rub. Rinse off and pat dry your chicken breasts, and then drizzle with a touch of olive oil. Then, rub the seasoning into the meat.
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| Rubbing the seasoning into the chicken breast. |
While the meat is resting with the rub (letting the flavors mingle and seep into the meat), prepare your veggies. This part is really up to you, but we recommend a green bell pepper, a red bell pepper, and a sweet onion. Slice them all into strips. You'll want to aim to have the strips be as close to equal size as possible so they all cook at about the same rate. Once you've got these sliced, your basic preparation is pretty much done.
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| Sliced red and green pepper with sweet onion. Almost looks like the Mexican flag! |
Preheat your oven to 350, and then get a saute pan ready for your veggies and a grill pan (or another saute pan, if you don't have a grill pan) ready for your meat. Make sure those are both nice and hot. Take a couple tablespoons of olive oil and put it into your veggie pan, and then throw the vegetables in. You'll want to start to cook these down until they are soft, but not too soft, and you'll want the onion to caramelize. Season the veggies lightly with some salt and pepper and cook them down, stirring often, for about 10 - 15 minutes or until soft.
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| Cooking down the veggies in olive oil, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. |
While the veggies are cooking, sear your meat in your other pan. You'll want to get the chicken breasts nice and golden brown so that it locks in the flavor and starts to caramelize slightly, about 3 - 4 minutes per side. Then, finish the breasts off in the oven, about another 8 minutes or so. After you're done cooking them in the oven, take them out and let them rest for a few minutes so the juices can redistribute within the meat.
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| Searing the chicken on the grill pan with the veggies cooking in the background. |
To get the meat ready to put in the fajitas, slice it lengthwise. Start in the middle, so that if it's not fully cooked it'll be easy to tell and you can put it back in. Get nice long strips about half an inch thick, and then put them on a serving plate. Take the veggies off the heat and heap them on a serving plate as well.
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| Prepared veggies and chicken on the serving dish, ready to go. |
Warm up some flour tortillas in the microwave (about 20 seconds) and then you're ready to go. You can serve with shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, olives...pretty much anything you'd like actually.
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| Can I have my fajitas with catnip please? |
The Result
These are so easy and always so delicious. The real trick is how you season the meat and veggies and how you cook them down. You don't want the veggies to be too mushy, and you don't want them to be too hard. I've done it before where the onions cooked too long and got mushy and stringy, and that's no fun. Also, you want to make sure not to over season the meat - you want the flavor and the heat, but you don't want it to be too salty or too much. When you've done it a few times and start to get it just to your liking, that's when you'll really start to enjoy the simplicity and the deliciousness of this dish!
Give it a try and let us know how it turns out for you!
I will definitely give this a try, Bryan, but I don't know how I'll handle things without a ginger cat to help me. Makes me miss my old ginger tom. Might have to beg another stray into our lives... Thanks for the post!
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