Steak Tacos

The smallest steak I can get in a restaurant around here is 8 oz. I can fit that in my stomach quite happily (at first) but considering the recommended size for a meal is half that and considering how full I am afterwards, I really shouldn’t. But I love steak and salad dinners, and I love eating out.

So for those of you who are still intimidated by U.S. portions, here’s a recipe to use up leftover steak. If you’d rather make it fresh then I’ve included a recipe for it below, but there’s really no need if you have day-old meat.

The best way to make these tacos is by keeping it simple. They take very little preparation and even though caramelising one single onion takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, the onion doesn’t need babysitting.

If you like having leftover beans in the freezer or if you can’t get instant black beans where you live, then by all means use the homemade recipe. For these tacos, though, the instant ones taste brilliant, so I recommend them highly.

– leftover steak, sliced, OR steak from mini-recipe, below
– prepared instant black beans, about 1/2 cup (I like Fantastic’s dried beans), OR 1/2 cup of homemade refried black beans from mini-recipe, below
–  one huge white onion
– one Mexican/key lime
– fresh, roughly chopped coriander (cilantro), 1/4 cup
– four white-corn tortillas
– salt
– olive oil

1. Peel onion, cut in half lengthwise, trim both ends of each piece. Slice into half-moons.
2. Prepare a large frying pan by thinly coating the bottom in olive oil and adding about 1 tsp of fine salt or 1/2 tbsp of rough salt. Heat pan on very low. Immediately add onion.
3. Cook onion on low until caramelised, about one hour. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Onion will reduce in size by a lot.
4. Ten minutes before onion is finished cooking, fry meat in olive oil on medium-low heat until very brown on both sides. Chop roughly.
5. Build tacos by painting a streak of black beans on two tortillas, topping with a little meat, about 2 tbsp of caramelised onion and a quarter of the coriander each and squeezing 1/2 of the lime over both.

Makes 2 servings of 2 tacos each.

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Steak Recipe
– steak (any cut), trimmed and sliced thinly, about 200g
– pork lard (it really is worth using) OR olive oil
– salt

1. Thinly coat the bottom of a frying pan with lard. Heat on medium high.
2. When pan is hot, press meat into fat. Cook until very brown on each side. Turn only once.
3. Chop roughly before using in tacos.

Makes meat for 4 tacos.

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Refried Black Beans

I’ve always made beans to taste — never from a recipe. You’ll have to taste them frequently during cooking to know what will suit you. Be sparing with ingredients at first; you can always add more if you need to.

–  dried black beans
– minced garlic
– chopped onion
– ground cumin
– epazote OR bay leaves
– fresh-squeezed orange juice
– pork lard
– salt

1. Soak the beans in water overnight before using. In the morning, rinse them well.
2. Replace the water, enough to cover them plus about an inch. Add bay or epazote and salt to taste.
3. Cover beans and boil until very soft. Replace any water you need to.
4. Drain beans. Remove bay or epazote. Mash beans and add orange juice to sweeten them a little. (How much depends on the sweetness of the oranges.)
5. Sauté onion until translucent in deep frying pan and add garlic. Cook for one minute until garlic is sweetened but not brown.
6. Add beans to garlic and onion. Add cumin and lard, to taste. Fry beans until moisture is mostly gone and they’re sticky.

All of my recipes are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.