Our chef Scott Coward brings you yet another great cold-weather recipe this week - Tailgate Fajitas.
You Will Need:
For Salsa 10-12 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
½ tsp cumin
Cilantro, chopped (add to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
1 fresh jalapeno, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped
½ can tomato sauce (half of an 8oz can)
2 tbsp olive oil
For Fajitas 1 package flour tortilla
1 lb steak or chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 onion, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tomato, chopped
1 package fajita seasoning
Shredded Mozzarella or Queso Blanco
Cilantro, chopped
Beer
Olive oil
Water, a few paper towels and aluminum foil
At home, before the game…
All we really need to do is cut up all ingredients to make it a little easier at the tailgate, and make the salsa. Just cut/chop everything as listed above.
For the salsa, add ½ of the ingredients into a blender. Pulse the mixture just enough to blend everything together. You want a good consistency, but don't over do it, or else you end up with a puree. After everything is well blended, add the remaining ingredients and mix together by hand.
By doing this, you end up with a really chunky salsa, and in my personal opinion, that's the way salsa should be. Just refrigerate over night, and be sure to make extra, because the temptation will be too great not to dip in with a few tortilla chips. I recommend 2 batches, one for the tailgate, and one for home.
At the game…
You will need either a griddle pan that works on the grill, or a large skillet and a side burner. Either way, heat it up to medium high heat. Go ahead and brown the steak or chicken, or both, if you want to mix it up. Drain.
Now jack the heat up to high…. really high…. screaming hot. Throw the meat, pepper, onion, tomato, and a tbsp of olive oil on to the hot surface. Sprinkle some of the seasoning over everything, and add just a little bit of beer, to keep everything from drying out. Or you can wimp out and use water if beer isn't your thing. Leave for a minute of two and turn. We want everything to start to burn for taste. But don't over do it. When everything seems to have a nice looking fajita color, kill the heat. Watch and turn as needed, to keep anything from burning.
Make an aluminum foil pouch for the flour tortillas. Soak a paper towel in water and wring dry. Set the paper towel in the pouch with the tortillas and seal it off. Place inside a hot grill, on the top rack for about three to four minutes, depending on how many tortillas you are trying to do at once, and depending on how hot the grill actually is. If you do it right, the tortillas will come out steamy hot, and will be pretty durable and elastic like.
Set a tortilla on a plate, and add a generous portion of the meat/veggies. Top it all off with a few sprinkles of cheese and cilantro. Spoon a portion of the salsa on top of everything and fold over the tortilla. No silverware need for these bad boys.
ARTICLE TOOLS 
