Carne Asada

As you probably know, I spent my jr. high and high school years living in Mexico City. From this experience I gained a true love for interior Mexican food. Jeremy and I love to try to find little hole-in-the-wall places that serve yummy food. One of our favorite things to eat is carne asada with the cactus (nopales) and the bulb onions (cebollitas). So sometime during these last two years we decided to try to make it ourselves. It’s always a fun meal to make together…and then eat together. We even made it for my family one Sunday and it was a big hit.

The recipe we use for the meat is one I got from Simply Recipes. It doesn’t have quite the authentic taste I’m going for but it’s still pretty good. I’ve pretty much just made it according to the directions. I add a little worcestershire sauce too since I know that in Mexico they use that to flavor (of course when I add this I don’t add any additional salt because it tends to be a little salty). I also by a jar of nopales from the Mexican food section of the grocery store. Normally we just reheat these on the stove and put them in our tacos. I also purchase a bunch or two of bulb onions. This last time I put them in the oven with some oil and salt on them, trying to soften them up a little befor I put them on the grill. When I was living in Mexico we had this awesome taco stand within walking distance from our house and they made these onions and would pretty much boil them in the grease that the meat was cooking it (I know it may sound gross to you but put a little lime and some salt and those are so yummy!). So we always make those and some times they are better than others. I also buy the Guerrero brand of tortillas (they are normally on the bottom shelf of the tortilla shelf or occassionally in the refrigerated section). I like the flour fajita ones. These tortillas are not cooked so you have to cook them on the stove before serving – it makes them so much more fresh tasting! We also slice up so avocados, little Mexican limes, get a can of green salsa, and cook some rice and beans. It’s such a fun meal, both to make and to eat.

So on Friday night we made plans to make this meal. However we found out Jeremy wasn’t going to get off work until 6 and by then we’re normally pretty hungry so I set about getting it all ready before he got home. I must have been very energized after work on Friday because I started laundry (washing and drying), decided that I needed to run the dishwasher, and began cooking my meal which took up all four burners and the stove. Maybe you can sense what’s coming even though I didn’t…I lost power. I looked at our little braker box in our laundry and it didn’t look like I’d blown a fuse but when I waited about 15 minutes and still no power, I started to panic a little – what would have to my Mexican dinner! Luckily Jeremy came home right about that time and went to investigate. He had to go down to the main building brakers that were outside, find ours, and fix it. Luckily we got back up and running (without the washer and dryer for the time being) and Jeremy was able to help finish cooking the tortillas. We sat down to a yummy meal and some Mexican beer I had picked up at the store.

You should totally try this (just don’t turn on every appliance you own while doing it!). And if you just don’t feel up to it, give me a call and Jeremy and I would love to have you over for some yummy carne asada! And if it’s your first time to eat cactus – nor worries it tastes so good with the meat!

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