Fajita Marinade

Have I even mentioned how much I love Paula Deen?  LOVE her!  We share a special bond, Paula and I.  We share a love of butter.  Yes, butter has always held a special place in my heart.  I remember being about four and watching my mom's legs and feet moving around the kitchen as she prepared spaghetti for supper.  She called for me as I hid under the table, stick of butter in hand, eating and loving the salty goodness of a fresh stick when she peeked under the table and caught me.  BUSTED!  Anyway, as I said, I love Paula Deen. 

I also have a love of Mexican food.  It's actually more of an obsession.  I could eat it every single day.  I am always looking for new recipes with Tex-Mex flavors.  MMMM!  I have made fajitas before, but have never found a good marinade....until now.  I used to just sprinkle on fajita seasoning and cook my chicken, but it always left me feeling disappointed.  So, I was on the lookout for a good marinade and came across this one on the Food Network site.  It's a Paula Dean recipe, and as I said, we have a bond, so I knew this was the recipe to try. 


Gold Medal Fajitas

Ingredients


1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided

3 tablespoons lemon juice (I actually used lime juice instead)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Dash hot sauce

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds meat (boneless, skinless chicken breast, skirt steak or peeled and deveined shrimp)

1 medium onion, halved and sliced lengthwise

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

1 lime, juiced, for topping

Sour cream, for topping

Salsa, for topping

Guacamole, for topping

Cheddar cheese, shredded, for topping

Directions

In a heavy duty resealable plastic bag, combine 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper and your choice of meat. Seal and toss the bag around to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator. *Cook's Note: 15 minutes for shrimp, 20 minutes for chicken and 1 hour for skirt steak.

Preheat your cast iron servers in a preheated 400 degree F oven for at least 20 minutes, to get a good sizzle when you plate the fajitas.   ***I don't have any of those fancy iron servers so I just used my cast iron skillet.

Heat the outside grill or a large indoor grill pan to medium-high heat. Remove the meat from the marinade and place it on the hot grill, discard the marinade. Cook chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side, skirt steak about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare and about 2 minutes for shrimp. Slice the chicken and steak into strips if you are using.

In a large skillet heat up the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and fry the onions and bell peppers until crisp-tender with some salt and pepper.

Wrap the tortillas in foil and warm them in the oven with the servers for 15 minutes.

When you are ready to serve, remove the cast iron servers from the oven and quickly arrange the meat and peppers and onions on it. It will immediately start to sizzle from their fat and moisture. Serve sizzling immediately with the warm tortillas.

MMMMMMM Good!

Sorry I don't have a picture of an actual fajita, but I scarfed that sucker down so fast, I didn't have time to grab the camera.  It was really good.  I'll never be disappointed in my fajitas again.  WOO HOO!

Just for the record, I don't know this lady.  I found this picture on Google Images, but I am sure this is pretty much what I looked like scarfing down my fajita.  Doesn't it look like she's enjoying that?  MMMM!  Just pretend this is me. 


Happy Tuesday bloggy friends!