Talking to friends back home in Montana and Wyoming this week it’s been easy to hear the quiet resignation in their voices – the Holiday season is done and now there’s anywhere from three to five months of potential winter staring ‘em in the face.
Most take it with reasonable humor, though by this time of year the morning’s 4 inches of new snow doesn’t look so pastoral and pretty. Cars are cranky in the morning, as are a lot of fishers, folks are beginning to tire of bundling up to get out, and dammit, there’s slush ice in the rivers and most hunting seasons have long wrapped up.
She Who Must Be Obeyed and I miss the Montana seasons mightily these days, though when the thermometer hit 63 yesterday and the forecast was for 65 today, we knew it was time to make use of our good fortune and track down some skirt steak for a quick and easy steak taco.
We picked up the recipe for these Shiner Skirt Steak Tacos from a friend (he prefers Dos Equis actually) – the quick marinade in an American lager partially tenderizes the meat and adds a funky background flavor to the rich tooth of medium rare skirt steak hot off the grill.
Throw whatever you prefer into that taco with your skirt steak – lately we’ve been on a run with crumbled cotija, fresh chopped cilantro, chopped sweet onions and radishes, a few skinny serrano strips and a freshly made roasted tomato salsa, though SWMBO is just as happy with a bottle of Pace on the table too.
Fight off the winter blues and get these on the grill this weekend.
2 lb. skirt steak, trimmed, cut into 4 inch pieces
2 bottles Shiner Bock or another American lager
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. fresh ground pepperTaco fixin’s: Your call, we’re in for crumbled cotija, fresh chopped cilantro, chopped sweet onions and radishes, a few skinny serrano strips and a freshly made roasted tomato salsa.
Trim up the meat and mix the remainder of the steak ingredients; add both to a resealable gallon bag and throw in the fridge for 3-5 hours.
Fire the grill when ready.
Drain the meat, pat dry, and season again with salt and pepper; drizzle a little lime juice over the meat as well.
Grill 3-4 minutes per side for medium-rare, pull and let rest for 10 minutes, if you can stand it that long.
Slice thinly across the grain and build your taco masterpiece. You’ll never be able to eat just one of these.
Enjoy.
