Mexican Steak Night

With a bit of flavour assistance from Mexican spice mix, you'll be partying in no time! This is a quick meal for weeknights or when friends come round for a relaxed Saturday night get together. 

Use skirt steak or your favourite cut, or even swap beef for chicken breast.

MEXICAN STEAK NIGHT

Ingredients for four

POTATO
4 x medium Royal Blue potatoes
60-80gm Greek Yoghurt

STEAK
500gm skirt steak
2-3tsp Mexican Spice Mix

SALAD/SALSA
1 x large sweetcorn
10gm fresh coriander
1 x large avocado
50gm feta cheese
1 x large broccoli stalk
1 x lime

Salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Optional extras
Oven roasted tomatoes
Extra lime to squeeze on serving

METHOD

1. Pierce whole potatoes with tip of paring knife. Cook in microwave for 2 minutes, turn and repeat until potatoes are cooked. They’ll take around 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size and batch quantity.
2. Meanwhile, pre-heat frying pan medium heat. Season steak with salt so it will adhere to meat, then season with Mexican spice mix. When pan is hot, add oil and cook steak for 3 to 5 minutes each side, depending on thickness. Once cooked to your liking, remove from heat onto warm plate and cover to rest for at least 5 minutes.
3. While steak is cooking, make salad. Remove kernels from corn. Remove leaves from coriander, then finely chop stalks and cleaned roots. Cut avocado flesh into smallish chunks. Crumble feta. Chop broccoli stalk into small dice. Place all in bowl. Dress with 3 to 4 teaspoons lime juice, 1½ tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss well.
4. Meat fibres run the length of skirt steak and are easily seen. When ready to serve, slice meat across fibres for maximum tenderness.
5. Cut X shape across top of potatoes, push in from base to open up the potato and dollop on Greek yoghurt. Scatter with red pepper flakes, paprika or Mexican spice mix.

Serve with salad and optional roasted tomatoes, lime wedges to squeeze. Drizzle steak with resting juices. Consume immediately.

FRESH MADE SIMPLE NOTES

• Skirt steak has loads of flavour and suits BBQ grilling, cooking on cast iron grill or pan frying. In winter I bring my ribbed BBQ hotplate inside and use it on my stove to produce a smoky flavour when cooking steak.
• Remove steak from fridge 30 minutes or so before cooking. This assists in keeping the meat tender avoiding too much of a thermal shock as it’s placed on the hot cooking surface.
• Ground spice mix will soak up oil, so ensure either the steak is coated well or there’s enough oil in pan. If not enough used, the spice will burn before steak is cooked.
• Take care to pre-heat your cooking vessel over medium or medium/high heat… not searing hot.  
• Herbies spices have a useful Mexican Spice Mix especially if Chilli con Carne and/or Fajitas are popular in your house. Otherwise use a mix of mild paprika, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika and a touch of chilli flakes or red pepper flakes.
• Replace baked potato with sweet potato or flatbread (tortilla). Access a great tortilla recipe on the Cooks Collective. They’re fun to make (just give yourself enough time to roll and cook the dough).
• Make the salad/salsa with what you have in the fridge. I’ve listed the ingredients I chose, but you could also use cherry tomatoes, cucumber, celery or thinly sliced red or green cabbage.
• The broccoli stalk gave a lovely textural crunch and extra sweetness (great for gut health too).
• And of course, add jalapeno (fresh or pickled) or long red chilli to your liking.