California Street Tacos

Going Back to Cali!

Being a California native, I love my street tacos. Anyone who has ever visited or lived in California is aware that we have some of the best street tacos outside of Mexico.

When I was a kid my older brother would always bring me street tacos, late at night. Don‘t ask me why he always came home really late with street tacos and sometimes burritos but he did, and I use to eat them up with a lot of hot sauce.

My brother is the reason I learned how to cook steak, he would come home again, late at night, let‘s just say he was a night owl in his younger days. It would be like midnight and he would come home with these steaks and say cook these.

I was like I don’t know how to cook steak, I am 12 and you want me to cook you a steak. He was like wash the meat, season it and put it under the broiler. We had broiled steak and A-1 Sauce, not a vegetable in site!

I seasoned those steaks so good and cooked it too perfection and we started having late night steak for weeks, until my mother found out and I got in trouble for cooking heavy food that late at night.

If I would have cleaned up after myself I would have never got caught, but I was full of steak and forgot to wash the dishes and was so busted and of course my brother pleaded innocent and said it was my idea.

After the flavorlicious steak dinner I made yesterday my meat loving family begged me to make street tacos.

I normally make these with chicken, steak was on sale so I said why not. Like I stated yesterday, I rarely cooksteak but hey it’s the holidays so why not.

You must allow steak to rest at least 10 minutes after you finish cooking, so you want lose all the great steak juices.

Carve the steak against the grain to get nice thin slices, or you can just carve it and chop it up in 1/2 inch steak chunks.

Top Street Tacos with diced white and green onions, cilantro, tomatoes and squeeze fresh lime juice on top.

I always heat my tortilla shells in a hot pan for about 1 minute on each side. You could also pop them bad-boys in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Hey, what can I say, I had to add a little jack and cheddar cheese.

Take a big bite and if you like, put a little Mexican hot sauce like cholula on top.

California Street Tacos

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus marinating time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 lbs skirt steak or steak of your choice
½ tablespoon creole seasoning
½ tablespoon black pepper
½ tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon onion powder
½ tablespoon California chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 lime, zested, juiced
½ stick of butter
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Taco shells
cheese
onion
tomatoes
lettuce
hot sauce

Directions:

Rinse steak and pat dry. In a glass baking dish place steak and pour 3 tbsp. of olive oil over steak, rub into steak on both sides. Mix seasonings together and sprinkle steak rub on both sides of steak, rubbing into steak.

Zest lime and sprinkle zest on top of steak. Juice lime and pour over steak. Marinate steak in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours if possible. If using skirt steak you could cut that time in half. Bring steak to room temperature for least 30 minutes prior to cooking.

Preheat the oven to broil.

On top of stove heat a cast iron pan to high heat. When pan is smoking add butter, remaining olive oil and sear steaks for about 5-6 minutes on each side. If you use a thin skirt steak, I would sear for about 2 minutes on each side.

Put steak in the hot oven and finish cooking until desired level of doneness. I cook my steak in the oven 4-5 more minutes on each side. If using a skirt steak I would cut this time in half for a well done steak.

Remove steak from oven, cover with foil and let steak rest for at least 10 minutes.

Warm taco shells and assemble tacos, serve warm.