Bursting with fresh flavors and spice, kick up your summer menu with Asian-style sliced steak served over a warm homemade flat bread, arugula salad, and fresh bell pepper salsa!
Some years ago I read a novel in which the protagonist happened to be colorblind. The character’s colorblindness was of little consequence to the larger plot except in passing, but it did create the single scene in the book that stuck with me because of the metaphor it created. The character was caught up in a bit of dialogue surrounding dreams and her outlook on the world. She remarked that she preferred never to dream because she always dreamt in color, and when she woke up the illusion was shattered, and she found herself reintroduced to a tiresomely gray world.
To that point, I remember someone remarking to me that “Nothing is so sad as the death of a fantasy.”
If that’s the case, of course, the answer is to ensure that one’s happiness is not an illusion or grounded in fantasy. Of course, we’re all familiar with the adage that, like all things, we must make our own happiness.
For example, I was thinking about that the other day while I was preparing an early summer dinner, and about how so many of the things that I feel define ‘the season’ are actually of our own making. The flavors we use, the recipes we prepare, even lighting the barbeque and the holiday themes we enjoy, aren’t actually a ‘result’ of the season. Instead, those are the ways that we choose to enjoy and enhance the warm weather. They bring happiness, and not of the illusory sort.
Which brings me today’s recipe, which in all honesty couldn’t pair better with warm weather, a sunset, and a porch.
Of course, I’m talking about beef fajitas prepared on homemade flatbreads. I’ll mention here that if you’re preparing the flatbreads for guests, they absolutely never cease to impress. Honestly, I’ve made these more times than I can count for dinner parties or luncheons, and every time my guests fuss to no end about how I made them myself. These are a crowd pleaser that will make your guests think you’re a gourmet extraordinaire simply – because – you prepared them yourself. It also helps that they are far more delicious than anything you can find in a store.
Now, I prepared the beef with a quick orange-based marinade as outlined below, and paired that with a spicy bell pepper salsa. Combine those on the flatbreads, paired with a fresh arugula salad, and you’re ready to enjoy some of the best flavors the season has to offer.
Living the Gourmet
Yields 4-6
10 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- Cooked left over - boneless Sirloin Steak – sliced thin
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbs. orange marmalade
- 2 tbs. soy sauce
- 1 tbs. sesame oil
- 2 tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
- 4 red bell peppers – roasted
- 4 – 5 cloves of garlic – roasted
- 1 sweet onion – roasted whole
- 3 hot peppers (such as Serrano Peppers) – roasted
- 3 vine ripe tomatoes – roasted
- ½ cup of cilantro
- 3 – 4 tbs. olive oil
- 1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 ½ tsp. sugar
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 2 bunches of arugula salad – washed and dried
- ¼ cup of craisins – chopped
- ¼ cup of almonds – chopped
- ½ red onion – sliced
- 1 pear – sliced thin
- Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Grated fresh Nutmeg
- 3 tbs. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. sugar
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients for the marinade and place the sliced steak in the marinade.
- Heat a large heavy frying pan and place the steak with the marinade in the heated frying pan.
- Turn the heat off immediately and toss.
- Place the bell peppers, onion, garlic and tomatoes in a cast iron pan and sear on each side.
- Let the vegetables cool and scrape the char off of the peppers and remove the stems.
- Peel and slice the onion.
- Pop the garlic from its skin.
- Quarter the tomatoes.
- Place all of the vegetables, seasonings, olive oil and cider vinegar in a food process and process to smooth.
- Taste for seasoning.
- Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Place the arugula in a large salad bowl.
- Add the sliced onion, sliced pear, craisins, almonds and grated Parmesan cheese and seasonings.
- Drizzle the salad with the olive oil; add the seasonings, drizzle with the apple cider vinegar and toss.
- Place the fresh wrap on a plate, top with the salad, steak and the pepper salsa.
Enjoy with Love!
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