We were in the mood for Gorditas, so I rummaged in the pantry and found a box kit. Then I started thinking… Chicken? No, we just had chicken. Ground beef? Nope, fresh out.
Then I recalled this skirt steak I had in the freezer… Hmmm. I could skip the seasoning mix that came with the kit (I only really care about the gordita sauce anyway), and mebbe I could marinade the steak before grilling it?
Yeh, that should do it…
INGREDIENTS
•1/2 cup soy sauce
•1/2 cup olive oil
•1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
•1/2 tsp seasoned salt
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•Freshly ground Tellicherry pepper
•1/2 large, yellow onion, chopped
•8 jalapeño nacho slices
•1.4 lb skirt steak
Stir together the soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, and honey in a bowl, season with the salt and peppers, then pour over the skirt steak in a zipper bag.
Add the chopped onion and jalapeño slices and seal the bag.
Give everything a good toss and a few squeezes to get the marinade and the veggies well combined, then stash in the fridge on a rimmed plate for six hours, flipping and giving it all another light squeeze when you think of it.
When ready to cook, remove from marinade and bring to room temperature (discard the marinade).
Heat your grill – I used my kitchen grill set on high – then brush the grates lightly with olive oil and add the steak.
Grill for five minutes, then flip, cover, and grill for another five minutes.
Note (this is important): as a rule, we like our meat on the rare side, and that’s how this fine steak turned out, but if you like well done meat, you should probably choose another cut, since well-done skirt steak is going to be kinda chewy. You have been warned.
Remove the steak to a platter or cutting board and let rest in a warm spot for ten minutes.
Slice the steak into sections with the grain, then cut those sections into thin strips across the grain.
The gordita, with refried black beans, tomato, red onion, and black olives was nice; the steak was pretty darned amazing. I’m thinking it could’ve also been served straight up on a bed of rice, mebbe with a side of Lois’ bean salad; it’s all good.
Watch for this marinade to show up in a lot of different recipes in the future.