Monday, May 10, 2010

Fajita Beef Roll Ups

I did the "refrigerator stare" yesterday. You know, when you have no plan for dinner so you just stand at the refrigerator with the door open and stare blankly into it until inspiration strikes.

And inspiration did strike! I had some milanesa style sliced beef and a few links of Mexican chorizo and came up with this easy but sensational recipe for the grill.


Fajita Beef Roll Ups
Source: Nibble Me This

4 slices milanesa style sliced beef (Walmart even carries this these days, but ask your butcher to thinly slice a steak like he would for steak sandwiches)
1/2 cup Fajita marinade
5 ounces Mexican chorizo sausage (that is about 1 link if using Johnsonville brand)
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/2 ea jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 ea mini sweet red bell pepper, seeded and diced (could sub about 1 ounce of red bell pepper)
1/2 cup cheese, shredded (I used colby-jack but you could use a variety of cheeses)

Marinade the beef in the marinade for one hour. Being so thin, it won't take long for the marinade to penetrate the slices.

Remove the casing from the sausage, crumble and brown over medium heat.

Remove the meat to a collander but keep it's glorious red oil in the pan. Saute the jalapeno and sweet bell peppers for about 1 minute. Add the rice and toss around, coating with oil. You should get a nice orange coating on the rice.

Cook for a minute or two when you should start to smell the rice give off a nutty aroma. Add water or broth and cook according to directions.

Stir the sausage into the cooked rice. Then stir the cheese in as well. The heat of the cooked rice should melt the cheese and make the rice a bit "sticky". Allow to cool, covered for a few minutes because you want it cool enough to handle and you DON'T want it to start cooking the meat.

Remove the steak from the marinade and cut the slices of steak in half.

Place a spoonful of the chorizo/rice mixture on each piece and form the rice into a "log" about the width of the slice of meat.
Roll up the beef and spear with a toothpick to hold it in place.
Preheat your grill to 350-400f. Place the roll ups over direct heat for one minute.

Flip the and cook for one minute.

You're done.

See? Easy. Being so thin, the beef cooks in no time flat. The beef is flavorful, perfectly cooked and so very tender. You can wrap them in corn tortillas and serve them as finger food.

Or, you can serve several of them together on a salsa verde cream sauce as an entree.

What's that? You need a salsa verde cream sauce that's as quick as these 120 second fajita beef roll ups? Ok, here.

Salsa Verde Cream Sauce
Source: Herdez Traditions

1 cup Herdez Salsa Verde
1/4 cup sour cream

Combine in a blender.

I really enjoy Herdez Salsa Verde. Alexis picked a can up on a whim one day and I've been hooked ever since. It's thin and piquant, perfect for using in recipes or just as a condiment. Plus it's hard to beat the convenience of having a can on hand whenever you need it (compared to roasting your own tomatillos and making your own). [Standard Disclaimer]

These fajita beef roll ups were a huge hit with the whole family and I will DEFINITELY be making them again.

Since they are only 120 seconds on the grill, I will be making these at the East Tennessee Blogger Get Together next month. Don't forget, it's open to anyone willing to get there (Click here for details).