Steak Quesadillas

If you couldn’t tell, I’ve been on a Mexican kick this past week! I made these Guachos and also whipped up a batch of homemade salsa. While I was doing a whole lot of snacking, I thought it would be nice to have an actual meal while I was on this spicy, south of the border craze. What goes great with guacamole and salsa? That’s right, steak quesadillas!

Ingredients:

1 to 1/5 lbs. flank steak
1 Tbsp. salted butter – room temp is easiest
1 Tbsp. black pepper
8 oz. cheddar cheese – shredded
Vegetable oil
Flour tortillas

First, take your meat out of the fridge and let it sit for a half hour before cooking – you want it to be room temperature for more even cooking.

Once your meat has come to room temperature, take a sharp knife and poke small slits about 1″ away from each other throughout the meat. Go with the grain when you make these slices. If you’ve never taken the time to look at a piece of meat, do so with this one. You’ll see the grain pretty easily when you’re actually looking for it. While you’re cutting these slits, go ahead and get your cast iron pan heated up on high heat.

Next, take your butter and smear it evenly all over the meat. This will not only give it a little salty flavor, but will help it brown.

Place your meat in the pan and let it cook on one side for 2-4 minutes, until it’s nice and brown.

Flip and do the same to the next side. Once it has browned, use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of your steak and check the temp. You’ll want 125-degrees for rare or 130-degrees for medium rare. I wouldn’t go over 130-degrees for this recipe.

Take your meat off the heat and cover with tinfoil for 10 minutes. Then, slice it into long strips (against, the grain this time). Cut any really long strips into smaller, bite-size pieces. You’ll want to slice against the grain this time because it will make biting into the strips easier when eating. You won’t pull a huge strip of meat out, you’ll actually be able to bite into it and break it with your teeth.

After you’ve sliced your meat, you can start preparing your quesadillas! I made a few versions. One with just steak and cheese, one with the corn and black bean mixture from my corn and black bean guacamole recipe and one with jalapenos that I diced and cooked in the drippings from the steak.

After you’ve assembled your quesadillas, get a large non-stick skillet warm over medium-high heat and pour in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Shake the pan around carefully to spread the oil over the surface of the pan. Place the first quesadilla in the pan and let brown, then flip and brown the other side. Once both sides are brown and slightly crispy, and your cheese is melted, remove the quesadilla. Add another tablespoon of oil and begin again for the next one.

I think my favorite was the plain steak and cheese that I slathered in guacamole and then dipped in salsa!

What do you like on your quesadilla?