rayrayisHAPPY
GalleryOriginalsrayraytoonsStoriesMerchAboutContact
Commissions
Recipe

Ribeye Fajitas

we doing rib eye fajitas!!! come party!!!

Ribeye in a fajita is a decision and not a small one. It costs four times what skirt costs. It is also the reason these taste like a steak dinner wrapped in a tortilla rather than like a taco.

Warm the tortillas on the flame. Five seconds a side directly on a gas burner until they puff and char in spots. A cold tortilla splits when you fold it and that is how a fajita ends up on the floor.

Sour cream in one wide spoonful down the middle, not spread about. Then spring onion, then paprika over the top for colour. There is a way this is supposed to look and that is it.

Makes
8 fajitas
Hands-on
30 minutes
In the pan
15 minutes
Tortillas
On the flame

Half an hour of prep and fifteen loud minutes. Everybody should already be standing in the kitchen.

Two ribeye fajitas under sour cream and paprikaRibeye fajita mix filling a stockpot
Shot the night it was made. Open any picture for the full photograph.

What you need

The beef

  • 2 lb boneless ribeye, in finger-thick strips
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp coarse black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tbsp beef tallow

The vegetables

  • 2 red bell peppers, in strips
  • 1 green bell pepper, in strips
  • 2 large onions, in thick strips
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • Juice of 1 lime

To build

  • 8 soft flour tortillas
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 spring onions, sliced
  • Smoked paprika, for dusting
  • A handful of coriander

How it goes

  1. 1 — Cut and season the beef twenty minutes ahead

    Strips cut with the grain so they hold together, tossed with the salt and spices, left on the counter to take the chill off.

  2. 2 — Beef in two batches in a smoking pan

    Half the tallow, half the beef, spread out and left completely alone for two minutes before it is turned. Out onto a plate. Repeat. Crowding is the only real way to get this wrong.

  3. 3 — Onions hard, peppers briefly

    Onions into the same pan for four minutes until the edges blacken, then peppers for two with the garlic in the last thirty seconds. The peppers should still be bright.

  4. 4 — Everything back in, lime, off the heat

    Beef and its juices tipped back, folded once, lime squeezed over, pan off. It should take no more than thirty seconds.

  5. 5 — Char the tortillas on the open flame

    Straight onto a gas burner, five seconds a side with tongs, until they puff and go spotted. Into a clean towel, stacked, to stay soft.

    pro tip — No gas? A dry cast-iron pan, as hot as it goes, forty seconds a side. What you cannot do is microwave them and expect them to fold.

  6. 6 — Fill, then one wide spoonful of sour cream

    Filling down the centre of each, then a long spoonful of sour cream laid across it — not stirred in, not spread thin. It should sit on top where you can see it.

  7. 7 — Spring onion, paprika, coriander

    Spring onion over the sour cream, a dusting of smoked paprika over the whole thing, coriander last. Fold, do not roll.

Come party. Bring nothing, there is already too much. LFG.

More of what comes out of this kitchen on the food wall.

Every picture on this page is one of mine. I paint for a living the rest of the time — that is the gallery, and the originals are for sale.