Skirt Elk Steak Tacos with Roasted Tomato Serrano Salsa

My lovely wife loves Mexican food, especially tacos.  She is a connoisseur of tacos to say the least.  If you are ever traveling and want to know where go eat them on the West coast or in Mexico, call her she will give you the details.  When it comes to food this is one area she gets EXCITED about.  I think one of the reasons we moved to this little farm is because one of her favorite taco stands is in this town, and it is good.  One dollar tacos and she is very happy.  Needless to say, when it comes to tacos I am a little nervous because I know she is very critical when it comes to her passion.

• 1-2 lbs of skirt beef steak, or any cut of elk steak you prefer.  As we say in Oregon, enough meat for how many people your cooking for, then double it.  Use your favorite way to cook steak.  Salt, pepper, or any marinade you prefer.  I always like changing up marinades and how I prepare the meat. 

The salsa sauce is going to cover what ever flavor of the meat you choose, so it really does not have a huge factor in this recipe.

Roasted Tomato Serrano Salsa:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium red onion roughed sliced
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 serrano chiles
• 6 plum tomatoes halved and seeded
• sea salt and black pepper
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (you can use cilantro, but I find I prefer parsley better).

Heat grill to high, I use my green egg on coals.  Brush tomatoes with oil, and a touch of sea salt.  Grill on both sides until you get a little char to it.

Removed from BBQ.  They should look like this.

The char will give the salsa the smokey taste you are looking for.

In a pan, add oil, garlic, onions.  Cook on high heat for 4 minutes.

Then add the tomatoes and serranos, and cook until onions are soft and garlic brown.

Then remove and put into your food processor or blender.

Remove the stems of the peppers and add some lime juice, parsley, and a couple dashes salt and pepper.  Then process until smooth.

Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper until you love it.  The heat is slow and easy.

Throw your meat on the bbq and cook until medium rare.  You need to pay attention to your meat, do this process on hot coals so you need to watch and make sure you do not over cook the meat.  Game has a huge swing shift in it, so it doesn’t take long to over cook your steaks.  Remember your going to let your meat sit or rest for 5 minutes before you cut it.

You need to have the people that want to eat your tacos slicing and dicing in the kitchen.  Dice some tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, what ever you like on your tacos.

I use grated pepper jack cheese on my tacos.  Im sorry if I am not a authentic Mexican not using Cojita cheese, but it lacks flavor.  I am sorry but that is what my taste buds say.

I used the pickled red cabbage left over from the day before when I made Corned beef and cabbage.  It is pretty easy, look a that recipe for reference.

The next argument is what tortillas to use.  My wife likes flour, I like white corn tortilla that they use in street tacos.  Some people like yellow corn.  I say, they are cheap.  Use whatever you want.  Heat them up in a paper towel in the microwave.

Tacos are to be your own creative art on what you prefer.  We always just set up a “Taco Bar” and people build their own.

After the meat rest, slice it thin and tell everyone to get a plate and start building their tacos.

I did not put lettuce on mine.  I took some pepper jack cheese and sprinkled it on my tortilla, placed the meat on top, then avocado, a dollop of sour cream, some of the wonderful salsa with some tomato and pickled cabbage.

My daughter walked in to my office while I was typing away on this recipe and said she wanted to be in the blog .  Here is Mady J and her dog Zoey, the two are rarely inseparable.

My wife, and taco expert took a bite of my taco.  She chewed away, focused on the flavors in her mouth not saying a word.  When she swallowed, she paused then turned my direction and said “The salsa and flavor is wonderful, has huge flavor.  However, the taco lacked crunch.  It needed lettuce.”

I made some scrambled eggs this morning and mixed the salsa sauce into my eggs and it was wonderful.  It was also good for chips, and I think it would be awesome on white fish.  The leftovers give you a ton of options.

I hope you enjoy.

The Hunting Chef