Dirty Skirt Fajitas

Dirty Skirt Fajitas

Snigger, snigger. Oh come on children, this is serious.

Dirty Skirt refers to the way we cook the beef skirt, a lesser used beef cut. The skirt steak is a diaphragm muscle from the front half of the cow. It can be lovely and tender.

Dirty cooking is when you don’t use a cooking surface, instead you cook the food directly on the charcoal. I know that just doesn’t sound right, don’t make up your mind until you’ve tried it. Skirt is the perfect cut to try it on as it’s relatively cheap.

In this recipe we’re going to also cook the onion and peppers directly on the coals to start so this dish is proper dirty.

I’m going to use a packet herb mix here from Capsicana. My second ever demo of the Egg in 2013 was opposite Ben who founded the company. I cooked with some of his chillis that day and we have remained friends ever since. You can get his products in the big supermarkets now, way to go Ben.

Method

1. Setup your Egg for a cook at 150°C. You only want the middle of the charcoal going so only use one firelighter, it’s all I ever use.
2. Place your onions, skin on, around the edge of the burning portion of the charcoal and cook for about 45 minutes, turing a 1/3 of a turn every 15 minutes.
3. You should be able to see juices coming out of the top of the onion and it should feel softish to the touch.
4. Take your onions off the Egg and put aside.
5. Now turn up the heat in your Egg to about 250°C (use my temperature guide).
6. Place the peppers on to the burning coals and cook for about 5 mins turning them as the skin scorches.
7. Set the peppers aside.
8. Now we’re going to cook the skirt. Salt it liberally with Maldon salt on both sides.
9. Toss your steak directly onto the burning coals. Cook for about 2-3mins.
10. Turn your steak, don’t worry if there are chunks of charcoal stuck to it, knock these off with your tongs once it’s been turned.
11. Cook for a further 2-3 mins.
12. Take the steak off and put it into some foil to rest. Remove any lumps of charcoal stuck to it and put them back in the Egg.
13. Setup your Egg with the stainless grid and the cast iron skillet.
14. Give it 5 mins to warm up. In this time,  skin the onion and slice into 1/2 wide strips.
15. Slice your peppers into strips.
16. Slice your skirt after at least a 5 mins rest into thin strips.
17. Fry the onion and pepper for 2-3 mins before adding the seasoning mix and cooking for a minute more.
18. Now serve on the tortillas (you can warm these directly on the grid if you want) with the salsa, guacamole and soured cream. Garnish with fresh coriander.