El Parian’s Carne Asada, Oaxacan Chile Pasilla Sauce, and The Cuke.

I decided to kick off this challenge with something that could keep me motivated through all the recipes to come. What is more motivating than some carne asada?

The recipe called for flap steak, which is a popular cut of meat often found in Mexican Markets. It’s quite similar to skirt and hanger cuts, but apparently much harder to find. Luckily, I’m 1) in Texas and 2) have access to a Central Market meat counter, which is arguably contains the best selection of grocery store meats in the country.

While I was successful on the meat front, I immediately screwed up when it came to the pasilla sauce. I was supposed to get a dry pasilla pepper (duh), but for some reason my limited cognitive capacity kept me searching for a fresh pasilla pepper, which the store did not have. So, I ultimately got a fresh poblano pepper, brought it home, and realized the error of my ways. Please keep in mind that I am following these recipes as any average joe would, and therefore I’m keeping all my mistakes intact.

For the meat, a dry spice rub is pre-made, and the flap goes smack dab on a hot grill. The recipe states one is to add the spice rub after the meat hits the grill, which I thought was strange, but what the hell. These were fairly big chunks of meat, so I did add more salt to the recipe than it called for (I find that most recipes out there use too little salt, and it’s usually better to salt meat heavily). Once those bad larrys were done and still medium rare, I pulled them off to rest.

For the pasilla sauce, I quartered 1/2 pound of tomatillos and simmered them in water over medium heat for about ten minutes. In a cast iron skillet, I threw in a plain ass garlic clove and let it blacken, which took way longer than it should have. Not sure if I messed up again here, but I’m trying my best.

For the pasilla/poblano/god I’m such an idiot pepper, I had to switch things up. I ended up roasting it over one of the burners to blacken it, and then covered it in a bowl with a towel to make the peeling easier. Once done, I placed the pepper remnants and garlic into a blender, and followed those up with cooked tomatillos. Additionally, I added a bit of the tomatillo cooking water to make it all mix properly. Given a raw poblano isn’t as smokey as a dried pasilla, I added a touch of smoked ancho chile powder to level it out.

As a means of “speeding” up this challenge, I try doing as many recipes as possible for one meal. As I knocked out two with the sauce and the meat, it made the most sense to throw in a drink as well. I didn’t want to go to the store again, so I churned through the book to find a drink recipe I could make with what I had on hand. I made this recipe in the summer, and wanted to keep the seasonality of the meal going, so I paired it with The Cuke.

The Cuke is a vodka or gin based drink with muddled cucumber, sugar, lime, and mint. Very much a play on a mojito. I prefer gin, so that’s what I used. With the ingredients muddled and then placed into the fridge for 30 minutes to steep, I filled a couple tall glasses with ice, strained the mixture into the vessels, and topped each with sparkling water (topo chico to be exact).

The meal in total was a knockout. The carne asada was served on top of warm tortillas with lime and avocado, and the sauce was a fantastic compliment. The drink was refreshing, although I feel like it was a bit “mild” for my taste. All in all, an excellent start to the journey.

The poblano in all it’s glory