I was inspired to make these after seeing Eva Longoria prepare skirt steak recipes to promote her new cook book, Eva’s Kitchen. She was on Martha Stewart’s show to demonstrate her technique with grilling skirt steak for tacos. I must say, she was a great guest. I find some people don’t know how to interact with Martha, who is such an authority in the culinary world. Eva was really knowledgable and informative as she walked through the recipe and was being interviewed. After that, on Food Network’s Mexican Made Easy, Eva created chunky guacamole, the perfect topping for quesadillas.
For my preparation of the quesadillas, I used the recipe from Food Network with a few tweaks of my own to simplify the process.
Skirt Steak Quesadillas
(simplified from Food Network’s Steak Quesadillas with Roasted Tomatillo and Apple Salsa)
Yields: 3 quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 (1-pound) skirt steak
- Salt, freshly ground black pepper and lime
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 (8-inch) flour tortillas
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 2 cups prepared green verde salsa
- Eva’s Chunky Guacamole
Directions
1. Place the steak in a glass dish. Sprinkle the steak on both sides with salt and pepper. Drizzle on two tablespoons of lime (Bon Appetit recipe technique) to help tenderize the meat. Let stand at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour to tenderize, turning the steak occasionally.
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Add the steak and saute to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for rare. Transfer the steak to a cutting board. Let rest 5 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain.
3. Place 3 tortillas in the skillet with the pan juices and heat over medium-high heat, working in batches if necessary. Place 1/2 cup cheese on top of each one and top with 4 ounces sliced meat. Place the remaining 3 tortillas on the top. Cook until the cheese start to melt, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until golden and the cheese is melted, another 2 minutes on the other side.
4. Remove the quesadillas from the skillet. Peel open the quesadilla and spoon about 1/2 cup green verde salsa. Close the quesadilla and slice into quarters. Serve with Eva’s Chunky Guacamole on top.
My notes:
- Quesadillas- I always Guerrero brand tortillas as I find them to be extremely flaky when fresh and they brown very nicely.
- Skirt steak- I prepared it medium rare, about 4-5 minutes on each side, so when it is re-heated again in the quesadilla, it will be the perfect doneness.
- The recipe says it makes 4, but I was able to make 3 with 1 lb of skirt steak.
