Serious Chingón Carne Asada

Wylie Peremarti loosely adapted this from a recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt on Serious Eats. You can either serve the carne asada sliced, with rice, beans and tortillas, or chop it up, serve it with freshly made corn tortillas and turn it into tacos. The recipe makes enough marinade for up to three pounds of skirt steak. Guacamole knocks the whole thing out of the park.

We like to use whole cumin and coriander seed, toast them in a dry frying pan until fragrant, and then grind them with a mortar and pestle, but purchased ground cumin and coriander are fine too, as long as they’re fresh.

The carne asada is best grilled over charcoal; if that’s not possible, cook it in a very hot cast-iron pan is the next best thing.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

3 dried ancho chiles

3 dried guajillo chiles

1/4 large white onion, roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 bunch cilantro, bigger stems removed, roughly chopped (about 1.5 oz)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice (juice of about 3 limes)

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

3 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 skirt steaks, about 2 1/2 pounds total

2 jalapeños or 1 serrano chile gently roasted, then diced or ground up

1/2 cup diced canned tomato

Scallions for serving, and half a lime (optional)

Instructions

1. To reconstitute the dried chiles, tut off the stems, then use a small, sharp knife to make a vertical incision down each chile. Open it up and discard the seeds. Heat a medium skillet, sauté pan or comal over high heat, add the chiles and toast them for about 30 seconds on each side. Transfer the chiles to a medium bowl, pour 2 cups of boiling water over them and let them soak for twenty minutes.

2. Make the marinade: Reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid, drain the chiles and transfer them to the bowl of a blender or food processor along with the onion, garlic, cilantro, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, cumin, coriander, 2 teaspoons of the salt and the olive oil. Blend or process until very smooth.

3. Place the skirt steaks in a large zipper bag, along with half of the marinade. (Set aside the rest of the marinade, as you’ll use it to make a salsa.) Remove as much of the air from the bag as you can, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours and up to 24 hours.

4. To make the salsa, heat a small, dry skillet or sauté pan over high heat, add the jalapeños or serrano chile and toast on both sides until lightly charred. Remove the stem or stems, chop roughly and place in the jar of a blender or bowl of a food processor, along with the diced tomato, the reserved marinade and 1 teaspoon salt. Blitz until smooth, then transfer to a pan, heat over medium heat and let cook for about 10 minutes, so the flavors mellow and meld. (Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender: Place all the ingredients in the pan and blitz.) Remove from heat and set aside until you’re ready to serve.

5. Prepare an outdoor charcoal grill. (Or alternatively, heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on your stove). Wipe off most of the marinade from the steaks. Lightly season them with salt, then grill them to desired doneness. The goal is to get a nice char while maintaining a nice medium-rare center. This generally takes about 5 minutes per side, but more or less time may be required depending on the heat of your grill or pan and the thickness of the steaks. (Grill the scallions, if using, at the same time, until the bulbs are tender.) Remove from heat, let the steaks rest 10 minutes, then slice them against the grain and serve with the room-temperature salsa. If you’re serving with scallions, squeeze the half-lime over them before serving.