spicy garlic and lime fajitas

i don't have a photo for this one, sorry. i wasn't planning on posting it, but the hubby thought it merited sharing, so i'm left with a lot of content, and not a lot of pretty.

the dish is fab though, so you should try it. also, it's fast, easy, and keeps the stove clean (that's a note from the hubby, not me!)

ingredients:
1 to 1.5 pound skirt or flank steak, trimmed of excessive fat
2 red bell peppers
1 large sweet onion
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 jalepenos (or other pepper) chopped
the juice of three juicy limes (or 4 not-too-juicy limes)
1/2 cup soy sauce
flour tortillas (we use whole wheat)
sour cream, cheese, and cilantro for garnish

directions:
combine garlic, lime juice, hot peppers, and soy sauce in a large ziploc bag and then add the steak and the peppers and onions. squish it all around with your hands to coat everything in the awesome marinade, and then let it sit for at least 20 minutes, but preferably about an hour. you can keep it out of the fridge at this point because the steak should be coming to room temperature anyway.

once all of the ingredients are well-seasoned, heat a large skillet over high heat and add in the steak. sear the steak on both sides, but don't overcook (it should be rare to medium rare based on your preferences, but don't over cook it.) remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

keep the pan hot (a little too hot) and add the onions and peppers and a little of the marinade (maybe 1/2 of what's in the bag) and discard the rest. the high heat will almost caramalize the lime juice, but the moisture will keep the garlic from burning. cook the onions and peppers until they are soft, but not too soft, and then turn off the heat and begin assembling.

you can use sour cream, cheese, salsa (though i doubt you'll need it) or even cilantro to add another layer to these fajitas, but they are great plain as well.

notes:
for a vegetarian solution you could use sliced portobellos or even sliced eggplant or squash marinated in the same way as the beef. to switch it up even more you could roast "fries" and add them in instead of the beef.

i adapted this recipe from an oldie but a goodie from martha stewart's everyday food. i don't use the measurements any longer, but just "eyeball" it, and this measurement combo is the one that i seem to default to.