Special Edition: Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is one of the great days of the year for grillers, so I just had to make a Special Edition for this special day. The menu came from three different Bobby Flay sources. The main course was from Bobby Flay's book, Grilling for Life (page 167) Smoky and Fiery Skirt Steak Fajitas with all the trimmings. The salad was from Bobby Flay's television show, Grill It! a Chunky and Crunchy Avocado Salad. And the special Cinco de Mayo drink was the signature cocktail at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, the Cactus Pear Margarita. The drink can be found on page 27 of the Mesa Grill Cookbook. 


VIDEO - Watch this Cinco de Mayo Fiesta being prepared on YouTube! 
Watch Part 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkCf65aJRv8
Watch Part 2 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qAKIIx3Dbg

The Cactus Pear Margarita is a whole story of its own. Several years ago, Dorothy and I were in San Antonio on the Riverwalk. We stopped at a bar and sat right along side the river. On the menu of specialty margaritas was a "Prickly Pear" margarita. A prickly pear is another name for cactus. I had never heard of a cactus margarita, but I was in Texas so I ordered it. It was great! I had another Cactus Pear Margarita on a second trip to San Antonio, but was never able to find it in Tennessee. I asked bartenders around here about it - but they never heard of it. I even had guys a Whole Foods look up Prickly Pear Syrup on their inventory list - nothing. Then I got Bobby Flay's book The Mesa Grill Cookbook and there it was! Best of all, Bobby included a place to order Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup. I went to www.cherisdesertharvest.com and ordered the biggest bottle they had. FedEx delivered it and I kept it for Cinco de Mayo. 

Using Bobby's recipe, I mixed two parts Tequila, with one part Triple Sec, one part Cheri's Desert Harvest Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup, and the juice from half a lime in a pitcher. Then came the best part. I brought "Snowie" out for the summer season. A few Father's Days ago, Dorothy got me a commercial grade snow cone machine! It may be the best gift I ever got. Its official name is "Snowie Little Blizzard," but we just call it Snowie for short.

You put ice cubes in the top of Snowie, turn it on and it throws out snow cone ice. Then I poured my Cactus Pear margarita mix from the pitcher over the ice and threw in another slice of lime. It was like I was back on the river in San Antonio again!

For the Avocado Salad and Fajita trimmings, I rounded up the freshest ingredients that I could find. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, I wanted as much stuff from Mexico as possible - everything you see here came from Mexico except the red onion. The Chunky and Crunchy Avocado Salad was made with Haas Avocados, diced tomatoes, black olives, cumin, smoked paprika, white wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, kosher salt and ground black peppercorns. I scooped out the avocados with a mellon baller, mixed it all together and then before serving crunched up some blue corn tortilla chips over the top. I got the butcher to get me a cut of skirt steak - the only kind of steak that you should really use for fajitas. The only problem with skirt steak is that it can be tough if you don't marinade it and grill it correctly. I marinaded the skirt steak for six hours and grilled over low heat - it turned out tender and juicy. The marinade was olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, kosher salt, ground pepper and a dash of cayenne. I kept the marinade and basted the skirt steak while it sizzled on the grill. 

Wisdom of the Grill: It is imperative that you allow the skirt steak to rest after it comes off the grill. If you cut into the steak right away, the juices will just run out on you. Wait at least 4 or 5 minutes and then, for skirt steak fajitas cut the steak in thin slices across the grain of the meat. Which way is the grain? On some steaks it is not easy to see, but you will have no problem seeing the direction of the meat grain on the skirt steak. 


After I turned the skirt steak over, I placed it on a higher grill grate to reduce the heat and slow down the grill time to insure tenderness. That also gave room to put the fajita trimmings on the grill. I sliced long-ways a green, a yellow and a red bell pepper, a poblano chili and a red onion. All this went into a container with olive oil, salt, pepper, ancho chili powder and lime juice and sat for about an hour before I dump the mixture into a grill skillet. The grill skillet has small holes across it to allow the heat and flame through. The peppers and onion got crispy and slightly charred - just how you want it. I put it all together. The Skirt Steak Fajitas, the Avocado Salad and the Cactus Pear Margarita - Cinco de Mayo!

 There are more great grilling dates to come, so check in occasionally at Bobby Flay Everyday! But whatever you do - fire up and Grill It! Paul