A sheet pan take on fajitas with peppers and onions
When Molly Gilbert’s cookbook “Sheet Pan Suppers” (Workman, $15.95) was published in 2015, I fell in love with her onedish meals, concoctions created on a single rimmed baking sheet. Of course, slow cookers can be one-pot culinary heroes, but I appreciate that sheet pan cookery creates dishes that aren’t slow-cooker soupy.
Roasting, broiling or baking on a rimmed baking sheet produces irresistible textures that work hand-in-hand with an upturn in flavor. Meats are juicy and tender; vegetables are caramelized and slightly sweetened, and spuds are crisp and nicely browned. It’s an easy, handsoff method.
The right pan is important. I own four of them. They “live” in the lower of my two ovens and are used almost daily for a variety of culinary chores. Often known as “half sheets” or “rimmed baking sheets,” sheet pans are sturdy rectangular pans with a 1-inch lip around the sides. Those shallow sides let hot air from the oven circulate and crisp the foods’ exteriors. Although restaurant-sized pans can be ginormous, home size is usually 13 by 18 inches.
Gilbert’s fajita steak with peppers and onions is scrumptious served as a filling in warm tortillas with optional garnishes, such as sliced avocado and cotija cheese. Before it makes its way atop a sheet pan,
the meat is marinated for several hours in a garlicky, lime-scented mixture. Some of that tasty marinade is reserved beforehand, i.e., not used for marinating meat, and used to blanket the colorful sliced bell peppers and onions before they are roasted.
Fajita Flank Steak with Peppers and Onions
Serves 4 to 6
INGREDIENTS
2½ pounds flank steak
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 to 4 limes)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Olive oil cooking spray and aluminum foil
4 bell peppers (any color), stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 to 12 small (6-inch) flour or corn tortillas
Garnishes: Chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, salsa, sliced avocado and crumbled cotija or queso fresco
DIRECTIONS
Place flank steak in a large zipper-style bag or shallow glass baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together garlic, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, sugar, pepper flakes and salt. Reserve ¼ cup of marinade for the vegetables and pour the rest over steak. Seal bag or cover the dish and refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours.
When you are ready to cook, heat oven to 450 degrees with one rack about 4 inches from the broiler, another rack in the center position and another in the bottom position. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and mist it with cooking spray.
Toss peppers and onion with reserved ¼ cup marinade and spread them evenly on prepared pan. Roast on center rack until softened and starting to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and turn the oven to broil. Wrap a stack of tortillas in aluminum foil and set it aside. Push peppers and onion to perimeter of the pan. Remove steak from marinade, allowing any excess liquid to drip off the meat, and place it in the center of the pan surrounded with vegetables (discard marinade). Place pan on top rack and broil the steak, flipping it once, until it begins to char on the outside and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 125 degrees for rare or 135 degrees for medium rare, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, place the foil-wrapped tortillas on the bottom rack to warm through. Once the steak finishes cooking, remove pan from oven and turn oven off. Leave tortillas in oven to continue warming while the steak rests.
Let steak rest, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes before slicing it thinly against the grain. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve the steak warm with peppers, onions and warm tortillas. Pass the salsa, sour cream, avocado and cheese at the table.