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Fast fab fajita
Last night while killing a few hours on youtube, I got the idea to look up famed Italian chef Biba Caggiano.
Biba, or my first real love as my wife refers to her, is one of the key people that I got early inspiration from to start cooking real food back in the early 90s, when Biba’s cooking show was playing every afternoon on CBC.
So what does Biba have to do with a fajita? Well, no food relation but there’s a definite connection in the style of much of her cooking, that of getting something tremendously satisfying out of a dish that takes just minutes to make. Many of the videos of Biba on youtube are from three to four-minute pieces she did for the local Sacramento TV news station and a couple of them are done, start to finish, in real time. You might think a foodie likes to spend hours in the kitchen making culinary magic but the food I find most exciting is the stuff that goes together faster than you can order a pizza and is many times better than most take-out pizza.
A simple pasta, sandwich or taco/fajita is my go-to for quick and satisfying meals. So here’s my method for a quick chicken fajita, packed with all the goodness of Mexico and on the table in just minutes.
One might get the impression from a chain Tex-Mex joint that a fajita or taco needs to be marinated and stewed in a wild variety of spices and ingredients and cheese and garbage but I find a lightly-seasoned, simple fajita much more authentic tasting. Just salt-and-pepper-seasoned beef or chicken, cooked and flavoured with a dash of good chili powder or some prepared mole sauce does the trick. Combine with fresh chopped onion, cilantro, tomato and whatever else you like and you’ve got the best (and easiest) fajita in town).
A Quick Fajita
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
Ancho chili powder to taste (or other good quality chili powder or mole sauce)
Juice of a lime
Flour tortillas
Sliced, seeded tomato
Finely chopped sweet onion, to taste
Some sharp cheese, grated
Shredded lettuce, chopped pickled jalapeno, etc…
Preheat a large stainless steel or cast iron pan over medium high heat for several minutes. Meanwhile, season the chicken with just salt and pepper. Add the olive or vegetable oil to the pan and then lay in the chicken carefully (no splashing!). Sear the chicken well on both sides until it has a nice brown colour (watch it carefully). Turn down the heat, add a bit of water and cover the pan to steam the chicken until cooked through, about five minutes (it should be firm and white right through the thickest part). Remove the chicken to a board and let rest for a couple of minutes before slicing it thinly. Add the slices back to the fry pan over medium heat and season with chili powder or mole sauce (Dora Maria is a great one, available at the Atlantic SuperStore). Simmer gently for just a couple of minutes, squeeze on the juice of the lime, stir and serve. When I do this in a cast iron pan, I just bring the pan right to the table on a wood board along with all the toppings and everybody assembles their own fajita. The pan keeps the chicken nice and warm, right to your third or fourth fajita. Serve with litres of beer and gallons of hot sauce.
Hawk, you forgot the gouda.
Oop! I forgot to mention the lime juice in the instructions. I’ll edit that now. It’s just squeezed on just as the chicken is served. I find it makes for a nice refreshing finish to the chicken.
OK, I assume the last four ingredients are toppings/garnishes, and you account for the first four in the chicken prep, and the whole shebang goes into the tortilla.
So, what’s the deal with the lime juice? Is that what you use to simmer the chicken during its second turn in the pan? Or is it simply another topping?
I gotta know ’cause this looks like supper for Sunday.