Steak Tacos with Charred-Corn Salsa

I hardly ever cook steak. It (for some reason) intimates me a little bit. If I’m going to buy a nice, pretty steak, I don’t want to mess it up.

Plus I think I’m a weird one when it comes to steaks. It’s not something I crave on the day-to-day. Not even weekly or monthly, but I can and DO appreciate a good steak when I have ’em. And now that I’ve found this way to cook them, I think they’re going to be a lot more common in the Baker household!

I ran across this article on Facebook about a foolproof way to perfectly cook a steak every time. It was actually an article I opened up to read, and I didn’t click ‘Save for Later’, which I’m bad about doing, and never coming back. It’s from People.com, which is a little random, but after reading I thought.. “I think I can do this.”

Granted it takes a while to get the steak cooked in a 250 degree oven, but I believe it’s totally worth it. And I happily told my brother I finally learned how to cook the perfect steak! Once its out of the oven, THEN you sear it on both sides in an extremely hot cast iron skillet. Let it rest before slicing it, and you will not be disappointed.

I created this Mexican-y spice blend for the steak-rub, just make sure you cover it in the spice mix so it sears nicely once removed from the oven. You want a perfectly dark-brown crust on the outside.

Ok, is your mouth watering yet?!
Anyway, I am a HUGE fan of homemade salsas and an even BIGGER fan of tacos. Tacos of any kind.My favorite taco has got to have the meat (of course), some kinda sauce, some kinda salsa, and cheese. Of course, I always want to jazz it up with some garnish, but those are my basics.

So for the salsa, I decided to use some fresh corn I got and dry-roast it for the base of the salsa. Admittedly, I ‘accidentally’ left it cooking when I went in another room to answer the phone. When I came back the corn had almost begun to ‘POP’.. and much of it had turned black in places (hence the name charred-corn). I ended up throwing some of it out, but most wasn’t ruined, it added character (and flavor!)

For the red pepper sauce, I roasted my own red bell peppers, but feel free to use store-bought (it’ll save you an hour). The sauce, salsa, and steak went perfectly together. I learned a lot and found my new favorite steak taco along the way!

Steak Tacos with Charred-Corn Salsa

2016-07-05 09:22:44

Serves 2

Soft flour tortillas with a medium-rare sliced sirloin, roasted red pepper sauce, charred-corn salsa and all the fixins.

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Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

1 hr 50 min

Total Time

2 hr 40 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

1 hr 50 min

Total Time

2 hr 40 min

Charred Corn salsa

2 ears corn, cooked or boiled

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Juice from 1 lime

1 Serrano pepper, without seed, minced

1 small yellow onion, chopped

Steak

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon jalapeño powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 medium sirloins, room temperature

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

4 oz. sour cream

1 red bell pepper (or canned roasted red peppers)

½ teaspoon paprika

Garnish

Cilantro

Scallions

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Charred-Corn Salsa

Cheese

4 flour tortillas

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees and lay peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cook 30 minutes on each side, and remove to a plate.
2. Cover with a towel and let cool at least 20 minutes.
3. Remove skin from peppers and discard seeds. [I make multiple and add to a sealed container in the fridge].
4. Combine 1 roasted pepper, sour cream and paprika in a food processor, and process until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Charred Corn Salsa

1. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cut kernels off of the cooked corn and add to hot pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until some sides of the corn start to blacken. Move to large bowl to let cool. Once cool, add remaining ingredients and stir together.

Steak

1. Mix chili powder, cumin, cayenne, jalapeno powder, and salt together and rub all over steaks. Let them come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the thickness of your steak (an instant-read thermometer should read 125 degrees F for medium-rare. Let rest 5 minutes.
2. When steak is nearly done, heat up a cast iron skillet over high heat. You want it extremely hot. Cook steaks 1 minute per side or until a dark brown crust forms.
3. Let rest for 10 minutes, then slice for tacos.

To Assemble Tacos

1. Lay out flour tortillas (I heated mine in the cast iron to crisp them up a little bit.) Spread some roasted red pepper sauce in the middle. Add sliced steak. Top with corn salsa and toppings of choice. I used queso fresco, cilantro and scallions.

By Whitney

Adapted from People's Foolproof Steak Hack

Adapted from People's Foolproof Steak Hack

That Square Plate https://www.thatsquareplate.com/