We had the best dinner last night. In search of new dinner inspiration yesterday, I came across Sarcastic Cooking. She has everything I love in a blog – good photos, funny stories, great food. Oh, and we share a name!
Mister’s favorite foods are meat and cheese, followed closely by anything potato. He wandered by while a photo of her Steak and French Fry Stir Fry was open on my screen and that quickly, dinner was decided.
Our dish is firmly in the inspired by category. The idea is the same, but we changed pretty much every step. Living in a small town (I know, we’ve heard that one before) we were limited by ingredients. Ground coriander? Nope. Skirt steak? Nope. Whole tomato? We hate those. Mister can eat enough for four by himself, so we increased the meat and fries. We also doubled the red onion, added a few of those adorable small sweet peppers, upped the jalapeno, tweaked the marinade, changed the tomatoes, baked the fries instead of frying them, and given our steak cut, totally changed the cooking method. So, we pretty much didn’t follow the recipe at all. It didn’t matter though – our final dish was incredible. I’m still thinking about it.
Spicy Steak and Fries
Serves 4 (2 if you’re married to my husband. Also, if you’re married to him, we should probably talk)
Inspired by Steak and French Fry Stir Fry from Sarcastic Cooking (aka, my new favorite food blog)
Quick note - Because we couldn’t find flank steak and increased the veggies, our method was definitely not a stir fry. If you’re doing things our way, plan for a little extra time to let everything stew for a bit.
Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp garlic salt
pepper to taste
1.5 lbs steak, cut into thin slices*
~12 oz frozen shoestring french fries**
1 red onion, cut into slices
3-5 small sweet peppers, sliced
1/3 cup pickled jalapenos, chopped, plus some liquid to taste
1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
Put steak slices in large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add cumin, chopped garlic, soy sauce, 1 tbsp jalapeno liquid, garlic salt, a few dashes of black pepper, and 1/2 of the chopped onion and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate for 10+ minutes. There’s no harm in letting it sit a bit longer.
Follow instructions on package for baking french fries and get them in the oven. Mine needed to bake for approximately 18 minutes, so I started on everything else right away.
Add drizzle of oil to a large pan and heat over medium. A medium to large size dutch oven is perfect for this step. Add onions and peppers and cook for 5-7 minutes until onions are translucent. Add meat and onion mixture and cook until no longer visibly pink, ~5 minutes. Add chopped jalapenos and tomatoes. Stir to combine and let this mixture stew until fries are done.
Toss fries with meat mixture, add cilantro, and EAT. Our pan wasn’t large enough, so I had to transfer both the fries and meat to a large bowl to combine.
A note on spice – I tried the meat and decided it wasn’t spicy enough, so I added another 1/4 cup chopped jalapenos and more liquid from the jar. I think I went one step too far. It was deliciously spicy, but by the time Mister devoured three servings, his mouth was on fire. Next time we’ll stay on the safe side and just spice up our own bowls if necessary.
*we used sirloin, next time Mister just requested the best steak we can find. I really think anything would work.
**Go for something that’s labeled “extra crispy”, if possible. I used half the bag, which happened to be 13 oz, if we’re being specific. The exact amount isn’t a huge deal. Use your judgement.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay for Stefanie spelled the right way!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe on your blog!!! I am so glad you liked it and thanks for your kind words!
It was SO good. I wanted the same thing for dinner again tonight. Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be visiting your site frequently, I’m sure