STEAK TACOS n GREEN SAUCE
You simply cant beat a good steak taco...
Welcome back to Unfiltered Flavours+! Issue #28 and I’m back with these steak tacos with salsa verde and coriander lime sauce.
I was shopping in west London when I stumbled across a green grocer selling tomatillos. Finding fresh Tomatillos in England is the equivalent of finding a pot of Gold! They were PRICEY, but it’s a sacrifice I’m always willing to make when it comes to Authentic salsa verde. So when I picked up these tomatillos I knew exactly what I wanted to make with them and it had to be some tacos!
Flavours & technique
Mexican cuisine is easily in my Top 3 cuisines of all time. It’s one of those cuisines that’s varied and I could easily just eat Mexican food for the rest of my life. I think my favourite part that I do miss the most about being a chef in professional kitchens is meeting so many other chefs from different parts of the world. The reason my pallet is so varied is because I’ve been blessed to rub shoulders with chefs from everywhere.
Now bar the steak preparation, this is pretty authentic. You’ll struggle to get fresh tomatillos in London, I got mine from a place called Bens Fruit & Vegetables. I’ve also been able to pick them up from the “spice shop” in Notting hill too. I’ve seen them at borough market. You can sometimes get them online from .coolchile.co.uk or watt’s farm. The issue with getting them online is that it makes it even more expensive and they’re already quite costly. What I will say is that you want to select the smaller tomatillos if you can, the smaller they are the better they are and if they’re nice and sticky where the husk are then you know you’ve got a great batch!
You can use tinned tomatillos, I’ve personally never done this though. They’re definitely more easily available and you can probably just order the tins from amazon. If you’re using tinned tomatillos I would recommend draining the juices, tossing them in a little oil and placing them under the grill/broil to get some char. With salsa verde it’s all about flavour development and getting a little char is the first step in doing that.
The coriander lime sauce is a serious game changer. It’s a sauce I constantly have in rotation, but slightly tweak depending on my lifestyle. If I’m watching the waterline then I’ll use zero fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I can never bring myself to completely use just light mayo because I can really tell the difference haha! Instead I’ll use half light mayo and half regular mayo. The great thing about this sauce is it’s so versatile. You don’t need to use it for just tacos. You can use it for chicken and rice, sandwiches, salads or whatever.
I like to make my own corn tortillas, it’s not reallllllly necessary but the difference is outstanding. Fresh corn tortillas are the perfect vessel for these tacos and corn tortillas literally require 3 ingredients. You want to make sure you’re using masa harina, it simply won’t work if you decide to use regular cornmeal. Masa harina goes under a process called nixtamalization. This process is what enables corn tortillas to become soft, because corn has zero gluten!
You don’t need a tortilla press. You can use anything that has a large flat surface along with cling film or parchment paper to stop it from sticking. The key to corn tortillas is ensuring that you hydrate the dough properly, the rest is simple.
Lastly, with the steak you don’t need a fancy cut. Any cut with a decent amount of fat will do. I personally like sirloin or ribeye, but ultimately you’ll cut these into small cubes anyway so you dont need to break the bank there.
INGREDIENTS & METHODS
salsa verde:
8-10 tomatillos
1 medium onion, quartered.