Fat ~N~ Happy

That title is a fairly accurate description of me after consuming my favorite meal of carne asada. Ooooh carne asada, how I love thee.

A few things: In southern California, when you say you're gonna BBQ, I expect you better grill up some carne. Carne asada means roasted beef, but the phrase has come to mean a social gathering, such as a BBQ.

In SoCal (I have that on the back of my Tahoe, ha ha), you can walk into any corner carniceria and order pre-marinated, ready to slap on the grill carne asada. Down here in the deep south, not so much.

It's actually easy to make the marinade. The secret is the rub for the meat. Chef Merito's Carne Asada seasoning.

Buy it here.

You want to buy THIN cut beef (think a skirt steak or flanksteak). Thankfully there has been an influx of hispanics to my particular town and I can now find beef cut for milanzea, so it works perfectly. Now that we have our meat, sprinkle it, liberally with the carne seasoning.

Let's marinade!

In a ziplock bag, add the juice of two small limes, one lemon, two oranges, two cloves of garlic (minced), and one bunch of green onions, trimmed. Now for the secret ingredient....

Come close.

Closer...

Closer.....

Too close!!

Ok. Drumroll please.

1/4 Cup of Sprite

A little old Mexican lady told me that secret once. I've made it with the Sprite and without the Sprite. Trust me, use the Sprite!

Alright, alright. Put all the meat in the bag, zip it shut and shake to coat. Put in the fridge and let it set for 8 hrs or overnight.

Fire up the grill! Medium-ish flame. These cook quickly, so stay close. Cook on both sides until well done. It works out to be a few minutes on each side.
This next part is also important. Serve it with tortillas, guac. and cheese. Not just any cheese my friends. Oh no no. Go to the specialty cheese section (unless you're in Cali, then it's with the regular cheeses) and find you some Cacique Queso Fresco. This mild, salty, creamy-dreamy, cheese crumbles so fabulously. The Dude and I have been known to finish off a round of this stuff just cuz we couldn't help ourselves.

Also important, if you're a sour cream fan, find Cacique's Crema Mexicana Agria. Holy moly is this stuff amazing. It's 10 times better than regular sour cream. Oh, it's just so rich and yummy. One thing of note, it's a lot thinner than sour cream you're probably used to.

Enoy!