Culture
A Taco Recipe From Your Favourite Mexican Head Chef
Throw yourself a Mexican fiesta
Dipping tortilla’s in freshly made guacamole and sipping on margaritas on a secluded Mexican beach might feel like a million miles away especially now that we’re in the deep dark depths of winter.
The wanderlust is real, so to get that fix I’m sure we are all in need of, we asked Milpa Collective’s Executive Chef Manuel Diaz to share one of his very own taco recipes because I’m sure we could all do with a little fiesta.
Manuel heads up some of our favourite Mexican restaurants here in Sydney from Carbón, Taqiza, Sonora, La Palma to Calita. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Manuel was culinary trained in Mexican cuisine, so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about tacos.
With that wanderlust theme in mind, here is Manuel Diaz Surf n’ Turf Taco loaded with arrachera steak marinated in beer topped with chipotle garlic prawns. Need we say more?
So grab your favourite tequila, some fresh lime and shake up a margarita or two, serve up Manuel Diaz Surf n’ Turf tacos and throw yourself a Mexican fiesta – Taco Tuesday’s wouldn’t know what hit it.
Surf n’ Turf Taco with arrachera steak marinated in beer and chipotle garlic prawns
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
600g skirt or flank steak
400g tiger Prawns
1 can of chipotle in adobo sauce
200g baby rocket
12 corn tortillas
1 pineapple
330ml of Mexican beer
6 garlic cloves
50ml white tequila
50g sugar
4 limes
2 lemons
1 tomato
10g black pepper
80ml olive oil
salt
Instructions
Surf n’ Turf
- In a bowl, mix 2 garlic cloves minced, beer, the juice of 2 limes, and pepper. Add the steak into the mix and make sure you rub the steak through the marinade mixture and allow it to lay flat to marinate for 1 hour in the fridge, covering with plastic film.
- In a blender add half the can of chipotle, tomato, and 4 garlic cloves. Blend for 45 seconds or until completely smooth, then add salt to season and blend once last time.
- Once smooth, bring the chipotle sauce to a pan and simmer on medium heat stirring constantly. Let the sauce reduce by half making sure it does not burn or stick to the edges of the pan.
- Clean the prawns, by peeling them and deveining them. Follow this process with slicing the prawns in butterfly style, cutting them in half lengthways.
- Season the prawns with salt and pepper and a drizzle of 1 lime.
- Bring a large saucepan to medium heat, drizzle olive oil and add the prawns, stir them quickly for 15 seconds on both sides and then add the chipotle sauce.
- Let the prawns finish cooking in the chipotle and remove from heat.
- Once the steak has marinated for 1 hour, remove it from the bowl and season with salt.
- Slice your steak in 1.5cm slices and reserve. Grill your steak to desired or alternatively finish it up in a pan by searing from both sides and then letting it cook to desired.
- Once done, remove from heat, let rest for 5 minutes on a chopping board.
- Slice your steak in 1.5cm slices and reserve.
Pineapple Salsa
- Remove skin from the pineapple and slice in two.
- Slice one-half of the pineapple again and cut in triangles.
- Get the sliced half of the pineapple in a baking tray, drizzled with olive oil, and roast it for 12 minutes at 200C, or until it changes colour.
- Once it changes colour, remove it from the oven and mix with sugar and tequila, blend for 35 seconds until having a smooth puree.
- Grill the pineapple triangles directly in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the grill and mix with lemon juice (2 lemons) and salt.
- Mix the two pineapple halves together and incorporate to get the pineapple salsa.
To assemble the tacos
- Warm the corn tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds, until they are soft and steamy.
- On a plate put one tortilla, add a layer of baby rocket, followed by the marinated steak, then add a couple of prawns in chipotle garlic sauce.
- Finish it up with a generous amount of pineapple salsa and serve with a lime wedge.
Notes
TIP: For a less spicy version, cook the prawns without the chipotle salsa and add the cooked chipotle salsa to the prawns as desired to control the heat.
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
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