Y’all, this afternoon I was feeling so pleased with myself for what I was about to accomplish. We were in a fajita mood here at Chez Recessionista, so I decided to slice up three bell peppers and half an onion, place them in the charcoal smoker with some spices, and cook them to perfection. I was going to add a bag of Gardein “beef” tips into the mix, as well, for additional flair and pizzazz.
I should have known when I purchased the charcoal today – I won’t name the manufacturer because we’re not on speaking terms at the moment – that I was in trouble. The usual kind I got was sold out, so I had to settle for the mesquite-infused variety, which I have used only once before, and that time I never could get the smoker to start. User error, I scoffed at myself in the grocery store today as I hauled ol’ Mesquite-Bag to the car. This one will be fine.
So I put a good amount in the coal pan at the bottom of the smoker, doused it generously with lighter fluid, and fired ’er up. The coals lit right away and I nodded, satisfied, before heading back into the house to slice up my peppers and onion.
When I went back out to check on the coals’ progress about 15 minutes later, I noticed two things right away. The first: There was no smoke coming from the smoker. The second: There was also no heat.
The coals, friends, had burned right back out and refused to light again, no matter what I did. I begged. I pleaded. I cajoled. I stuck little wads of paper towel throughout the pan and lit them afire. I doused the stack with additional lighter fluid. Nothing worked! The coals refused to light.
So with a heavy heart (and some unkind words under my breath), I placed the lid back onto the smoker and plodded back into the house. Then I pulled out a frying pan and got to work.
Truth be told, it wasn’t the end of the culinary world. The weather was cold, foggy, and clammy anyway, so I wasn’t exactly weeping at the thought of not having to check on the smoker every 30 minutes. And the in-kitchen prep for fajitas is really not very difficult. As the rice cooked, I began to brown the beef tips in a pan, and once they began to heat up, I added all the peppers and onion (which had marinated in olive oil, cumin, chipotle powder, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder), and stirred everything together well. I heated the veggies for about 10 minutes on medium-high heat until they were crisp-tender, and as they cooked, I prepared the avocado fries. I sliced two avocados into wedges, placed them in a bowl, and then tossed them in salt, chipotle powder, and nutritional yeast. Done and done!
I heated up four flour tortillas in the oven, wrapped in foil and baked at 350 for 10 minutes. By the time they were ready, so was everything else, so we began to put together our meal piece by piece!
First we added a generous helping of the beef-and-veggie mixture to each tortilla, and then spooned some rice and avocado fries on the side. At the table, we dressed our fajitas up with vegan sour cream, Daiya pepperjack shreds, shredded lettuce, black olives, pico de gallo, and of course our beloved Tabasco. Each tortilla was super-heavy and unwieldy by the time we were through, but who cares? The end result was wonderfully tasty and incredibly filling.
Speaking of filling, there’s lots more fajita ingredients for tomorrow’s lunch! This recipe certainly makes enough for an army – or at least four servings, anyway! And despite the fly-around with the charcoal smoker, we were incredibly pleased with the quality of tonight’s offering. My smoked-fajita attempt will have to wait for another day, but the finished product turned out just fine right here in the kitchen.
:)