By Miguel Guerrero
This salsa is deceptively simple: just three ingredients that, when ground together in a Molcajete, create something much more complex than the sum of their parts. The recipe, a riff on one from La Cocina de Leslie, is a go-to salsa my own family has memorized and makes for every carne asada and easy dinner. It doesn't need much more than a perfectly charred piece of steak and a corn tortilla fresh off the comal. Sometimes less is more.
Miguel Guerrero
12 tomatillos
10-12 dried árbol chiles
4 garlic cloves
1 lb top round steak, pounded to about ¼ inch thickness
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp neutral oil
Corn tortillas
Heat a comal or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Roast dried árbol chiles on the heated comal, tossing occasionally, for about a minute. Then, remove them and set aside.
Rinse the tomatillos and pat them dry. On the same comal, roast the tomatillos and garlic over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, turning occasionally, until the skin chars and the tomatillos and garlic soften.
Grind the roasted chiles de árbol in a molcajete with a couple of pinches of coarse salt until they resemble red pepper flakes.
Add the roasted tomatillos and garlic to the molcajete, lightly breaking up the tomatillos with the tejolote while mixing them with the chile de árbol until the mixture resembles a chunky salsa.
Season with more salt if needed.
Season the pounded top round steak generously with salt on both sides.
Heat a comal or skillet over high heat and add the neutral oil. Once the oil is hot, add the seasoned steak to the comal. Sear the steak for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until a deep char forms.
Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking the steak until it reaches your desired level of doneness.
Once the steak is cooked to your liking, remove from the comal and let it rest for a few minutes. Then, slice it thinly.
Place a few slices of steak onto a fresh corn tortillas.
Top the taco with your fresh salsa de chile de árbol. ¡Provecho!
3 comments
Good call here, Ben. Since the steak is pounded thin and cooked on a hot comal, it’ll move fast. The 4 minutes per side is more of a general guideline, but in practice you’re likely looking at closer to 2–3 minutes per side for medium, depending on heat and your comal. Appreciate you flagging that!
These sound amazing but I can tell you right now. 1/4" thick steak on a hot comal will be WAAAYYYYY past medium at 4 minutes per side ¯\(ツ)/¯
Ok, but I count 4 ingredients 😉 You forgot to count the salt & you cant forget the salt!
My go to version is made with milpero variety of tomatillos and chile Mixe / chile pasilla Mixe / chile pasilla oaxaqueño, because the chile de arbol is too much for mi Tejana. But 👍👍 for chiles de arbol!