Quick Simple Fajitas

I grew up in Southern California where there is a great Mexican restaurant on every corner. Now that we live in the Midwest I've traded great Mexican for great steak, and that is just fine. :) We have however spent countless hours studying the spices and techniques of Mexican cooking and come up with a few wonderful meals. Chicken Fajitas is a dish we make often, mainly because they are healthy, quick and easy clean up. There is also a good deal of chopping which my husband loves. (Get a good set of knives and keep them sharp... you'll start looking for recipes that let you use them more too :) )


Ingredients: 
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts 
2-3 medium bell peppers (we normally use a red, yellow and green but I had some extra green in the fridge so I just used two green this time)

1 large white onion 
Mexican Spice blend (see below) 
Salt and pepper 


Mexican Spice blend: 
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Lime Powder 
1/2 teaspoon Thyme (I know not very traditional, but we like it) 

Step 1: Place your chicken on a cutting board. We use Norpro Flexible Cutting Boards because they were $8 and they make it so that we can prep our meat on something non-porous that can be washed with hot soapy water. What I like about these particular ones is that they have symbols for meat, fish, and veggies on them so you don't mix them up.

Tip: Defrosting chicken is one of those things everyone assumes you know how to do. When I first started out, I wasn't really sure, so I used common sense... the best way to unfreeze something, is hot water, right? WRONG. Thankfully the smell that ensued after trying this once was so awful that I decided to look up the correct way to do it. There are two ways to properly (and safely) defrost chicken: 1. leave it in the refrigerator over night or 2. place them either in their original packaging or a zip lock backing in a sink filled with cold water and ice. While you can defrost in the microwave, in my experience this method is messy and always causes cooked or dried out spots. If you can plan ahead the refrigerator method is really best. 

Step 2: Trim away any fat. Remember to cut a lip into the fat and pull up on it so that you remove just the fat and very little of the actual chicken.

Tip: When I was first getting started I hated the feeling of raw chicken or meat, so I had a special set of yellow rubber gloves that I wore when dealing with those items and I washed them thoroughly after. I'm much more of a hands on cook now, but it was a great way to get around that inhibition at first. 


Step 3: Dry your chicken with a paper towel thoroughly. This is amazingly important. Go ahead and splurge on that second or third paper towel if you need it, you will be rewarded with a delicious golden brown crust on your chicken.

Step 4: Season your chicken with salt, pepper, and the spice blend. Get a good even coat on both sides.

Note: The following step only applies to cooking in stainless steel so if you are cooking in non-stick go ahead and add your olive oil to your pan and turn your burner to medium heat then skip down to step 6.

Step 5: "The Water Test" Put your stainless steel saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Every 15 seconds add 1/8 a teaspoon of water. 

 At first the water will sizzle and steam

Soon the water will start to shoot out small balls of water

After a while the water will form a ball but the small balls will still be present

When the water forms a single ball with no or very little small balls it is ready for the oil. Be sure to wipe the water ball out with a paper towel before adding the olive oil. 

Note: I don't do the water test every time I pan fry chicken but I know that it takes me approximately 2 minutes to get my pan hot enough. I do often toss an 1/8 teaspoon of water in my pan to double check before adding the oil. There is a video demonstration of the water test in the related video links below. :)

Step 6: When the olive oil runs freely in the pan and shimmers add the chicken presentation side down. You should hear a good sizzle.

Step 7: Once the chicken is cooked about half way through and developed a nice crust flip it and cook through. A good rule of thumb is about 5-7 minutes on each side.

Tip: Pan cooking chicken is something I struggled with at first. I'd always flip too soon and end up with underdone chicken in the middle. Be patient and only flip when you see that the chicken is cooked half way through. Also, chicken that is too cold will have a hard time cooking through, so make sure the chicken has been properly thawed before putting it in the skillet. If you want an extra check insert a thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and be sure it reads 165 degrees. 

Step 8: While the chicken is cooking slice the bell peppers and onions. 

Tip: Cut the onion in half and then put it cut side down to slice it into strips. For the bell peppers: this video does a good job of demonstrating. Sorry about the advertisement.


Step 9: Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and toss the bell peppers and onions in. Don't wash or wipe out the pan. Season the veggies with salt and pepper and mix so that all the browned bits of chicken (sucs) become incorporated.

Tip: The first time you make this cook the bell peppers and onions separately and time them. You might need to cook the onions for a few minutes before adding the bell peppers or vice versa. 

Step 10: Once the veggies are slightly soft and browned take them off the heat. 

Step 11: Slice the chicken. The really crusty end bit is for the cook ;) 

Step 12: Warm tortillas and plate up with some of the veggie mixture and chicken. We like making some plain white rice and refried beans to go with this. In fact, we like both of those things on the tortillas.

  

Rouxbe Afflilation

Great news! Pint Sized Foodie has been selected as a Rouxbe.com affiliate. This means a few pretty neat things for you as readers and me as a blogger. Rouxbe is an online video cooking school that I am a member of. They currently have 74 video lessons that range from knife skills to plating techniques. I am both in love with and addicted to this website. While I enjoy learning about cooking, a traditional culinary arts program was just too expensive, luckily the on-line version isn't. A month of access is $29.95 and a year is $239.95.

I have honestly learned more about cooking in the past few weeks with Rouxbe than I have through years of self study and practice. For example did you know there is a "water method" for testing a pan's heat? Were you aware that sauteed potatoes shouldn't be salted until the end of the cooking process? How about all the tips and tricks for making a perfect restaurant quality omelette, roux or stock?

Because I'm an affiliate Rouxbe.com is giving my readers a free 14 day trial where you have unlimited access to all the video lessons and recipes. Just visit Rouxbe Cooking School using any link on my page. In addition to the free trial, Rouxbe.com has allowed me to add relevant video lessons beneath each of my blog posts. Even without a membership or free trial status you will be able to watch 5 videos. Finally and probably the most fun of all the perks is the Cooking School Quiz. The quiz question changes daily and will always be shown in the sidebar on the right. Feel free to stop by and test your cooking knowledge anytime :)

If you have any questions about rouxbe.com or my experiences with it, feel free to comment on this post and I'll do my best to answer your questions.