Wild mushroom, flank steak and poblano tacos

Did you ever notice how almost every culture has their own version of a taco? I made a Chinese version last week (Chinese pancakes with pork and zhajiang sauce) but today we're doing Mexican! To change the traditional taco to a more modern version, I prepared a wild mushroom, flank steak, and poblano taco with avocado and corn guacamole and a roasted red pepper salsa. 

Wild Mushroom, Flank Steak, and Poblano Tacos

Recipe from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2011

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 8 oz flank steak, trimmed

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp black pepper, divided

2 cups thinly sliced white onion

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp bottled minced garlic

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 4-oz packages presliced exotic mushroom blend

1 poblano pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

8 6-inch corn tortillas

1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese

Directions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steak with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Add steak to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steak from pan. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add onion and next 5 ingredients; saute 5 minutes or until vegetables soften. Cut steak across grain into thin slices. Add steak, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt,a nd remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper to pan; cook 1 minute. Place about 1/3 cup steak mixture in each tortilla. Top each taco with 1 tablespoon cheese and 1 tablespoon salsa. 

Avocado and Corn Salsa

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 ripe avocado

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels or frozen

1 jalapeno, minced

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Mash the avocado and mix together with the corn, jalapeno, onion, and cilantro and season with the lime juice, salt, and pepper. 

Salsa Roja

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Yield: about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

6 red bell peppers

1 jalapeno

1 large ripe tomato

1/2 yellow onion

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. Lay the red bell peppers and jalapenos on a sheet tray. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes or until they start to darken. Remove and put in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave aside for 10 minutes. Unwrap the bowl and carefully peel the outer skin membrane from the bell peppers and jalapeno. Discard the seeds and stem from the bell pepper, but reserve the seeds from the jalapeno. 
3. Cut the tomato and onion into large chunks. Combine with the roasted bell peppers and jalapeno with the cilantro, salt, pepper, and lime juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste and season accordingly.

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving (2 tacos, 1 tbsp guacamole, 1 tbsp salsa, 1 tbsp cheese):  357.6 calories, 13.8g fat (4.7g saturated, 1.8g polyunsaturated, 5.4g monounsaturated), 38.8g carbohydrates, 6.3g fiber, 22.2g protein.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Since I was cooking 15 pounds of meat today, I decided to roast the flank steak in the oven rather than on the stove top. You can also grill or broil the meat. I seasoned the meat with paprika, cumin, garlic salt, salt and pepper, and sliced shallots and garlic. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until desired degree of doneness (the employees at my work only like well-done meat so I cooked the flank steak for 1 hour). 

Let the meat rest for 15 minutes before slicing against the grain. After I sliced the meat, I mixed it with the sauteed vegetables and added the juices from the meat to the mixture.

You can also serve these tacos with sour cream and lime wedges and choose to make only one of the two salsas. The avocado corn guacamole is great on chips as well as these tacos.  The meat is seasoned but not strong in flavor so the sauces and vegetables really shine in this meal. It actually reminded me of a fajita. Love, love, love this meal! It's surprisingly healthy and very satisfying. For an extra filler I also made Mexican rice.