From the June 2011 issue of Cook’s Country magazine comes a wonderful addition to your summer cooking/grilling bag of tricks.  This is a quick and absolutely delicious steak taco with carefully edited garnishes (proving again that you do not have to drown every Mexican dish in cheese).  I mean, just look at this list of ingredients, it’s short and easy (add your own Snookie joke here.  Because I am way too high-brow to know anything about that stuff.  I don’t even know how the word “Snookie” made its way into this post.  What?).   

One of the garnishes is lime juice stirred into sour cream and it’s this kind of touch that typifies what I love about the whole Cook’s Empire: by doing this you’ve created kind of a lime crema that is more interesting that just plopping sour cream on your taco, and yet all it asks of you is to squeeze and stir.  Even when the heat index is 140 in Chicago you can could do this.  Obviously, this can also be easily scaled up for a big party and you could serve the salsa on its own. 

Life-altering?  No.  Life-enhancing enough for a Tuesday night?  You betcha!

Flank Steak Tacos with Grilled Corn Salsa
From Cook’s Country, June 2011

2 ears corn, husk and silk removed
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced
¼ cup lime juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1  1-1/2 to 2 pound flank steak
12   6” corn tortillas
½ cup sour cream

Microwave the corn for 3-5 minutes, or until just tender.   Meanwhile stir onion, jalapeño, 2 tablespoons lime juice, cilantro, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in bowl and set aside.   Combine sour cream and remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice in another bowl with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside or refrigerate.

Combine cumin, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper in bowl. Pat steak dry with paper towels and rub both sides with cumin mixture.  Grill steak over direct heat, turning often, until cooked to your liking, about 5 to 7 minutes per side.   At the same time, grill corn until lightly charred.  Transfer steak and corn to carving board.  Grill tortillas until lightly charred, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Cut kernels from cob and add to reserved onion mixture. Slice steak thinly against grain. Serve with corn salsa, tortillas, and sour cream mixture.