I am not a big fan of beef, but the few times I eat it is in the form of carne asada o cecina tacos. What is cecina? Don Cuevas of My Mexican Kitchen answers this question:
Cecina is thinly sliced, salted and partially dried sheets or strips of beef or pork. The technique for making it requires an extremely sharp knife and considerable skill and patience. A largish piece of boneless beef of beef is turned into a continuous roll of thin slices by deft cutting, back and forth, within the mass of muscle.
I don’t have the patience or the skills to make it, but when I am in the mood for some delicious cecina tacos I get it already prepared at the Mexican market. All I have to do is grill it and serve it with some delicious salsa. And my favorite salsa for cecina is made with nopales. I’ve posted a nopal salsa recipe before, but this time instead of boiling them I grilled them and the result was an amazing salsa that I will be making several times this summer.
Grilled nopal salsa
The ingredients:
- 2 nopales, cleaned
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
- the juice of 2 limes
- bunch of cilantro, chopped
- salt to taste
The how-to:
- Grill the nopales at high temperature for about 4 minutes each side or until they are cooked. They will change color from a bright green to a brownish green.
- Carefully cut them in bite size pieces and mix them with the rest of the ingredients.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours before using.
- Serve over cecina, carne asada or any other kind of taco. Remember that real tacos are made with corn tortillas.
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¡Buen provecho!
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lisaiscooking
Thank you for this–I can't wait to try grilling nopales! Your salsa sounds fantastic. Pretty tacos too!
mariscakes
I heard about how good the nopales are, but I have never tried them. I have a tree of nopal in my farm, I would take your word for it and cook some soon. The Carne Asada taco looks delicious.
anncoo
This looks so delicious, wish I can try some.
kat
Oh, I'll have to check & see if the Mexican butcher in town has this kind of beef.
Angie's Recipes
I wish I could just taste a bit….looks so tempting!
bellini valli
I will keep my eyes open Ben:D
Rosa
Great tacos. Mmmhhh, I love that food! a pity I can't find nopales here…
Cheers,
Rosa
meetak
Ben this looks sensational. loving the shot!
Joan Nova
I never heard the term "cecina". It sounds very interesting but I doubt I'd have the patience (and skill) required.
The Leftover Queen
These tacos look great, Ben. I had never heard of cecina or nopales until this post, Love learning new food terminology!
nina
Will have to do a bit of research on the nopala, ut I knpw a good taco and this is definitely one!!
Ivy
The tacos look great, although I am also not a fan of beef.
Diana
Your tacos look delicious. We had nasty looking cactus that we pulled out years and years ago – because we hated the fine hairs that would stick into us. Now it seems as though they make really good salsas and other dishes.
Foodycat
I haven’t seen prickly pears in Britain, but I am sure I can get canned nopales. So that is sorted. But I have no idea how I would get hold of this lovely beef. So I will have to stick to drooling over your photos.
elizabeth
I just tried making steak tacos for the first time last week and I'm hooked. These look fantastic and that salsa sounds delicious!
heidileon
que rico! yo quiero 2 tacos para llevar por fis
- me encantan los tacos de nopales, son la especialidad de mi Papa, y no sabes cuanto tiempo llevo sonhando con ellos…….
Brenda
I love cecina – it is one of my favorite meats for tacos. I didn't realize it was salted and partially dried – very interesting.
Kelly
Haven't grilled them before. Sounds so amazing. I can imagine the wonderful roasted flavor right now
Mexican food
Wow! yummy recipe with in real Mexican style. Though nopales is a new culinary term for me but the dish looks delicious.
Nopalea Side Effects
Nopalea (made from the prickly pear cactus) is renowned for its anti-inflammatory properties. It is said that inflammation is the root cause of many diseases and chronic discomforts. It is also believed that Nopalea juice is chock full of antioxidants and a property called betalains which contains many of the B vitamins and minerals.
Nopalea
OMG that looks so good. I'm going to have to find a Mexican market in my area that sells fresh nopales so I can give this recipe a go.