Fajitas – On A Sizzle Plate

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried or experienced “Sizzle Plate Cooking”, but it is awesome. Some very dear friends, Grace and Garth Pearce, introduced us to the technique about 10 years ago, perhaps a little less. Anyway, it does take some special kitchen equipment, which was gifted to us by the Pearces and we have enjoyed using it many times over these last years.

It always reminds me of the visits the Pearces would make when we were living in SE Georgia, near the coast. During one of those visits, the Pearces brought the sizzle plates and the wooden platters, absolutely necessary when serving, for the four of us. Sizzle plates can be used for all sorts of dishes. The secret to success and slicing and preparing all your ingredients ahead of time. One the cooking process begins, it goes in stages and is fairly fast. If you have smoke alarms in the kitchen, I would recommend having a fan nearby. You’ll be cooking at very high heat and releasing that heat and smoke every time you open the oven door.

One of the real advantages of sizzle plate cooking is the food stays warm throughout the meal. You just need to be careful not to touch the cast iron sizzle plates when they are placed in front of you at the table. If you’ve ever been to a Chili’s Restaurant or any place that serves Fajitas, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

This cooking method is fun and entertaining when your guests are in the kitchen. You can imagine all sorts of meat and veggie or just vegetarian dishes that can be prepared with this method. Just be sure that you keep your slices of veggies and meats, fairly consistent in thickness so that all will cook quickly and finish at the same time.

If you decide to invest in a set of sizzle plates, you can get them at Amazon, of course and I think they are also available at the Bed, Bath and Beyond. Some non-chain, local cooking shops also carry them. Be sure to follow the instructions for seasoning the plates before you use them the first time. Just like a cast iron skillet, you don’t want to “over clean” them.

Having shared with you one of my recipes for a Boston Butt on the rotisserie I thought it might be fun to share how we use some of the leftover pork. You can use either sliced or chopped pork. In this recipe I use chopped.

This recipe serves 2 and can be adjusted, depending on how many sizzle plates you have. If you have the extra rack and a convection oven, you can do 6 sizzle plates at once.

Pre time : 30 mins – Cook time : 15 to 20 mins

Ingredients

Making The Magic

Place your seasoned sizzle plates in the oven and heat to 450° while doing the rest of your prep.

Slowly heat the refried beans. I always like to add 1T of Bacon grease for seasoning. You can also use Olive Oil.

Mix the turmeric, salt to taste, chopped shallot, appropriate amount of water and rice. Begin cooking. I love using the InstaPot to make rice. I dump all the ingredients into the pot, turn it on and forget about it until I’m ready to serve it. It’s an awesome kitchen tool.

Now that the rice and beans are going and the sizzle plates are heating in the oven, prep the veggies and pork.

Slice the Red Pepper and Onion into 1/4″ slices. Coat with a small amount of Olive Oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Season the chopped pork with the Lindberg-Snider Fajita rub/seasoning.

Place the onions and Peppers onto the hot sizzle plate in equal portions. Close the oven door and cook for about 3 minutes.

Open the door and turn or flip the veggies. Then add the pork to the sizzle plate. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

Open the oven door and turn the onions, peppers and pork. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

When the cooking is done, it’s ready to serve! No need to plate this since it cooks on it’s own plate! Don’t forget to use the wood platter that go under the sizzle plates.

Heat your flour tortillas if you like them warm. Plate the refried beans and rice. I love shredded cheese on top of the beans.

Build your own Fajita and enjoy the flavor explosion!

Variations To Keep It New

Sliced pork also works, but cut into strips. Steak strip or chicken strips also work great. Precooked, chopped bacon can be added to any of these meats, or can be the only meat. Sliced avocado is awesome. Guacamole is sensational, especially when mixed with the fresh tomatoes and sour cream. There are so many variations on this you could eat them every day and never grow tired of them.

Wines We Love With This

Merlot or Chianti or Sangria

Beer! is our favorite

Leftovers

Depending on what ingredients you have leftover, I really like taking everything and making a hash that you can heat and serve with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Another breakfast favorite is making the hash, scrambled eggs and creating some breakfast burritos!

Saludos y cervezas! ¡Come rico y disfruta!