Tailgate At Home With Steak Quesadillas

I have heard every last story there is to hear about the days when Los Angeles had a proper football team. My fiancé relives the one event of him (he was 8 years old at the time) actually meeting John Madden (Raider’s Head Coach) while on a family vacation in Vegas right after The Raiders had won the super bowl and has the picture to prove it, as it now hangs proudly in our home. He reminisces the days when he was a young man going to see his beloved Raiders at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and getting there two hours ahead of game time to tailgate in the parking lot with his Dad and friends. He says they had a small portable bar-b-q and used to make carne asada quesadillas right on the grill before the kickoff, and always finished the story with the how great taste the charcoal gave the meat. If you live in Los Angeles, then you know the grief many football fans face with no team to represent the massive metropolis that is The City of Angels. Football fans call it a travesty.

With the Fall season brings football season back on the tube every Sunday and Monday night, we have been inviting people over to watch the games. This past weekend I was at Walmart shopping for snacks to entertain our guests when I came across an entire aisle of small portable bar-b-ques ($21.00) and piles of Kingsford charcoal (twin pack $13.38) I quickly thought about my fiance’s stories of tailgating and how it would be fun to recreate those moments at home with a small charcoal bar-b-q. When I saw how reasonably priced the charcoal and the BBQ pit were I grabbed them and hurried over to the meat section in search of some thin cut steak to make carne asada quesadillas. Of course I found exactly what I was looking for, high quality 100% beef that’s 100% guaranteed.

The home tailgate was such a welcomed surprise by my fiancé and of course all our guests loved the steak (carne asada) quesadillas. It was the next best thing to actually being in the parking lot.

Now that I got my portable grill and lots of Kingsford charcoal I found a bunch of additional recipes and tips on how to up my game on Walmart.com.

What you’ll need for steak quesadillas:

a small portable grill
a bag of Kingsford charcoal
thinly sliced sirloin tip steak
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and /or chile powder
flour tortillas
grated jack, queso quesadilla or Oaxaca cheese
chiles – red peppers or jalapenos

Directions:

Fill grill with charcoal.
Then follow lighting directions on the bag of charcoal.
Allow charcoal to turn white (hot) and ready to grill.
Lightly season meat with spices.
Place grilling rack on top of hot charcoals using a thong.
Place meat on grill and cook on one side until the blood rises on top of the meat (about 4 to 5 minutes).
Now is a good time to add the chiles to the grill as well and cook on each side until charred.
Flip the meat over and cook until cooked all the way through (about 2 to 3 minutes).
Remove meat from grill and cut into long strips. Remove chiles from the grill and place to the side.
Fold a flour tortilla in half and stuff with grated cheese.
Place directly on the grill and cook on each side until cheese melts.
Remove from grill and stuff with strips of meat. Cut in half.
Serve with charred chile and a bowl of guacamole!
Up your game and enjoy.