Cooking Through the Football Season – Week 9

UTEP.

Most Aggies who follow the football program even remotely closely were really looking forward to this game.  Our former back-up QB from last year (who actually competed against Johnny Manziel for the starter position), Jameill Showers, transferred to UTEP last year and has been their starter this year.  I was really looking forward to seeing him play.  However, last week, Showers dislocated his shoulder and is unable to play the rest of the season I believe. 

Bummer for us, but even more so for him.  I wish him the speediest of recoveries.

Playing another Texas team on a weekend that I needed something fairly easy to do for dinner called for fajitas and guacamole.  Now, there is a recipe for each of these items in Southern Living’s The Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook on the Texas A&M menu.

HOWEVER….

No self respecting Texan would use Southern Living’s recipes for fajitas or guacamole. 

Period.

Just telling it like it is, folks. 

We Texans each have our own way of doing fajitas and guacamole and you can’t tell us different.  Mostly, these are items that you just throw together, usually with just whatever you have on hand, and it’s different every time.  No recipe can capture that.

Nor should it.

Just a few notes about my fajitas.

I use flank steak and marinate it for a short period of time before grilling.  It is tender and perfect when cut correctly (across the grain).

 

A nice pink center is absolutely necessary.

 

And I always use corn tortillas. 

My family thinks I’m nuts. 

They like flour. 

I know they’re wrong.

 

Guacamole should be simple.  Fresh and ripe avocado, lime juice, onion, and garlic salt are necessary.  Optional additions could be finely minced jalapeno, tomato and cilantro or your choice of salsa.  “Wholly Guacamole” brand is used only in the most dire of emergencies.

So the UTEP game was late and, well, odd.  But the Ags won, our injured running back is okay and from what I heard the next day, Jameill Showers “sawed ‘em off” during the Aggie War Hymn.  A good evening in the end.

On to Mississippi State.

Gig ‘em and God Bless the Aggies!