Essential · 1 hour · Serves 4
Steak with refried beans, broiled cheese and red rice
The same root as the Signature cheese-crusted steak: the Mexican fonda dish with a very thin steak covered in refried beans and broiled cheese, and a tomato red rice on the side. This version is the weekday lunch one, quick and generous, with canned beans and a single cheese that melts.
The twist is to take care of the two points that usually fail. The steak is pounded thin and seared for barely a minute per side, so it does not dry out under the broiler, and the rice is fried dry before the tomato, so it stays loose and does not turn pasty. A chipotle chile in the beans and an onion with lime lift the dish.
Special equipment: cast-iron pan or griddle; oven broiler; blender or hand blender
Ingredients
Onion with lime
- ½ red onion, in thin slices
- 30 ml lime juice
- 1 pinch of salt
Red rice
- 250 g fine long-grain rice
- 300 g ripe plum tomatoes, or 250 g crushed tomatoes
- ½ white onion, in chunks
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 pinch of crushed chili flakes
- 30 ml neutral oil
- 350 ml hot low-sodium chicken stock
- Fine salt
Refried beans
- 2 cans black beans (about 480 g drained), with a little of their liquid reserved
- 30 ml neutral oil or lard
- ½ white onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped, plus 1 teaspoon of the adobo
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- Fine salt
Steak
- 4 rump steaks (top sirloin) or top round steaks of 140 g, 1 cm thick
- Fine salt and black pepper
- 15 ml neutral oil
Broiled cheese
- 200 g block mozzarella, coarsely grated
Finishing
- Cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, in wedges
Method
Onion with lime
- Curing. Mix the onion with the lime and salt and let it sit at least 20 minutes, until it turns fuchsia.
Red rice
- Tomato base. Blend the tomato with the onion, garlic, chili and a pinch of salt to a smooth purée.
- Frying and cooking. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat and fry the dry rice 5–6 minutes, stirring, until opaque and barely golden, with a toasty smell. Add the purée and cook 3–4 minutes, until it reduces and clings to the grain. Add the hot stock, taste for salt, bring to a boil, cover and cook over the lowest heat for 18 minutes, without lifting the lid. Turn off the heat and rest covered 5 minutes; fluff with a fork.
Refried beans
- Refry. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and cook the onion 5 minutes, until soft, then the garlic, chipotle with its adobo and cumin 1 minute. Add the beans with 100 ml of their liquid and mash them with a potato masher while they cook 8–10 minutes, to a thick but spreadable purée that falls from the spoon in a block. If they dry out, add more liquid or water; taste for salt.
Steak
- Pounding. Place each steak between two sheets of plastic film and pound with a mallet or the bottom of a saucepan to an even 3–4 mm thickness. Season.
- Searing. Heat the pan very hot with a drizzle of oil and sear the steaks one or two at a time, 45–60 seconds per side, only until browned. Move them to a baking sheet.
Broiled cheese
- Assembly and broiler. Turn the broiler to maximum. Cover each steak with a layer of hot beans, about 5 mm thick, leaving the edge free, and spread the mozzarella on top. Broil 10–12 cm from the element for 3–4 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbling and with golden spots.
Finishing
- At serving. Have the cilantro picked and the lime wedges ready.
The dish
Use large, hot flat plates. Move each broiled steak with a wide spatula to one side of the plate and set a portion of red rice alongside, only lightly pressed with the spoon. Put a little drained onion with lime and a few cilantro leaves over the cheese, and add a lime wedge next to the rice. Serve at once. Final look: a steak covered in golden, bubbling cheese with the dark bean edge in view, loose orange-red rice, and the fuchsia of the onion and the green of the cilantro.
Key points
- Pound the steak evenly and sear it only briefly: it finishes cooking under the broiler.
- Fry the rice dry until opaque before adding the tomato.
- Do not lift the lid while the rice cooks.
- Keep the beans spreadable, neither runny nor dry.
- Broil close to the element and for a short time.
Pairing
A Vienna-style beer or a Mexican lager with lime. Without alcohol, hibiscus water.
Notes
- Dry beans: if cooking them at home, use 200 g of dry black beans, soaked and cooked; reserve their broth for the refry.