salivating over lomo saltado

A few weeks back, a co-worker asked for advice on where to take a date to dinner on a quick evening trip to San Francisco. We had a short dialogue about what he was looking for exactly, and in the end I gave him three suggestions for he and his buddies to debate. In the end, they chose to visit Limon, which serves some of the yummiest Peruvian food around!

Well, upon his return it turns out he can’t stop talking about the meal and the food… and I left work on Monday literally salivating about digging into some good Peruvian food! Specifically, all I really wanted was lomo saltado. And unfortunately, while we do have one semi-decent spot in Sac where I could get it… it’s far far away from home and work and baby M and Mr. M. So I did the next best thing: I googled a recipe and headed to the market!

And let me just tell you… Mr. M and I definitely went back for seconds!

Lomo Saltado (inspired by recipe from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen French fries
• vegetable oil as needed
• 1 pound beef tri tip, sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 large red onion, sliced into strips
• 6 large Roma tomatoes, seeded, and sliced into strips
• marinade: 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar & 1 dash soy sauce; and another 1/4 cup vinegar & dash of soy sauce for cooking
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1. Cut up the tri-tip and marinate it in the vinegar and soy sauce for at least 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper as you like.

2. Once the meat is marinated, cook up your french fries just like it says on the back of the bag!

3. Heat up oil in a large frying pan (one you have a lid for!), and then cook the meat, discarding the marinade. Once the juices have released from the meat, remove it and place it to the side.

4. Cook up the onions until transparent (add more oil if you need).

5. Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook until soft.

6. Now it’s time to cook it all up! Add the vinegar and soy sauce, then the meat, and finally the french fries. Mix it up and cover with a lid until the meat is done cooking (3-5 minutes).

7. Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro and serve with or without white rice.

I swear that just the idea of a vinegary and salty french fry makes me go crazy… and hopefully if you’ve ever eaten lomo saltado before, this recipe will cure your cravings!