Sunday, January 24, 2010

Tacos Extraordinaire
























We were doing some shopping and came upon one of those "taco buses". The food was really tasty. We each had three tacos made with lightly fried corn tortillas filled with an option of fillings. I liked the lengua (tongue) tacos best. (I grew up with a family that made pickled tongue as a treat.) They had spicy shredded pork, ground beef, shredded beef, and a couple other options.

Across the street we saw Lupe's Tienda a great shop of ingredients for making dishes of Hispanic origin. Browsing it I came across the 4" corn tortillas that had been used for tacos on the bus. Buying a package of alot of them for under $1.50, I decided to make some tacos at home. What a great idea it was.

I went home and used a pound of hamburger to make some filling with onions, green pepper, Mexican Seasoning (there's a recipe on this blog with the Mexican Black Bean Stew & it can be purchased at most supermarkets.) and fresh cilantro. Keeping it in the refrigerator, for the next three nights we loved having "three-taco dinners". I fried up six of the corn tortillas in just a little oil and topped with fresh cilantro some filling, salsa and sour cream. Yum City! And, it was a meal my husband, who wants diversity and hates left overs, will eat every night of the week!

With plenty of tortillas in the refrigerator, the other night, we took a New York steak out of the freezer and defrosted it. My husband broiled it to medium rare and, after letting it sit to collect juices, chopped it into rough chunks. I chopped and fried up a large sweet onion and a green pepper and adding 2 teaspoons of Mexican seasoning to them, letting them caramelize. After frying the tortillas we topped them with fresh cilantro leaves, caramelized onion and green pepper, New York steak chunks, salsa and sour cream. Unbelievable! They looked so great and were so yummy that I forgot to take pictures before eating them.

They are not only tasty but what a ingredient stretcher these tacos are. One pound of hamburger lasted for more than three meals. It was such a delicious way to enjoy the steak, I look forward to doing it again (and I'll take pictures next time.)

Update: Whole chickens were on sale the other day so I bought and boiled one. I added a bunch of stir fried vegetables to the broth for some great vegetable soup and set about skinning and debonning the cooked chicken. I packed two Ziplock Brand freezer bags of meat and froze for later. That night I fried up an onion and green bell pepper adding chicken meat and Mexican seasoning. The taco shells filled with fresh cilantro, my chicken filling, plus a little salsa and sour cream were soooo delicious.

And...today I had a good sized chunk of left over lamb so I very coarsely chopped it in the food processor, fried up an onion and green bell pepper till they were soft then adding the lamb and three teaspoons of Mexican seasoning . Frying a bit to mix flavors I then cooled it and froze two bags of taco filling mix for later. After, of course, trying a couple tacos made with lamb filling, fresh cilantro and salsa. So good!