Tag: tacos

Categories
Crockpot Main Dish

These tacos must ‘birria’ your next new dinner recipe

The process of making birria tacos is simplified a bit with the use of a crockpot for this recipe, but all the rich flavors are still there to enjoy.
The process of making birria tacos is simplified a bit with the use of a crockpot for this recipe, but all the rich flavors are still there to enjoy.

A few months ago, I was introduced to the deliciousness that is birria.

Birria, according to the “My Latin Table” website, is a Mexican dish that traditionally uses lamb but is often made with beef, too. The article goes on to note that it can be eaten as a soup or made into tacos.

The reason birria is so delicious is that, as the meat cooks, it creates a delicious stock that is served as either base of the soup or as a side for dipping the tacos. Between the spices, reconstituted dried chile peppers and beef, you almost want to pour yourself a glass and drink it. (But I didn’t do that. Because that’s weird.)

After trying birria at an amazing Mexican restaurant, I decided I wanted to give the recipe a try myself. Being short on time, though, I opted for a slightly less-than-authentic version that relies on a crockpot. Either way, this turned out absolutely amazing. I was so sad when the final container of leftovers exited our refrigerator.

This recipe comes from Nicki Mejia. You can find her on Instagram under “tastewithnicki.” I added extra seasonings and changed the directions slightly in my version.

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Birria Tacos

The process of making birria tacos is simplified a bit with the use of a crockpot for this recipe, but all the rich flavors are still there to enjoy.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword adobo, all spice, allspice, bay leaves, beef, beef roast, chiles de arbol, chili powder, consomme, corn tortillas, crockpot, cumin, garlic, garlic powder, guajillo peppers, Monterrey jack cheese, oregano, slow cooker, tacos, thyme, tomatoes, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds beef roast
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon pepper
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 4 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons adobo
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon all spice
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 16 ounces beef broth or stock
  • 6 dried guajillo chiles
  • 3 dried chiles de arbol
  • 1 half large tomato
  • Monterrey jack cheese shredded (for serving)
  • Corn tortillas for serving

Instructions

  • Combine the roast, onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, adobo, oregano, thyme, all spice and garlic powder in your crockpot. Pour the beef broth over top of everything in the pot.
  • To prepare the chiles, pull the stem off of each one and shake out as many seeds as you can.
  • Add the chiles to a medium-sized pot and cover them with water. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for about five minutes or until the chiles are soft. (Do not get rid of the water you boiled the chiles in!)
  • Add the softened chiles, tomato and about one cup of the boiling liquid to a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour the chiles mixture into your crockpot. If the liquid isn’t covering the ingredients in the crockpot, add more of the boiling liquid until it is.
  • Cook for eight hours on low or four hours on high.
  • When the roast is done, shred it with a couple forks.
  • To make the tacos, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray it lightly with cooking oil. Dip a corn tortilla in the stock. Place it in the hot skillet and sprinkle on one to two tablespoons cheese. Put a large spoonful of the meat mixture onto half of the tortilla and carefully fold it over. When the tortilla is browned to your liking, gently flip the taco over to brown the other side. When it is done, transfer the taco to a warm plate.
  • Continue until you have as many tacos as you want to serve for your meal. Serve the tacos sprinkled with a little extra cheese and alongside a small bowl of the stock for dipping.
  • Refrigerate any leftovers.

Like I said, the flavor of these tacos is absolutely phenomenal. They weren’t at all spicy, but you could easily kick them up a notch with some salsa. Birria is also traditionally served with fresh diced onions and cilantro, if you want to add some color.

The trick for the leftovers is to wait to put the actual tacos together until you’re ready to eat them rather than assembling 100 percent of them right away and storing them in the fridge. They assemble just as easily as leftovers as they do the first time.

And if you are having any trouble finding the dried chiles mentioned in the recipe, try looking in the Hispanic foods section of your local grocery store. They’re normally sold in big plastic bags in that area.

Despite looking complicated, birria tacos were actually very simple to make, and they bring a little bit of a wow factor to the dinner table. Put this one on your list for your next taco night this winter.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 8, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

‘Poutine’ all this in a taco is a little crazy

Poutine tacos are a strange twist on the Canadian classic but don't skimp in the calories the dish normally presents.
Poutine tacos are a strange twist on the Canadian classic but don’t skimp in the calories the dish normally presents.

I have had several people over the years tell me that this column is promoting bad eating.

I mean, yeah, I agree at least somewhat. If you eat many of the recipes I write about every day of the week, you’re probably not making your doctor or your bathroom scale all that happy.

But I also think reading about decadent desserts or calorie-laden meals is kind of fun. There’s a reason the Food Network doesn’t have a full slate of salad shows in its line up.

It’s not that I’m against eating healthy. Actually, Joey and I try hard to eat well regularly. I have a big bunch of asparagus in my fridge right now, along with some other fresh greens, ready to be cooked for dinner this week.

But sometimes I like to try out the dark side of the cookbook, and if you didn’t see it coming, this week’s recipe is way, way on the caloric dark side.

This recipe, a twist on the classic Canadian dish of poutine, which features cheese curds, French fries and brown gravy, comes from the website “Recipe Champions” by Josh Elkin. If you haven’t ever heard of his website, check it out sometime. He has some truly crazy recipes on there. You can find the original post at https://recipechampions.com/recipe/poutine-tacos/. I took out some steps in my version. Also, I used yellow cheese curds, although the classic uses white. I’d recommend just using what is available in your local grocery store.

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Poutine Tacos

Poutine tacos are a strange twist on the Canadian classic but don't skimp in the calories the dish normally presents.
Course Main Course
Keyword bacon, brown gravy, cheese curds, French fries, mozzarella, poutine, tacos

Ingredients

  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 12 ounces frozen French fries
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons corn starch
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups cheese curds
  • 6 strips bacon cooked and chopped

Instructions

  • Start by making the taco shells. Set out a taco holder or a cupcake pan, turned upside down. Heat a small skillet (about five inches wide) over medium heat. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese evenly into the bottom of the pan. Let it cook, undisturbed, for about three minutes. Then turn the heat to medium high, and when you notice the edges starting to turn brown, check to see if you can move the cheese, if it can move, it’s ready. Remove the circle of cheese from the heat.
  • While the cheese is still hot, carefully place it in the taco holder to create a taco shape or place it in a taco shape between two of the cups on the cupcake tin.
  • Repeat the process with the rest of the mozzarella.
  • As the shells cool and harden, cook the French fries in your preferred method.
  • Create a brown gravy by bringing the beef broth to a boil in a small saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk the cornstarch with about 1/4 cup cold water. Once the broth is boiling, turn the heat to medium-low and whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, Worcestershire, dissolved corn starch mixture and salt and pepper. Let the gravy thicken, stirring regularly, and add more salt and pepper if desired.
  • To assemble the tacos, start with a layer of fries in the mozzarella shell, top with cheese curds, and then add gravy and bacon pieces. Serve immediately.

These were ridiculous. They were delicious, with lots of great texture, but they felt ridiculous to eat because of how bad for us they were. It was kind of like when you get something fried and delicious at the state fair.

I can’t say that we’ll be making them again any time soon, but it was definitely worth eating once, feeling bad about it, and ticking this off the life experience list.

I’m sure I’ll wound the egos of some Canadians for putting out this non-traditional version, and I’m also certain I’ll have some health professionals wagging their finger at me, but this was so, so good, and it was fun to make, too.

And to all my naysayers, don’t worry. I promise my asparagus will be made with no frying or bacon involved. I’m just not making any commitments for next week’s column.

This piece first appeared in print on May 13, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Expand your ‘chorizo’ns with potato tacos

Chorizo con papas, or chorizo and potato, tacos are a crowd pleaser with tons of great flavor.
Chorizo con papas, or chorizo and potato, tacos are a crowd pleaser with tons of great flavor.

My sister and I have a fundamental difference in opinion when it comes to potatoes in Mexican food. 

I’m in the “absolutely” camp, and she’s in the “never, ever” camp. I discovered this philosophical divergence one day when I recommended a local restaurant’s chorizo and potato fried tacos to her, and we were both shocked by the other’s preference.

But since she is absolutely wrong, I decided to make a homemade version of chorizo and potato tacos without the fried shell this week, and they were awesome.

If you’re not familiar, chorizo is a sausage that is full of lots of great spices. For this recipe, you’ll want to get the Mexican kind that is raw rather than the Spanish kind, which generally comes already cooked. It’s also a beautiful color, and I always enjoy cooking with it, since it creates this gorgeous red hue in the pan.

And if you’re not well-versed in Spanish, “con papas” just means “with potatoes” in this recipe’s title.

The recipe I used comes from the blog “In Mama Maggie’s Kitchen” by Maggie Unzueta. You can find the original post at https://inmamamaggieskitchen.com/chorizo-con-papas-or-mexican-chorizo-with-potatoes/. I added more spices and some peppers to my version. I also eliminated the oil in the recipe, since chorizo generally has plenty of grease on its own, but if you have trouble with it sticking, you might add that back in. Finally, I just cooked the potatoes in the pan rather than boiling them first to eliminate dishes.

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Chorizo con Papas

Chorizo con papas, or chorizo and potato, tacos are a crowd pleaser with tons of great flavor.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword chorizo, potatoes, tacos

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Mexican pork chorizo remove casings, if applicable
  • 1 small onion diced (I used yellow)
  • 1 jalapeno diced (remove ribs and seeds to decrease spiciness)
  • 1 Anaheim pepper diced
  • 1 pound potatoes diced into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1 packet of Sazon Goya seasoning
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large skillet with a lid, brown the chorizo, breaking it apart. Once it is cooked through, transfer the chorizo to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
  • Leave only about one tablespoon of grease in the pan and add the onion, peppers, potatoes and spices.
  • Stir to coat the ingredients in oil and cover the pan. Every few minutes, remove the lid and stir, scraping the bottom to remove any bits.
  • If the pan becomes too dry, either add a little oil or add a little water (which is what I did) to help steam the vegetables.
  • Once the potatoes are fork tender, add the chorizo back into the pan and stir. Let the chorizo heat back up and then serve in your favorite taco vessel. (We used flour tortillas.)

We served our tacos with shredded cheese, fresh spinach and some avocado. The recipe author suggests fresh cilantro, too. Really, anything that you like on other kinds of tacos will probably be good on these, although I saw no need for any salsa or tabasco sauce on these, since they had a great amount of flavor on their own.

We also had a lot of leftovers from making this recipe, and the tacos reheated really well in the microwave, which made for some good lunches for us to take to work.

The only regret I have is my sister will never realize just how delicious a batch of chorizo con papas can be, but you can’t win them all, and I can’t help it if she doesn’t know what’s good.

Maybe someday she’ll come around.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 8, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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