I don’t know when Taco Tuesday became a thing. I mean it’s an obvious thing, what with the alliteration and the fact that tacos are amazing and that without them Tuesday would be a day that’s still at the beginning of a work week and a somewhat “meh” day at that.
This newsletter drops on Tuesdays. It’s obvious, right? How on earth did I not do a Taco Tuesday previously? When, I was a kid, Friday was taco night. Also, chimichanga night and enchilada night and … well, we ate a lot of Mexican food on Friday nights. Taco Tuesday wasn’t a thing for my family – it should have been – because Tuesday night was a night that dad cooked, and all of us kids would have been much happier to have a little handheld packet of heavenly meat wrapped up in a tortilla than some of my father’s more adventurous (read: bad) culinary creations.
Fast forward to now: everyone gets excited about Taco Tuesday. I just get excited about tacos. So, if a Tuesday can be an excuse to go on at great length about tacos, I am going to take that opportunity.
This week’s menu is three kinds of tacos, three kinds of salsa (‘cus Guac Is a kind of salsa, right?) and some other more-or-less important stuff. I know that for most of you it’s probably too late for THIS Taco Tuesday, but you can put this menu in your pocket for a future Tuesday. Or any other day that ends in Y.
Guacamole
When I was a kid, I’m not sure I’d ever seen an avocado.
Seriously.
Now my friends’ kids, my niece and nephews, they’ve been eating avocados since they were babies. They also don’t have to walk 5 miles to school uphill both ways in the snow, but that’s a different matter. Changes in trade, production methods, and tastes mean that avocado is now relatively cheap and easily obtainable pretty much anywhere in the United States (for those of you elsewhere, your mileage may vary). And while it’s ubiquitous, it still feels just a little luxurious. There’s even the whole “avocado toast” millennial finance kerfuffle. Avocado is just part of our collective pantry now – and guacamole is, in my not-particularly-humble opinion the paragon of Avocado-ness, the perfect expression of the medium. There are a lot of fancy Guacamole recipes out there. I’m sure many of them are good. I’m absolutely sure many of them are bad (see the NYT pea controversy). This one is about as simple as you get – and it’s delicious.
Serves 4 as an appetizer or topping
1 ripe avocado
1 medium shallot
1 medium jalapeño pepper
1 lime
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chopped cilantro
Peel, trim, and dice the shallot very finely.
Remove the stem, seeds, and ribs from the jalapeño, then dice very finely.
Cut the avocado in half lengthwise.
Use the heel (the bit closest to the handle) of a large knife to remove the seed by carefully chopping into it, and twisting.
Discard the seed, and use a large spoon to remove the flesh from the skin.
Add the avocado meat, diced shallot, diced jalapeño, and chopped cilantro to a bowl.
Add the juice of one lime, and the salt.
Using a fork, mash and stir until the texture is to your taste.
Check for seasoning and add more salt and or lime juice if necessary – this may vary depending on the size and ripeness of the avocado.
Serve with corn chips, on toast if you’re a millennial, or just grab a spoon and be that person.
Black Beans
In a previous newsletter I went on, probably at great length, about learning to cook and cooking pinto beans. Those are still my favorites, but I’ve come around to black beans for some situations – and this is one of those situations. Mostly because I’ve already gone on at great length about cooking pinto beans and you just don’t need to read that all again (read it all again here). This is a simple recipe for simple black beans that you can alter to your tastes. For this menu, I’ve just set it up as a simple side, but they’re great over rice as a meal themselves – and if you want to get really adventurous, add some chopped habanero peppers for a little tropical flavor and a lot of spice.
1 cup dried black turtle beans
3 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
2 pieces fatty bacon
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
Soak 1 cup dried black turtle beans overnight in 3 cups of water with 1 tsp salt added to the water.
Peel and trim the garlic cloves.
Add the beans, the soaking liquid, chicken stock, bacon, bay leaves, and cumin to a thick bottomed pot.
Bring the pot to a low simmer and cook for 2 hours, or until the beans are softened.
Serve scattered with crumbly cheese and cilantro leaves.
Corn Tortillas
This isn’t a recipe. It’s more of a recommendation with vague instructions.
Make your own tortillas.
I covered flour tortillas in another newsletter, but today I’m talking about corn tortillas. If you think you don’t like corn tortillas, it’s almost certainly because all you’ve ever had are dry, crumbly store-bought tortillas. That or you’re wrong. You might be wrong.
Fresh made corn tortillas are one of life’s great pleasures. Not because they’re luxurious or fancy. Instead, it’s because they’re so simple, and so different than what you expect.
If you’re lucky enough to live in a region where you can get your hands on fresh masa dough – the nixtamalized corn dough used to make tortillas, you can start there. Me, I use instant masa that I can find even at our local everydayhugemarket.
Prepare the dough according to the instructions on the instant masa package.
Use a tortilla press – or simply two cutting boards to smash golf ball sized balls of dough into tortillas. Use a quart freezer bag sliced open at the sides and with the zip top removed to make handling the uncooked tortilla easier.
Grill the raw tortilla on a dry pan or griddle until just beginning to speckle.
Stack them up, cover with a towel, and either microwave them or give them another pass at the griddle to warm before serving.
Quick Roasted Salsas
These quick salsas aren’t the thick chip dips in a jar you may have come to think of as salsa. They’re thinner sauces that – while they still make a great dip – I use more as a condiment on tacos or tostadas or … yeah, I’ll put these on pretty much anything. They both employ a roasting or broiling step that turns the main components into something more than just diced vegetables, and ads a lot of depth to the sauces. Sure, maybe roasting the vegetables means I shouldn’t call these “quick” – but other than that step, you’ll basically just toss everything in a blender or food processor, and well, that’s pretty quick, so I stand by my adjective.
Roasted Vegetable Salsa
Makes ~ 1 pint
4 very ripe Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 medium onion
¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
¼ cup cider vinegar
½ tsp ground cumin (opt.)
2 tsp kosher salt
Heat your broiler on its highest setting.
Peel the garlic.
Peel trim and chop the onion into quarters.
Halve the tomatoes.
Arrange the tomatoes, jalapenos, and onions on a sheet pan.
Place in the oven or broiler and roast until the skin of the peppers is blistered and the onions and tomatoes are beginning to char.
Add the vegetables, along with the cilantro, salt, cider vinegar, and cumin if using, to the container of a blender.
Process until smooth.
Allow to cool completely before serving.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Makes ~ 1 pint
4-6 tomatillos
4 cloves garlic
1 medium shallot
2 serrano peppers
½ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
2 limes
2 tsp kosher salt
Preheat your oven to its highest setting.
Peel the garlic.
Peel trim and finely dice the shallot.
Remove the stems from the chilis.
Remove the papery skin form the tomatillos.
Cut the tomatillos in half.
Arrange the tomatillos on a sheet pan and place in the oven.
Roast until softened and just beginning to char.
Add the roasted tomatillos, cilantro leaves, garlic, 1 tsp salt, and the serrano to the container of a blender or food processor.
Juice both limes into the container.
Pulse until a rough puree is formed.
Add the shallot and pulse once.
Taste for seasoning and add the additional 1 tsp of salt, if desired.
Carnitas Tacos
Carnitas are my favorite taco or burrito filling. For all I know, they’re my favorite donut filling, but I haven’t actually tried that. Yet.
Deeply flavorful roast pork, crisped around the edges, dripping with chili and orange scented juice – what’s not to like? I mean, other than the inevitable carnitas stains on my shirts. Shirts. Plural.
Despite what seems like a lot of chilis, this dish isn’t spicy at all. The chilis just add depth. If you want to make it spicy, add hot sauce to your taco.
2 lbs. pork shoulder cut into 2-3 inch cubes
¼ cup neutral oil or lard
1 orange
2-inch piece of cinnamon stick
4 cloves garlic
6 dried guajillo chilis
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Peel the garlic cloves.
Break the cinnamon stick into smaller pieces.
Cut the orange into 8ths.
Generously season the pork with salt, pepper, and cumin.
Arrange the pork, oranges, garlic cloves, cinnamon pieces, and dried chilies in a Dutch oven or another oven proof pan.
Pour the oil over the pork and aromatics.
Place the pan in the oven and cook until the pork is falling apart, at least 2 hours or up to 4 hours.
These carnitas can also be made in a slow cooker. Cook on low, covered for the first 2 hours, then uncovered for an additional 2 hours
To serve, remove and discard the cinnamon pieces and orange pieces. You can discard the chilies, chop them finely and add them back in, or reserve them for another use (blended smooth with some garlic and vinegar, they make a great sauce).
Pull or shred the meat slightly, and fry in a dry pan until crisped at the edges.
Serve with corn tortillas and the toppings of your choice – I like just some diced onion and cilantro to let the meat shine through.
Sweet Potato Tacos
One of the great things about tacos is that you can make a taco our of just about anything. When I was in college, the school’s dining service made tacos with lentils in them. I’m sure that there are great vegetarian lentil taco recipes out there. The school’s dining service was not in possession of one of those recipes. I don’t know how they made a bean-like-product taste like a tire, but they did. It kind of put me off vegetarian tacos for a long time. I ate some tacos with nopales (sliced prickly pear cactus leaves) in California when I lived there. They were tasty, but felt more like green beans in a tortilla than a taco. Years later, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I had a taco filled with griddled smashed sweet potatoes and grilled onions and … it was good. Simple. Slightly sweet, satisfying, you know ... good. These sweet potatoes make a great filling. The key is to cook the potatoes until they’re soft before crisping them back up with the onions. It gives them texture and a lot of extra flavor.
2 sweet potatoes
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin (divided)
1 tbsp neutral oil
2 tsp kosher salt (divided)
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into ½ inch cubes.
Prepare a pot of well-salted boiling water and add 1 tsp of cumin into the water.
Boil the sweet potatoes pieces for 7-10 minutes, or until the potatoes are softening, and the corners are fairly soft.
Drain the sweet potatoes and allow to cool.
Peel, trim, and slice the onion from end to end.
Add 1 tbsp oil to a frying pan over medium heat.
Add the sliced onions to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are beginning to brown at the edges.
Add the reserved 1 tsp of cumin and the chipotle powder to the oil and onions and cook for 1 minute.
Add the sweet potatoes, tossing to coat with the oil, and cook until the potatoes begin to crisp and brown.
Serve with the browned onions on corn tortillas and top as desired.
Fish Tacos
If you read this regularly, you’ve already read about my struggles with fish. Fish tacos (along with good sushi) were and are my potential gateway drug to very-occasional-not-at-all-dedicated pescatarianism. I’d never had a fish taco until I moved to California. In fact, I sort of thought they were a joke that TV and movie writers used to make surfer characters seem more super-cool-stoner-beach-dude. Then a guy that I worked with – a kind of a California stereotype himself, a professional beach volleyball playing surfer from Santa Barbara – dragged a bunch of the east coast transplants to a newly-opened San Francisco outpost of a Southern California taco joint known for cantina style (fried) fish tacos. I was an instant convert.
The key to these fish tacos – aside from the combination of slightly acidic and crunchy slaw with crema – is the tempura style batter. And because it’s super crisp right out of the fryer, and will lose that crispness quickly, you’ll have to work fast. But trust me, it’s worth it.
1 lb. tilapia filets
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 cups cold water
1 cup AP flour plus ½ cup for dredging
1 1/2 cups cold soda water or sparkling water (I use Topo Chico)
Neutral oil for frying
Cabbage Slaw (below)
Chipotle Crema (below)
Sliced radish as garnish
Cut the fish into strips approximately 3 inches by ½ inch.
Add the fish strips and 1 tbsp salt to 2 cups of cold water, adding more water if needed to cover, and allow to rest, refrigerated, for at least 1 hour.
Mix 1 cup AP flour and 1 1/2 cups cold soda water or sparkling water in a wide bowl or other container convenient for dipping the fish pieces.
Place ½ cup of flour on a plate.
Dredge the fish pieces in flour, dip into the batter, and fry quickly until crisp.
Serve immediately on corn tortillas topped with slaw and chipotle crema.
Garnish with sliced radish and cilantro leaves.
Cabbage Slaw
2 cups shredded white cabbage
¼ cup julienned or shredded carrot
1 tsp chopped cilantro leaves
1 tsp kosher salt
Juice of one lime
Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl or other container. Allow to rest at least one hour before using.
Chipotle Crema
½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
½ tsp chipotle chili powder
1 lime
In a non-reactive bowl, combine the chili powder and sour cream.
Juice the lime into the mixture and stir well to combine.
An After Dinner Margarita
I didn’t do a dessert. Again.
I thought about some sort of fried cinnamon sugar coated thing masquerading as a churro, but then decided against that. Let’s face it, the most likely end to this meal is “onnnnnne more Margarita, please.”
This is my go-to margarita recipe. It’s simple, not particularly sweet, easy to remember, and makes a good Margarita – and that’s all the explanation it needs. Better tequila makes better Margarita – but I prefer Blanco to any of the aged stuff. I like Milagro or Corralejo for a good balance of quality and price. You can swap out the Cointreau for another Orange Curaçao – but the cheap stuff is bitter, and other good quality Curaçaos may require adjusting the sweetness.
2 oz good white (blanco) Tequila
1 oz Cointreau
.75 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp coarse grained salt (opt) for a salt rimmed glass
Rub a lime wedge around the rim of a glass.
Dip the rim onto salt scattered on a plate or in … well, some sort of container.
Add all ingredients to the tin of a shaker filled with crushed ice.
Shake hard.
Pour unstrained into a salt rimmed glass.
Garnish with a lime.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.