A recent article in Food & Wine magazine discussed a culinary trend towards tacos. It had a few chef recipes for tacos with influences from various cultures around the world. I really expected to see an old favorite of mine in the article, but alas it wasn't there. So I searched around, on google, on my hard drive, in my archives, in my handwritten recipe file... but no luck, I simply have never written down my Thai Taco recipe.
While digging through the hand written recipe journal a sheet of paper fell out. It lists 40 simple week night dinner ideas. I really wanted to reach my goal of 50 dinners before listing them out in an article, but I never got there. Number two on the list of the Culinary Vixen's simple and tasty dinner ideas: Thai Tacos - circa 1995.
Culinary Vixen's Thai Tacos
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1.5 lb Lean Ground Beef (or tofu, turkey, TVP)
4 garlic cloves
5 green onions
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
White Pepper to Taste
-----------------------
1 small head Nappa Cabbage
1 Cup mung bean sprouts
1 Carrot
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch Thai Basil (other basil can be substituted)
1/2 bunch mint
2 Tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce
2 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/3 Cup Salad Oil (Canola, Safflower, Sunflower, etc.)
juice of 1-2 limes
----------------------
1 dozen Soft Taco Sized Flour Tortillas
Method:
Brown the beef in a large frying pan, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks. Smash the garlic and chop finely. Slice the green onions, red pepper and jalapeno into small dice. When the beef is almost cooked, add the chopped garlic and vegetables. Simmer on low while you prepare the greens (about 20 minutes).
Wash the cabbage, sprouts and herbs. Peel the carrot. Cut the cabbage sideways into thin ribbons and then once or twice length ways to make bite sized pieces. Put the cabbage into a large salad bowl. Put the mung bean sprouts over the cabbage. Using a vegetable peeler, cut the carrot into ribbons over the sprouts. Coarsely chop the cilantro, basil and mint (leaves only) and sprinkle over the carrot.
Combine the fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce and salad oil in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Put the lid on the jar and shake vigorously. Add some lime juice and season with soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice to taste.
Heat a comal or frying pan. Warm the tortillas on each side.
Turn the heat off under the meat mixture. Pour 4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce and 1 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil over the beef in the frying pan. Stir well. Taste and season with additional soy sauce and white pepper if desired.
Dress the salad with the dressing. Serve tortillas with meat and salad filling. Chopped chiles and lime wedges are great accompaniments.
Enjoy!
Culinary Vixen
Showing posts with label taco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label taco. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2007
Hellloooo Carnitas!
I'm a big Mexican food fan. I love all the flavors of the new world; corn, tomatoes, chilies, cilantro/coriander, cumin, oregano, all of it. I especially love carnitas, Mexican roasted pork. I had never made it until this week and it will now be on my list of Sunday supper specials because it was just about the easiest Mexican taco dinner to be found.
The desire to try to make carnitas started at the Whole Foods market. They had pork butt in their meat department. I know, pork butt, sounds off-putting to say the least. But if you know your cuts of meat you know that this is the rich succulent cut that when cooked long and slowly will turn incredibly tender and tasty. Besides, it was only $5.00/lb, so I bought a small piece and decided to look into carnitas.
So, the trick is to think of carnitas as Mexican Pork Pot Roast. You know how to make a roast, right? Brown meat, add some vegetables and a bunch of liquid, perhaps some spices and then cook in the oven for a few hours. Magically when you open up the pot you'll find meltingly tender meat full of flavor. But wait you say, carnitas has a crispy chewy texture when I have it on a taco! Yes, you are right, the trick to the crispy texture is to pull the meat out of the liquid, shred into desired chunks on a shallow roasting pan and then bake in the top of a hot oven for about 10 minutes until desired crispiness is achieved. Warm a few corn tortillas, slice an avocado and a few green onions, and you have the easiest taco dinner ever. And any leftovers will be even better in a day or two - and you can remove a lot of the fat if you chill it while in the liquid and before crisping it. So make a double batch and only crisp up what you are going to eat. MMMMMmmmm good.
Vickie's Basic Carnitas
Ingredients
1.5 lb Pork Butt Roast
salt and pepper
2 Tbs Canola Oil
1 large onion diced
3 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles with Lime juice
1 chopped chipotle chile en adobo (from a can I keep in the refrigerator)
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 quart no salt chicken stock
1 beef bouillon cube
Method
Salt and pepper the pork. Heat a large roasting pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the pork and brown on one side. Turn the pork over and add the onions and garlic around the edges. When the pork is browned on the other side, add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook over very low heat for 2 hours. Check for tenderness and continue cooking until the meat falls apart when pulled at with a fork. Alternately you may put the pan in a 350F oven for the 2 hours.
Turn the heat up to 400F. Remove the meat from the liquid and place on a shallow roasting pan. Shred the meat into chunks or shreds as you desire, removing any sinew or extra fat. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chunks from the cooking liquid and spread them over the shredded pork. Bake on the top rack of the hot oven until crispy (5-10 minutes).
Serve with salsa, avocado slices, green onions, lime wedges and cold beer!
The desire to try to make carnitas started at the Whole Foods market. They had pork butt in their meat department. I know, pork butt, sounds off-putting to say the least. But if you know your cuts of meat you know that this is the rich succulent cut that when cooked long and slowly will turn incredibly tender and tasty. Besides, it was only $5.00/lb, so I bought a small piece and decided to look into carnitas.
So, the trick is to think of carnitas as Mexican Pork Pot Roast. You know how to make a roast, right? Brown meat, add some vegetables and a bunch of liquid, perhaps some spices and then cook in the oven for a few hours. Magically when you open up the pot you'll find meltingly tender meat full of flavor. But wait you say, carnitas has a crispy chewy texture when I have it on a taco! Yes, you are right, the trick to the crispy texture is to pull the meat out of the liquid, shred into desired chunks on a shallow roasting pan and then bake in the top of a hot oven for about 10 minutes until desired crispiness is achieved. Warm a few corn tortillas, slice an avocado and a few green onions, and you have the easiest taco dinner ever. And any leftovers will be even better in a day or two - and you can remove a lot of the fat if you chill it while in the liquid and before crisping it. So make a double batch and only crisp up what you are going to eat. MMMMMmmmm good.
Vickie's Basic Carnitas
Ingredients
1.5 lb Pork Butt Roast
salt and pepper
2 Tbs Canola Oil
1 large onion diced
3 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles with Lime juice
1 chopped chipotle chile en adobo (from a can I keep in the refrigerator)
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 quart no salt chicken stock
1 beef bouillon cube
Method
Salt and pepper the pork. Heat a large roasting pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the pork and brown on one side. Turn the pork over and add the onions and garlic around the edges. When the pork is browned on the other side, add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook over very low heat for 2 hours. Check for tenderness and continue cooking until the meat falls apart when pulled at with a fork. Alternately you may put the pan in a 350F oven for the 2 hours.
Turn the heat up to 400F. Remove the meat from the liquid and place on a shallow roasting pan. Shred the meat into chunks or shreds as you desire, removing any sinew or extra fat. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chunks from the cooking liquid and spread them over the shredded pork. Bake on the top rack of the hot oven until crispy (5-10 minutes).
Serve with salsa, avocado slices, green onions, lime wedges and cold beer!
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