Cheesy Taco

Last night in an effort to try the salty meat in several different ways, I created the cheesy taco. Some of you might say this is just a glorified quesadilla. Maybe that's true--but doesn't it sound cooler when called a cheesy taco? This was seriously delicious--so much so that I had another today. It may be my new favorite go-to meal.

p.s. This is a good opportunity to see that the salty meat has a different color to it--sort of gray from the excess salt cooking

Cheesy Taco
Ingredients
Strips of meat of your choice (I used leftover salty steak from the salt block cooking)
Handful of shredded cheese
Chopped heirloom tomato
White corn tortilla

Directions
1. Place the tortilla in a small dry skillet over high heat, cook 1 minute.
2. Add half the shredded cheese to one half of the tortilla and cook until the cheese starts to melt.
3. Add tomato and meat on the same side and top with cheese. Cook 1-2 minutes until warm.
4. Using tongs, carefully fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, the tortilla should be slightly crispy. Hold the tortilla folded with tongs 1 minute or until top cheese is melted. Carefully transfer to plate and enjoy warm.

Carne Asada Tacos

Flap meat is cheap. It was on sale the other day in small quantities so we bought a couple of pounds. Then came the challenge of figuring out what to do with it. We decided on Carne Asada tacos after much deliberation. To make the carne asada, we marinated the beef for a couple of hours and then fried it up in the pan. Grilling would probably also be delicious.

The Meat
Flap meat. Flap meat is from the same area of a cow that skirt steak and flank steak come from. Some people say it has a little more flavor than the flank steak. It is good when marinated and cooked quickly, and that is exactly what tacos are.

The Marinade
It took me a lot of effort of online searching to find just the thing for this meat. I wanted it to be perfect. And well, it wasn't perfect but it certainly was tasty. I finally decided on a recipe from Simply Recipes. And then I changed it a little to meet my needs. There was a lot of flavor after 3 hours of careful marinading.

The toppings
Tacos are just meat and corn flour without toppings. A classic street taco is meat, salsa, onions and cilantro. But throw in a little fun! We added Queso Fresca, avocado, and two types of salsa. At our grocery store there is a pretty extensive Hispanic foods section. I decided to pick up some of the canned salsas (not jarred) and it proved to be a worthy solution. The Ranchera salsa I picked up is spicy and smokey and just the right consistency for tacos.


Ingredients
2 poounds flap meat
4 cloves garlic
2 jalapenos
1 handful cilantro, stems and leaves
1 T coriander seeds
salt & pepper
2 limes
1 orange
2 T white vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
avocado
queso fresca
half onion
cilantro leaves
salsa
small tortillas (corn is the more traditional)

Directions
1. Juice the limes and oranges into the same bowl. Add sugar, salt and pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Crush the coriander seeds with a meat tenderizor and add to the mixture.
2. Cut off the jalapeno stems. In a food processor or mini chopper combine jalapenos (seeds and all), cilantro and garlic until finely chopped. Add to the juice mixture.
3. Cut meat into small cubes and place in a large ziploc bag. Pour the marinade over the meat. Zip the bag and move it around to coat all pieces. Place the bag in a shallow baking pan and refrigerate for 1-4 hours.
4. Prepare the topping. Finely chop the onion and cilantro. Crumble the cheese and open the salsas. Leave the avocado for just before serving.
5. Heat a frying pan with a scant t vegetable oil. Add meat in batches and cook until medium rare. If too much liquid is in the pan, empty it between batches so you don't steam the meat. Keep neat warm until all has been cooked.
6. Set up a taco bar and serve warm.

Black Bean Tacos and more...

My niece Katie invited us over for a fabulous black bean taco bar. (I will let Katie put that recipe on the blog). The taco bar was so delicious that it inspired me to look up recipes on the Internet for Black Bean Tacos. I discovered a wonderful recipe on an awesome Blog:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/02/crispy-black-bean-tacos-with-feta-and-slaw/
This economical and easy recipe was described by my son as "phenomenal". Next I plan to try the Spanish Chorizo and Asparagus.