Friday, March 27, 2009

Taco x 3!


Taco, Taco, Taco.  I just love taco’s!

 

This week, within a three day span, our family had taco’s on 3 consecutive days.  The great news is that not only were there no complaints, but everyone was ready for more. 

Taco mania started on Sunday afternoon.  After taking the two labs for a walk along the sound, my wife and I were hungry.  We had wanted to try out the famed Taco Truck, “El Charrito” so we took a drive over to Jackie Robinson park in Stamford, across from Beamers “café”, and found the yellow painted refurbished Good Humor Ice Cream Truck.  We ordered the carne adobada (spicy pork), pollo (chicken), chorizo (mexican sausage), and cesina (salty steak) taco’s then sat on a picnic table for about 10 minutes while our taco’s were made to order. 

What we received back were four excellent taco’s in a warmed corn tortilla with beautifully fresh ingredients, appropriately spiced meats, black refried beans, with chopped onions and cilantro, accompanied with homemade spicy red and green sauces.  Wow!  We could have eaten several more, and at $2.50 a pop, they are a bargain.  And, if you call ahead on 203-940-0922, your taco’s will be ready when you arrive. We’ll be back! 

Monday night, we decided to cook a simple dinner at home.  We had purchased fresh scrod that day, so we decided to make fish taco’s.  The beauty of making a taco dinner, is that it’s so quick and easy.  Our approach to taco’s is very straightforward.

1.      Cook the protein (ok-  so now I am talking like some fancy chef).  On Monday night, we seasoned the fish with a bit of salt, pepper, cumin, and grilled it on a cast iron skillet.  When cooked, we squeezed some lime over the scrod and flaked it with a fork.

2.      Cut up all the stuff, meaning whatever you like to put on your taco’s.  We typically include tomatoes, avocado, refried black beans, some spicy peppers (jalapeno’s, chipolte’s …)  If we’re cooking meat or chicken, some cheese shredding is also required.  And, if we have some extra time, we might also mix up an easy guacamole with lime, onions, spicy peppers, cilantro…)

3.      Grill any additional ingredients.  We usually have grilled peppers and onions available to the mix, sometimes mushrooms. 

4.      Take out your favorite salsa’s, spicy sauces, and wraps.

5.      Lightly grill the wraps, combine all your favorites, seal the taco, heat again (particularly important if you want melted cheese.)

If you can master these steps, you’ll be eating great taco’s in less than a half hour.

The fish taco’s (2x) were excellent on Monday, and the spice rubbed skirt steak taco’s, marinated for at least an hour with some cumin, chili, garlic, onion, lime, and a couple of tablespoons of oil, (3x) were equally sublime…

And of course, any leftovers are easily reheated for a quick snack or dinner!

1 comment:

Tangled Noodle said...

Ooooh! I could definitely have tacos on 3 days straight. The ones you've mentioned sound great - now I've got tacos on the brain! 8-)