When Ryan and I started dating, he lived in Lincoln Square by this great Mexican restaurant called Garcia's that is open late. We had many late dinners there after a night out on the town! I would always order the chicken burrito that is as big as your head and Ryan almost always orders "Mexican" tacos. The tacos we are all familiar with are topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and sour cream and more! Mexican tacos, however, are perfect in their simplicity: topped only with cilantro and chopped yellow onion, and served with lime wedges. The same way you find them for sale by street vendors in Mexico or Logan Square. In response recently to "what do you want for dinner?" Ryan said, "real tacos please!" Ryan and I easily ate through a pound of ground beef and were looking for more. We spiced it up with chopped mango pieces- yum! We repeated the dinner a week later using stir fry beef cut up in small pieces and were equally pleased- so you are not limited to ground beef! If you are looking to add more "oopmh" to this dinner, serve with a side of rice and pinto beans.
Fresh Mexican Tacos
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound of beef: ground or cut up in small pieces
3 teaspoons of the perfect steak rub for churrasco (click here for recipe)
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 mango, cut up in small pieces (click here for a video on how to cut around a mango seed/pit)
1 lime cut into wedges
Soft corn tortillas
Season the beef with the steak rub and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge overnight. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the seasoned beef and cook throughly. While the beef is cooking, heat another skillet or cast iron flat griddle over medium heat. Add tortillas to the second skillet to warm up- warm both sides of each tortilla and work in batches until all the tortillas you plan to eat a heated through. As you are finishing the tortillas, the beef should also be fully cooked. Drain the beef, if necessary (it all depends on the fat content of the cut you chose), and serve on the tortillas topped with cilantro, onion, mango, and lime wedges.
**If you want to make this really authentic, replace the olive oil with corn or vegetable oil for cooking the beef, heat the oil until HOT but not smoking in a cast-iron skillet, add the beef and cook fully. DELICIOUS!**
Oh man, I forgot the lime wedges! It's ok though, it was still freakin' delicious. I made it with chicken, which really took well to that rub. The mango really put this over the top.
ReplyDeleteWe tried this also with some green salsa we picked up at the Mexican grocery store down the street, which worked out very well. Obvious tip: Don't combine green salsa with (extra) cilantro. It's a flavor overload.
This meal would pair well with any Mexican beer, such as Corona or Dos Equis, or any non-offensive American beer like Bud Light; not so well with Leinenkugel's 1888 Bock, which is a bit nutty and clashes badly with the cilantro.
So, this was a total hit with Amanda and me. The video for cutting a mango really helped -- Amanda knew how, but I had no idea. Incredibly tasty, and super easy, even for a cooking n00b like me.